Octavio Paz (1914–1998) was a prolific Mexican poet and essayist. He studied at the University of California at Berkeley for two years before entering the Mexican diplomatic service, from which he resigned in protest against his government’s massacre of student demonstrators before the Olympic Games in 1968. His postings took him to Paris – where he wrote The Labyrinth of Solitude – India, Tokyo and Geneva. He was awarded the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature.