Srilanka, April 14 -- Mario Vargas Llosa, the Peruvian-Spanish Nobel Prize-winning author whose work focused on the evils of totalitarianism and who once ran for president, has died at age 89, according to his family.

"It is with deep sorrow that we announce that our father, Mario Vargas LLosa, passed away peacefully in Lima today, surrounded by his family," said a family statement shared by his son Alvaro Vargas Llosa on X on Sunday.

Vargas Llosa will be best remembered for novels including "Conversation in the Cathedral" (1969), "The War of the End of the World" (1981), and "Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter" (1977), which was adapted for the 1990 feature film "Tune in Tomorrow," starring Barbara Hershey and Keanu Reeves.

In 2010, Var...