39 Magical Realism Authors to Know

Including authors Louise Erdrich, Gabriel García Márquez, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Salman Rushdie, Toni Morrison, Haruki Murakami, Isabel Allende, Jorge Luis Borges, Laura Esquivel, and Carlos Fuentes

Authors who contrast reality with magical elements often make effective social critiques.

“A story is not something of this world. A real story requires a kind of magical baptism to link the world on this side with the world on the other side.”—Haruki Murakami

Magical realism is a style of literature depicting the real world as holding an undercurrent of magic or fantasy. The genre of “magic realism” shows supernatural or magical phenomena taking place in an otherwise real-world or mundane setting.

What makes it different from fantasy is that magical realism includes a lot of realistic detail and employs magical elements to make a point about reality. On the other hand, fantasy stories are generally separated from reality.

Below are several authors known for writing magical realism who are popular at it…

1. Gabriel García Márquez

2. Salman Rushdie

3. Haruki Murakami

4. Alejo Carpentier

5. Isabel Allende

6. Toni Morrison

7. Laura Esquivel

8. Jorge Luis Borges

9. Carlos Fuentes

10. Franz Kafka

11. Aimee Bender

12. Sarah Addison Allen

13. Kelly Link

14. Angela Carter

15. Alice Hoffman

16. Yann Martel

17. Milan Kundera

18. Karen Russell

19. Nikolai Gogol

20. Italo Calvino

21. Massimo Bontempelli

22. Umberto Eco

23. Carlos Ruiz Zafón

24. Joanne Harris

25. Silvia Moreno-Garcia

26. Mikhail Bulgakov

27. Viktor Pelevin

28. Nick Joaquin

29. Natsuki Ikezawa

30. Louis de Bernières

31. Janet Frame

32. Peter Høeg

33. Steven Millhauser

34. Charles de Lint

35. Ben Okri

36. Paulo Coelho

37. Jonathan Carroll

38. Louise Erdrich

39. Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

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Related links

• Magical Realism is For Us By Us and Toni Morrison was the Queen (Book Riot)

• Silvia Moreno-Garcia on Magic Realism and Latin American Literature (New York Times)

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• Magical realism and identity explored in Salman Rushdie's books (NPR)

• Surrealist and Magical Realism: Discussing Like Water for Chocolate by Mexican author Laura Esquivel (High Plains Public Radio)

• 7 Best Magic Realism Movies (Game Rant)

• Five Magical Realist Novels with Murder Mysteries At Their Center (CrimeReads)

• In magical realism fiction, anything can happen (Press-Enterprise)

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• 'Whitney Houston' director Kasi Lemmons on Toni Morrison's magical realism (KCRW)

• Remember Gabriel García Márquez and Magical Realism (New York Latin Culture Magazine)

• Why We Don’t Talk About Bruno: ENCANTO and Magical Realism (Book Riot)