Mario Benedetti, a prolific Uruguayan writer whose novels and poems reflect the idiosyncrasies of Montevideo’s middle class and a social commitment forged by years in exile from a military dictatorship, died Sunday at his house in Montevideo, his secretary said. He was 88.

Called “Don Mario” by his friends, the mustachioed author penned more than 60 novels, poems, short stories and plays, winning honors including Bulgaria’s Jristo Borev award for poetry and essays in 1985, and Amnesty International’s Golden Flame in 1986. In 1999 he won the Queen Sofia prize for Iberoamerican poetry (Associated Press).