Colombian writer Garcia Marquez hospitalized in Mexico City

Nobel prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez has been hospitalized in Mexico City since March 31 for dehydration and a lung and urinary infection but has responded well to treatment, Mexico's health ministry said on Thursday.

The author's discharge from hospital will be evaluated once he completes treatment with antibiotics, the ministry said in a release.

Garcia Marquez, 87, whose career has spanned journalism to fantastical novels that defined the genre of magical realism, lives in Mexico City.

Speaking outside the hospital, his son Gonzalo Garcia, said the author was never under emergency care, and is with family.

(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz and Alexandra Alper; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Andrew Hay)