Nobel winner Mario Vargas Llosa joins Academie Francaise

Peruvian Nobel-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa joined the fabled Academie Francaise in Paris, the first member ever to have written a book in French.

The 86-year-old novelist, who also has Spanish citizenship, controversially invited the former king of Spain, Juan Carlos, to his inauguration ceremony.

Established under King Louis XIII in 1635, the Academie Francaise is meant to guard "pure" French, which has faced a constant onslaught from English in recent decades.

Vargas Llosa won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010 and is the first holder of the award at the Academie Francaise since Francois Mauriac, laureate in 1952.

He is considered among the most influential Latin American writers, often taking a sharp look at the region's politics and history with novels such as "The Time of the Hero", "The Feast of the Goat", and continuing through to "Harsh Times".

He took a pot-shot at Russian President Vladimir Putin in his inauguration speech, saying "totalitarian countries" can only produce novels that have been "mutilated" by censorship.

"And we see him attack the unfortunate Ukraine only to receive the surprise of the century when this nation resists him," Vargas Llosa said in French.

"As in novels, the weak are triumphing over the strong, because the justice of their cause is infinitely greater."

Vargas Llosa is not the first foreigner inducted into the Academie.

The first was an American, Julien Green, in 1971, who never took French citizenship, while Canadian-HaitianDany Laferriere joined in 2013.