Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga, better known as Gabriela Mistral, was born in Vicuña, Chile, on April 7, 1889, and was a renowned writer, poet, diplomat and teacher. He was the first Latin American person to win the “Nobel Prize in Literature“, received in 1945.
Daughter of Juan Jerónimo Godoy Villanueva Y Petronila Alcayaga RojasShe had a very complicated childhood because her father abandoned her when she was only 3 years old. Despite this, she always defended him, assuring that she found some verses written by him that moved her: “Those verses of my father, the first ones I read, awakened my poetic passion“Also, he was the victim of a sexual assault, so.”stored in her unconscious all the evidence that at any moment the world, that is to say man, could attack her in a savage way“.
In 1904, it was part of the Low Company School in La Serena, where she worked as an assistant professor, and began to write for the serenense newspaper “The Coquimbo” and in “The Voice of Elqui“.
It was at that moment when she began to work as a teacher, although it was officially in 1910 when she validated her knowledge before the Normal School N ° 1 of Santiago. After a time, she was hired by the government of Mexico to develop the bases of its new educational system, which is currently in force, although some small modifications were made.
The pseudonym of Gabriela Mistral He used it as a tribute to two of his favorite poets, Gabriele D’Annunzio Y Frédéric Mistral.
As a pedagogue, she was an Inspector at the Liceo de Señoritas de La Serena and guest professor at Barnard Universities, Middlebury Y Puerto Rico.
In the 1930s, he began a 20-year period where he worked as his country’s consul in different cities in Europe and America.
In 1953 she was sent to New York to carry out a position in politics, where she was reunited with the writer Doris Dana, with whom he had a very intimate bond. There are many versions that tell of a possible homosexual relationship between the two, but Dana he denied it until his death.
With regard to her work, this famous Chilean writer was the author of great books of poetry, which led her to be one of the most recognized Latin American poets of the 20th century, among which are: “Sonnets of Death“,”Desolation“,”Readings for women“,”Tenderness“,”White clouds and a brief description of Chile“,”We were all going to be queens“,”Errands, counting Chile“,”Poem from Chile“, Y “Wandering girl“.
Thanks to her writings, she was the winner of dozens of awards and tributes around the world, such as the “Honorary Doctorate from Mills College of Oakland“, of the University of Guatemala, the University of California, the University of Florence and the University of Chile, among other. In addition, she was awarded “the National Prize for Literature“in Chile, but the most important was the”Nobel Prize in Literature“who received it in 1945.
After suffering from diabetes and various heart problems, Gabriela began to show a decline in his health. On January 10, 1957, at the age of 67, he died of pancreatic cancer. His remains were veiled in the University of Chile, to later be buried in Montegrande.
In his will, he ordered that all the proceeds from the sale of his books be destined for the poor children of the town where his remains rest.