GABRIELA MISTRAL

(b. April 7, 1889, Vicu–a , Chile / d. Jan. 10, 1957, Hempstead N.Y., US) (pen-name of Lucila Godoy Alcayaga) Chilean poet, educator and diplomat, the first Latin American to receive the Nobel Prize in literature (1945). After an early love affair tragically ended by the suicide of her lover, Mistral lived a life of self-described desolation, yearning for, but never experiencing motherhood. She turned her personal tragedy into beautiful poetry which offers intellectual and spiritual love, compassion, and courageous nurturance to others, especially children or others in need of protection. Her reputation as a poet was established in 1914 when she won a Chilean prize for Sonetos de la muerte ("Sonnets of Death"). They were signed with the pen name Gabriela Mistral, which she coined from those of two of her favorite poets, Gabriele D'Annunzio and Frédéric Mistral.