Gabriela Mistral, The First Latin American Woman To Win The Nobel Prize

Gabriel Mistral

December 1945, Lucila Godoy Alcayaga, better known as Gabriela Mistral, received the Nobel Prize for Literature, became the first woman in Latin America to receive this award. She was born in 1889 in a small town in Chile, daughter of a rural teacher who abandoned his family when Gabriela was 3 years old. As a teenager, she started teaching as an assistant in a rural school. She applied to the Normal School of that city, but was rejected because there was the idea that her writings were not compatible with the mission of forming children. That did not stop her and she continued as an educator. Until 1910 she validated her knowledge in the Normal School No. 1 of Santiago and obtained, due to her training and experience, the official title of State Teacher.

In 1914 she received the prize of the Floral Games of Santiago, for the publication of Sonetos de la Muerte.

Gabriela Mistral was thirty-three years old when she was invited by the government of Mexico to collaborate in the reform of education and in the foundation of popular libraries, with the concrete mission of literacy.

After her stay in Mexico, she traveled to the United States giving classes in some Colleges, and then continue her journey through different countries in Europe. In 1933 she was appointed consul of Chile in Madrid. Gabriela also traveled through Central America and the Antilles and collaborated with Colleges of Puerto Rico, Havana and Panama. During all those years, Gabriela published different works.

Gabriela Mistral was a poet, essayist, diplomat, pedagogue and intellectual internationally recognized, supported noble causes and to denounce injustices. Her work is translated into more than 20 languages.

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References:

Cervantes Institute (March 2017) Biography of Gabriela Mistral. Bibliotecas y Documentación. Retrieved on August 21, 2018 from: https://www.cervantes.es/bibliotecas_documentacion_espanol/creadores/mistral_gabriela.htm

Moreno Iván (November 2016) The reinvention of Gabriela Mistral. Gaceta Digital UNAM. Retrieved on August 21, 2018 from: http://www.gaceta.unam.mx/20161117/la-reinvencion-de-gabriela-mistral/

Ortúzar Ximena (January 2012) The clear word of Gabriela Mistral. La Jornada Semanal. Retrieved on August 21, 2018 from: http://www.jornada.com.mx/2012/01/08/sem-ximena.html

Waldam Gilda (March 2008) Gabriela Mistral, a woman, a teacher, a poet, a country. Casa del Tiempo.  Retrieved on August 21, 2018 from: http://www.uam.mx/difusion/casadeltiempo/05_iv_mar_2008/casa_del_tiempo_eIV_num05-06_56_58.pdf