10/12. When Mistral and Neruda received the Nobel Prize for Literature

Universal recognition of the work of the poet and writer.

“The century”. Santiago. 11/12/2023. On December 10, 1945, in Stockholm, Sweden, Lucila Godoy Alcayaga, known as Gabriela Mistral, a prominent Chilean poet, received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

It was the Chilean writer’s eternal recognition of her masterful work. She learned of the Nobel award while working in the Brazilian city of Petrópolis, where he was Consul of Chile. The truth is that since the early forties it was suggested in literary circles that she could obtain that recognition, given the work she had developed. She had the support of literary groups from many countries, specialized press and literary experts.

The ceremony where Gabriela Mistral received the Nobel Prize for Literature took place on December 10 at 5:00 p.m. at the “Konserthuset” (Philharmonic Palace) in Stockholm. More than three thousand guests attended, including members of the royal family, the diplomatic corps, the Swedish Prime Minister, among other personalities. The award was presented by King Gustav V. Gabriela Mistral was the first Latin American woman to obtain the Nobel Prize.

Gabriel Mistral was a teacher, worked in several public schools, and highlighted her contribution to education in Mexico, especially towards indigenous and poor children.

In 1951 he was awarded the National Prize for Literature of Chile.

Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto, known as Pablo Neruda, received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, thus establishing that two Chilean authors received this international award.

Pablo Neruda traveled to Stockholm to receive him on December 10, 1971. In his Memoirs the poet remembers: “The old monarch shook hands with each of us; He gave us the diploma, the medal and the check… It is said that the king spent more time with me than with the other laureates, that he squeezed my hand with obvious sympathy. “Perhaps it was reminiscent of the old palace kindness towards minstrels.”

Neruda received the news of the award on October 21, 1971, while he was serving as ambassador to France, representing the Government of President Salvador Allende.

In part of his speech, the prominent Chilean writer, whose work is recognized worldwide, said: “I often expressed that the best poet is the man who gives us our daily bread: the closest baker, who does not believe he is a god. He fulfills his majestic and humble task of kneading, baking, browning and delivering the daily bread, with a community obligation. And if the poet manages to achieve that simple consciousness, the simple consciousness can also become part of a colossal craft, of a simple or complicated construction, which is the construction of society, the transformation of the conditions that surround man, the delivery of the merchandise: bread, truth, wine, dreams.”