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Gabriela Mistral

Biography of Gabriela Mistral

Gabriela Mistral, born Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga, was a Chilean poet, diplomat, feminist, and eduator who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1945, becoming the first person to win the award from South America. She won the award, according to Nobel Prize website, "for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world".

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Awards for Gabriela Mistral

1945: Nobel Prize in Literature

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Quotes by Gabriela Mistral

We are guilty of many errors and many faults but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer 'Tomorrow.' His name is 'Today.'

At this moment, by an undeserved stroke of fortune, I am the direct voice of the poets of my race and the indirect voice for the noble Spanish and Portuguese tongues. Both rejoice to have been invited to this festival of Nordic life with its tradition of centuries of folklore and poetry.

-At Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech