Gabriela Mistral

Gabriela Mistral (born Lucila Godoy Alcayaga; 1889–1957) was a Chilean poet, educator, and diplomat. Raised in the Elqui Valley, she began working as a teacher while publishing poetry that drew on love, loss, faith, and the landscapes of Latin America. Her breakthrough came with “Sonetos de la muerte” (1914), and her major books include *Desolación* (1922), *Ternura* (1924), and *Tala* (1938). Mistral also served in Chile’s consular service in Europe and the Americas. In 1945 she became the first Latin American to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.