Pablo Neruda, born Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto on July 12, 1904 in Parral, Chile, was a Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. He has been considered by many to be the most important Latin American poet of the 20th century.

Neruda’s mother died soon after his birth, and the family moved to Temuco while he was still a toddler. Neruda began writing poetry at age 10, but his father discouraged it, prompting Neruda to adopt the pseudonym Pablo Neruda. In 1921, he moved to Santiago and become a French teacher. Two years later he published his first book of poems, Crepusculario, but it was in 1924 when his second book, Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada  (Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair), catapulted him to fame. Source: Encyclopedia Britannica

You can read more about the incredible life of Pablo Neruda here, and be sure to check out his poems at your GHC or local library.