Death of Gabriela Mistral

Gabriela Mistral died on 10 January 1957 in Hempstead, aged 67. A Chilean poet, educator and diplomat, Mistral was born Lucila Godoy Alcayaga. Her poetry, collected in works such as Desolacion and Tala, dealt with love, loss, motherhood and nature, and drew on her experiences as a rural schoolteacher. She helped reform education in Mexico and served as a consul in many countries. In 1945 she became the first Latin American writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, honored for lyric poetry inspired by powerful emotions that made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the whole Latin American world.

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