Elicura Chihuailaf Nahuelpán (, 1952 in
Quechurehue,
Cautín Province
Cautín Province ( es, Provincia de Cautín) is one of two Provinces of Chile, provinces in the southern Chilean Regions of Chile, region of La Araucanía Region, La Araucanía (IX), bounded on the north by Arauco Province, Arauco and Malleco Prov ...
) is a
Mapuche
The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sha ...
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
an
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...
and author whose works are written both in
Mapudungun
Mapuche (, Mapuche & Spanish: , or Mapudungun; from ' 'land' and ' 'speak, speech') is an Araucanian language related to Huilliche spoken in south-central Chile and west-central Argentina by the Mapuche people (from ''mapu'' 'land' and ''che ...
and in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
, and have been translated into many other languages as well. He has also translated the works of other poets, such as
Pablo Neruda
Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...
, into Mapudungun. He is the recipient of the 2020
National Prize for Literature A National Prize for Literature ( es, Premio Nacional de Literatura) is a kind of award offered by various countries.
Examples include:
* National Prize for Literature (Argentina)
* National Literary Awards, Burma
* National Prize for Literature ( ...
, the first Mapuche writer to receive this award.
He has been referred to as the
lonco
A lonko or lonco (from Mapudungun ''longko'', literally "head"), is a chief of several Mapuche communities. These were often ulmen, the wealthier men in the lof. In wartime, lonkos of the various local rehue or the larger aillarehue would gather in ...
, or chieftain, of Mapudungun poetry, and works at recording and preserving the oral tradition of his people. "Elicura" is from the Mapudungun phrase for "transparent stone", "Chihuailaf" means "fog spread on the lake", and "Nahuelpán" is "tiger/cougar".
In his book ''Recado Confidencial a los Chilenos'', he talks about a childhood around the bonfire, in which he learnt the art of conversation ("''nvtram''") and the advice of the elderly ("''gulam''"). Similarly, nature with its diversity taught him the cosmic vitality hid from those unwary. This need to express his cultural richness, diverse in itself, made him become an ''Oralitor'', that is, carrier of the oral expression of the Mapuche elderly, this destiny being told by means of "Blue Dreams" (''Kallfv Pewma''): ''This will be a singer, you said / giving me the Blue Horse of the Word.'' In ''Recado Confidencial a los Chilenos'', the poet presents a deeply felt defense of Mother Nature, whom the Mapuche consider threatened by the dominant culture: post-modern capitalism. Considering the current environmental crisis, his message should be listened not only by Chileans but by everybody. The English translation of ''Recado Confidencial a los Chilenos'' (Message to Chileans; translated by Celso Cambiazo) is now in print published by Trafford Publishing in 2009.
Published works
* En el pais de la memoria: maputukulpakey (1988) Temucho: Quechurewe
oetry; some of the poems have been translated into Mapundungun* El invierno, su imagen, y otros poemas azules (1991) Santiago, Chile: Ediciones Literatura Alternativa
oetry, bilingual edition* De sueños azules y contrasueños (1995) Santiago, Chile: Ed. Universitaria
oetry, bilingual edition* Sueños de luna azul = Kechurewe Temuko (2008) Santiago, Chile: Cuatro Vientos Editorial
oetry, bilingual edition
References
External links
*Interview with Elicura Chihuailaf a
El Mercurio de Antofagasta
1952 births
Living people
People from Cautín Province
Chilean male poets
Indigenous writers of the Americas
University of Concepción alumni
Mapuche poets
20th-century Chilean poets
21st-century Chilean poets
20th-century male writers
21st-century male writers
20th-century Mapuche people
21st-century Mapuche people
Chilean people of Mapuche descent
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