Antonio Skármeta (born Esteban Antonio Skármeta Vranicic on November 7, 1940) is a

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 writer, scriptwriter and director descending from Croatian immigrants from the Adriatic island of

Brač Brač is an island in the Adriatic Sea within Croatia, with an area of , making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. It is separated from the mainland by the Brač Channel, which is wide. The island's tall ...

, Dalmatia. He was awarded Chile's National Literature Prize in 2014.

Biography and career

Skármeta studied at Colegio San Luis of Antofagasta and at Instituto Nacional General José Miguel Carrera, a prestigious public high school of Santiago. His 1985 novel and film ''

Ardiente paciencia ''Ardiente Paciencia'', or ''El Cartero De Neruda'', is a 1985 novel by Antonio Skármeta. The novel was published in the English market under the title ''The Postman''. It tells the story of Mario Jiménez, a fictional postman who befriends t ...

'' ("Burning Patience") inspired the 1994 Academy Award-winning movie, '' Il Postino'' (''The Postman''). Passionate about cinema, Skármeta has written several scripts and directed at least two films. Subsequent editions of the book bore the title ''El cartero de Neruda'' (''Neruda's Postman''). His fiction has since received dozens of awards and has been translated into nearly thirty languages worldwide. Skármeta studied philosophy and literature both in Chile and at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York. From 1967 to 1973, the year he left Chile (first to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

and later to

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

), he taught literature at the

University of Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

. In 1987, he was a member of the jury at the

37th Berlin International Film Festival The 37th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 20 February to 3 March 1987. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Soviet Union film ''Tema'' directed by Gleb Panfilov. The retrospective was in honour of Armenian-American film and ...

. In 1989, after the end of

Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

’s military dictatorship, the writer returned to Chile in order "to create political space for freedom". He hosted a television program on literature and the arts, which regularly attracted over a million viewers. From 2000 to 2003 he served as the Chilean ambassador in Germany. He teaches classes at

Colorado College Colorado College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory. The college enrolls approxi ...

both in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

, and

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

. In 2011 his novel ''Los días del arco iris'' won the prestigious Premio Iberoamericano Planeta-Casa de América de Narrativa, one of the richest literary prizes in the world worth $200,000.Planeta-Casa de América de Narrativa
official website His unpublished play ''El Plebiscito'' was the basis of

Pablo Larraín Pablo Larraín Matte (; born 19 August 1976) is a Chilean filmmaker. He has directed nine feature films and co-directed one television series, including the Academy Award-nominated films '' No'' (2012), '' Neruda'' (2016), '' Jackie'' (2016) an ...

's successful

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

'' No''. His 2010 novel ''Un padre de película'' was the basis of '' O Filme da Minha Vida'', a Brazilian film released in 2017. Skármeta himself suggested the project to Brazilian director and actor

Selton Mello Selton Figueiredo Mello (born 30 December 1972) is a Brazilian actor and director. Since his childhood, he acted on TV shows. Now he works on TV, movies and theater. Throughout his career, he developed a strong and solid experience in cinema, pr ...

Works

* ''El entusiasmo'', 1967. * ''Desnudo en el tejado'', 1969. * ''Tiro libre'', 1973. * ''Soñé que la nieve ardía'', 1975. * ''Novios solitarios'', 1975. * ''No paso nada'', 1980. * ''La insurrección'', 1982. * ''

'', 1985. * ''El cartero de Neruda'', 1985. * ''Matchball'', 1989. * ''La composición'', 1998. * ''La boda del poeta'', 1999. * ''La chica del trombón'', 2001. * ''El baile de la victoria'', 2003. * ''Los días del arco iris'', 2010. * ''Libertad de Movimiento'', 2016.

References

External links

Antonio Skármeta (literaturfestival.com)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skarmeta, Antonio 1940 births Living people Ambassadors of Chile to Germany 20th-century Chilean novelists 20th-century Chilean male writers Chilean male novelists Chilean people of Croatian descent People from Antofagasta Prix Médicis étranger winners Columbia University alumni Colorado College faculty 21st-century Chilean novelists 21st-century Chilean male writers

Biography and career

Works

References

Further reading

External links