“When I was just five years old, on one of my first days at school, a nun called me up to the blackboard. I didn’t even know how to read or write yet. It was my very first public humiliation. But looking back, that early pain is exactly what pushed me toward books, literature, and languages. Books became my refuge, and friends”
“And when you dive into literature, you inevitably run into Chile—a country famously known as the ‘Land of Poets.’
Our words are as fierce as our landscapes. We have Gabriela Mistral, our first Nobel laureate, with her profound and revolutionary poetry. And, of course, the legendary Pablo Neruda. Our tour in December takes us into Neruda’s world. It is a journey into the mind of a poet who loved to collect. Each of his houses holds a different universe—from his beloved maritime collections at Isla Negra to his lovely home in Valparaíso, bursting with paintings, books, and colorful glasses. We will learn about his life, poetry, travels, and political experiences.
But Chilean literature isn’t just poetry. Writers like María Luisa Bombal broke barriers by exploring the intense, surreal inner worlds of women. And decades later, Roberto Bolaño shook the world with his dark, gritty, and brilliant modern masterpieces.”
“From a lonely blackboard at five years old to the vast universes of these incredible poets and writers”.