Culture Council celebrates anniversary of Gabriela Mistral’s birth and launches year dedicated to Chile’s first Nobel Prize Laureate
The Culture Minister, Claudia Barattini, presided over a simultaneous reading of the poem “¿En dónde tejemos la ronda?” (Weaving the Round) in front of the BiblioMetro Library at Baquedano Metro station in Santiago to celebrate the 126th anniversary of the birth of Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral.
The event marked the start of a National Arts and Culture Council (Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes, CNCA) program to celebrate the work of Gabriela Mistral, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 70 years ago. The program has been organized by the CNCA’s National Book and Reading Council as part of the National Reading Plan.
In her speech, the Culture Minister Claudia Barattini highlighted that “Gabriel Mistral was a forward thinking woman and I believe she studied Chile in depth and has a lot to tell us, particularly in difficult moments like the ones we are experiencing today. She was a woman who scrutinized Chile’s reality and who cared about education, which is so important to us today when we are working towards creating such a powerful cultural shift as reforming schools and the educational experience of our children.
As part of the event, a 30 second video featuring an extract of the poem was broadcast at midday on all of the screens at every Metro station. At Baquedano station, in front of the BiblioMetro Library, the singer songwriter Eduardo Peralta and the singer Carmen Prieto gave a performance entitled “Gabriela en Canto”.
The chairman of the Santiago Metro, Rodrigo Azócar, said that this event “highlights the importance of this poet, educator and diplomat, not only in Chile but also in Latin America. She is a global literary figure and her poems have touched many generations and influenced many poets and people. Santiago Metro is proud to celebrate another anniversary of her birth and we hope that the millions of people who use the Metro every day will enjoy the events that will be taking place throughout our network of stations.”
The director of the Libraries, Archives and Museums Board, Ángel Cabezas, who also participated in the event, said that “we are very happy to celebrate the anniversary of Gabriela Mistral’s birth with this event, which is in keeping with the BiblioMetro spirit of bringing reading closer to people’s daily lives. We want people to know that they can access poetry and books. The Public Libraries and Metro libraries are open for everybody.”
National celebration
Similar events were held throughout Chile to celebrate the anniversary, including simultaneous readings of the poem at the Municipal Theatre in Arica, the Gabriela Mistral Elementary School in Iquique, the Antofagasta Regional Library, the Valparaíso Cultural Park, the Plaza de la Independencia in Concepción, the Leonardo Da Vinci Elementary School in Valdivia, the Libertad Elementary School in Puerto Montt and the Arturo Prat Elementary School in Punta Arenas.
In the Elqui Valley, the poet’s birthplace, the celebrations were held at the Casa Museo de Gabriela Mistral. Other major events were held at the Talca campus of the Universidad Autónoma de Chile and at the Gabriela Mistral High School in Temuco.
Meanwhile on social media the hashtag #unarondaparaGabriela was trending, along with an animated video of the poem.
The celebration also marks the beginning of Book Month, during which the Chilean government will present the 2015-2020 National Policy for Reading and Books and the 2015-2020 National Reading Plan.