In 1906, she published an article called “La instrucción de la mujer” (The education of women) that spoke about the limits placed on women’s education. She got a job as a teacher’s aide to earn money to support her mother, while submitting her writings to newspapers. These experiences taught Mistral about life, justice, and fairness, so she began to write about her experiences. She remembered, “I was happy until I left Monte Grande, and then I was never happy again.” Mistral faced many obstacles while in Vicuña, including being accused of stealing school supplies, being denied admission to the Normal School in La Serena because the teachers thought she wrote like a “troublemaker” that was not a Christian, and later the death of her first love by suicide.

When Mistral was eleven years old, she had to leave her happy family in Monte Grande to go to school in Vicuña. Mistral’s grandmother was very religious and loved to teach her the Psalms of David that were biblical poems. Her grandmother also inspired her love for literature and poetry by encouraging her to memorize Bible verses. Even though she did not see him often, his creativity influenced Mistral’s love for poetry. Unfortunately, he left the family when Mistral was three years old and only came back on rare occasions. Mistral’s father was a schoolteacher that would write poems and sing to her with his guitar.

She grew up in the nearby village of Monte Grande with her mother and her sister who was fifteen years older than her. Born in a small town named Vicuña in the Chilean Andes Mountains, her birthplace was four hundred miles away from the capital of Chile. At birth, she was named Lucila Godoy Alcayaga, but later took on the penname Gabriela Mistral. Gabriela Mistral was born on April 7, 1889. She boldly advocated for the rights of women, children, the poor, and many other disadvantaged groups in her community.

All rights reserved.Īs a Chilean author and educator, Gabriela Mistral became the first Latin American author to receive the Nobel Prize in literature. NWHM biographies are generously supported by Susan D. It was written by Kerri Lee Alexander, NWHM Fellow (2018-2020). This biography is reprinted in full with permission from the National Women’s History Museum (United States of America).

Selected poems of gabriela mistral