Gabriela Mistral

Hello! My name is Gabriela Mistral, but that is my special writer's name. I was born with the name Lucila Godoy Alcayaga on April 7th, 1889. I grew up in a small town in Chile called Vicuña. I loved living near the tall Andes mountains and looking at the bright stars in the night sky. Most of all, I loved the power of words. Even when I was a young girl, I knew I wanted to use words to share my feelings and tell stories to the whole world.

When I was just fifteen years old, I started a job I would love my whole life: I became a teacher's helper. It made me so happy to watch children’s faces light up when they learned something new, like how to read and write. At the same time I was teaching, I was also writing. I wrote poems about everything I saw and felt. I wrote about mothers and their babies, the beautiful nature of my country, and my feelings of love and sadness. For me, writing was like singing a song with my heart.

My poems started to become famous, first in my town, and then all over my country of Chile. Soon, people everywhere were reading my words. My love for teaching took me to other countries, too. I traveled to places like Mexico to help them make their schools better for children. Then, in 1945, something wonderful happened. I won a very important award called the Nobel Prize in Literature for my poetry. I was the very first person from Latin America to ever win it. I felt so proud to share the stories of my home with everyone.

I lived to be 67 years old, and my life was filled with the two things I loved most: teaching and writing. Today, people in Chile and all around the world still read my poems. They say my words help them remember how important it is to love each other, to care for children, and to see the beauty in the world. My love for education and poetry is my gift that I hope will be shared forever.