Bio

My project involves the creation of a new work of Chilean lyrical poetry (written in décimas, or ten-line stanzas of poetry) set in the first year of the repressive Chilean Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1974). This verse form is rooted in Chilean popular culture, such as Violeta Parra’s 'Décimas: Autobiografía en verso', but has broader roots in the writings of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Góngora, Quevedo and the Spanish lyric tradition.

The research involves two specific areas: the creation of a substantial bilingual poem in décimas, and an extended critical and methodological essay. The poetry cycle will narrate the historical voyage of a group of Chilean political prisoners from the port of Valparaíso to the Atacama Desert, on the Andalién cargoship. These prisoners were all detained for political reasons following the coup d’etat which ended Allende’s administration.