Raúl Zurita

Raúl Armando Zurita Canessa (born January 10, 1950) is a Chilean poet. He has received the Queen Sofia Prize for Ibero-American Poetry in 2020, the National Literature Prize in 2000, and the Pablo Neruda Ibero-American Poetry Award in 2016. Born to Raúl Armando Zurita Inostroza and Italian immigrant Ana Canessa Pessolo, Raúl Zurita grew up in a bilingual environment where Italian was predominantly spoken. His father died when Zurita was only two years old, leaving his mother to support the family through secretarial work. As a result, Zurita and his sister, Ana María, were primarily cared for by their grandmother, Josefina.

Josefina played a significant role in Zurita's upbringing. She held a strong attachment to Italy and viewed Chile as a miserable country. Her nostalgia for Italy led her to frequently discuss Italian culture and figures with Zurita and his sister during their childhood. Josefina often recounted passages from Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy to the young Zurita and his sister, particularly the section about hell, which she knew by heart. This early exposure to Dante's work left a lasting impact on Zurita, shaping the themes and imagery that would later permeate his poetry.Zurita recalls a childhood marked by economic hardship. His family had inherited houses in Iquique, Chile, but the value of these properties had diminished, leading to financial struggles. While Zurita characterizes his childhood as one of poverty, he emphasizes that it was not proletarian poverty. His father, who had studied engineering, fell ill with pleurisy and died at the age of 31. Josefina had opposed her daughter's marriage because she considered him a uomo malato, or a sick man. After his death, Josefina became a widow just two days later.Zurita attended school at Liceo Lastarria and later pursued Civil Engineering in Structures at the Federico Santa María Technical University in Valparaíso. During his university years, he became a member of the Communist Party, a political affiliation he continues to maintain.Around 1970, Zurita was part of the literary scene in Valparaíso, where he associated with other writers and artists, including Juan Luis Martínez, Eduardo Embry, and Juan Cameron.

Zurita married Miriam Martínez Holger, a visual artist and the sister of his poet friend Juan Luis Martínez, at the age of 20. The couple had three children: Iván, Sileba, and Gaspar. However, shortly after the birth of their youngest child, Gaspar, the marriage came to an end.