Revered around the world for his universal verse, Pablo Neruda also left a legacy as being one of the most iconic and important resistance poets of his century. His relationship to readers and to his own writing was extraordinarily shaped by time of political crisis and authoritarianism. In our current political climate, what does Neruda give us now, both in the utility of his actual words and in his example? What might this poet’s tumultuous and influential journey through political upheavals, uprisings, and exiles offer us as we continue to shape the next chapter in our own cultural story? Mark Eisner, the author of the recently published biography of Pablo Neruda; Forrest Gander, translator of the lost Neruda poems only recently discovered; novelist, poet and translator Idra Novey; and Chilean poet, artist and filmmaker Cecilia Vicuña find some answers in the vivid details of Neruda’s life and work and in his lasting influence on generations of poets and activists.
Presented as part of the PEN World Voices festival
