Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month: Gabriela Mistral, first Latina to win the Nobel Prize in Literature

Lucila Godoy Alcayaga, born April 7, 1889 in Chile, is best known by her pseudonym Gabriela Mistral, and is the first Latin-American to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.  When she was 15, she published her first poems in a local newspaper.  

Following several personal tragedies, Mistral channeled her grief into her writing and she produced her first literary work, which was placed first in a national literary contest in Santiago, Chile.  

She released her first book, Desolacion, with aid from Frederico de Onis, the Director of Hispanic Institute of New York in 1922. 

In November 1945, she became the first Latin American and fifth woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Gabriela passed away from pancreatic cancer in New York City in January 1957.