Olga Orozco


Olga Orozco was an Argentine poet. She was a recipient of the FIL Award.

Biography

She was born in Toay, La Pampa, to Carmelo Gugliotta, a Sicilian from Capo d'Orlando, and an Argentinean mother, Cecilia Orozco. She spent her childhood in Bahía Blanca and at age 16 moved to Buenos Aires with her parents, where she studied at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Buenos Aires, and later initiated her career as a writer.
She began working for a newspaper company, where she published works under various pseudonyms.
Orozco directed some literary publications using some pseudonymous names while she worked as a journalist. She was a member of the «Tercera Vanguardia» generation, which had a strong surrealist tendency. No other information was provided about the group other than the fact that it functioned like a political party. Her poetic works were influenced by Rimbaud, Nerval, Baudelaire, Miłosz, and Rilke. Orozco's poetry explores themes of self-identity, death, mythology, and the occult. Her distinct style of writing and prosaic complexity have earned Orozco numerous literary awards, cementing her as "one of the major South American poets of the twentieth century". Her works have been translated into various languages.
Olga Orozco died in Buenos Aires from a heart attack at the age of 79.

Prizes

  • «Primer Premio Municipal de Poesía»
  • «Premio de Honor de la Fundación Argentina»
  • «Gran Premio del Fondo Nacional de las Artes»
  • «Premio Esteban Echeverría»
  • «Gran Premio de Honor» de la SADE, «Premio Nacional de Teatro a Pieza Inédita»
  • «Premio Nacional de Poesía»
  • «Laurea de Poesia della Università di Torino»
  • «Premio Gabriela Mistral»
  • «Premio de Literatura Latinoamericana y del Caribe Juan Rulfo».

Tribute

On March 17, 2020, Google celebrated her 100th birthday with a Google Doodle.

Main works

Engravings Torn from Insomnia, trans Mary Crow, BOA Editions, Ltd., 2002. Finalist for a PEN USA Translation Award. Published with a Lannan grant.
  • Desde lejos
  • Las muertes
  • Los juegos peligrosos
  • La oscuridad es otro sol
  • Museo salvaje
  • Veintinueve poemas
  • Cantos a Berenice
  • Mutaciones de la realidad
  • La noche a la deriva
  • En el revés del cielo
  • Con esta boca, en este mundo .