Antonio Skármeta

Biography

Antonio Skármeta is one of Latin America’s most revered novelists. Skármeta received international acclaim when his 1985 novel El cartero de Neruda became the Oscar-nominated film Il Postino. His other awards include France’s Prix Médicis for La boda del poeta (The Poet’s Wedding, 1999) and the Boccaccio Europa for No pasó nada (Nothing Happened, 1996). In 2003 he received the Planeta Award for his novel El baile de la victoria (The Dance of Victory) and the UNESCO Prize for Children’s and Young People’s Literature in the Service of Tolerance for his children’s book La composición (The Composition).

See Work

ESSAYS / Winter 2005

The Infinite Brunette

By Antonio Skármeta

Imagine that you were born in an infinitely long and skinny country stretched out between a jagged mountain range and a lively sea that flogs thousands of kilometers.

Imagine now that this country has a poet.

That is to say, A POET.