Delia Domínguez

Delia Domínguez Mohr (11 August 1931 – 7 November 2022) was a Chilean poet, a member of her country's literary Generation of '50.

Biography A descendant of German settlers, Delia Domínguez lost her mother when she was five years old; Amalia Mohr died of tuberculosis in 1936. Her father, Luis Domínguez, a lawyer and judge, sent her and her brother Luis to boarding school. Delia studied at the Osorno School of German Nuns.

About her time as a schoolgirl, Domínguez remembered that she felt "very lonely, so much that I talked with dogs and horses."

She studied law at the University of Chile, but in her third year she abandoned this and dedicated herself to managing the family farm, Santa Amelia de Tacamó in Osorno. During her student days she suffered her second great tragedy (after the death of her mother): at age 20 she lost the love of her life. Delia recalled: Quote|I never wanted like that before him and I never wanted that way again. He took away, with his death, my love. I studied law in Santiago. He had a dairy in the south with a partner. We were together three years, already excited, with that little ring that precedes the final commitment. My father had come to see me and, that day, we went to the Crillón for tea. While they were attending to us, he passed me the paper – he did not know either. I opened it and saw the news: "Young man shot in Osorno." Four bullets hit him; he died instantly. The murderer was an ex-worker of his. That day a part of my joy went away. It was very brutal.

She was director of the and its magazine, Alerce.

As a member of the Academia Chilena de la Lengua, she occupied its 4th chair on 25 May 1992. Her incorporation speech was titled Señales de una Poesía Mestiza en el Paralelo 40° Sur.

After her father died in 1970, she lived in the same house in the Santiago neighborhood of Providencia.

Pablo Neruda, her friend, said of her: On 7 November 2022, Domínguez died at the age of 91.

Awards and distinctions 1966 Pedro de Oña Municipal Award Illustrious daughter of the city of Osorno, 1992 1996 National Book Council Award 1999 Felipe Herrera Lane Foundation Award 2001 Universidad Mayor Award Finalist for the 2001 Altazor Award for Poetry for Huevos revueltos 2005 Pablo Neruda Order of Artistic and Cultural Merit

Works Simbólico retorno, 1955 La tierra nace al canto, 1958 Obertura siglo XX, 1961 Parlamentos del hombre claro, 1963 Contracanto, 1968 El sol mira para atrás, 1973 Pido que vuelva mi ángel, 1982 La gallina castellana y otros huevos, 1995 Huevos revueltos, 2000 Clavo de olor, 2004 El sol mira para atrás. Antología personal de poesía y prosa, Catalonia, 2008; incorporates poems from other books Paralelo 40 Sur, anthology, with poems and unpublished stories, 2012