Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

Literature & Poetry

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Pablo Neruda

Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto

Chile

1904-07-12 – 1973-09-23 (69 years old)

One of the greatest lyrical poets of the twentieth century, awarded the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature, whose 'Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair' and epic 'Canto General' gave voice to Latin America.

Isla Negra, El Quisco, Chile

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Literature & Poetry

42

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Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (Pablo Neruda)

Pablo Neruda

Chile

12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973 (69 years old)

Supreme Chilean poet and 1971 Nobel laureate hailed by Gabriel García Márquez as 'the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language', whose Twenty Love Poems, Canto General, and Elemental Odes gave voice to love, labor, and Latin American resistance.

Santiago, Chile

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Literature & Poetry

17

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Jean Sénac

جان سيناك

Algeria

1926 – 1973 (46 years old)

Algerian lyric poet of European heritage who wholeheartedly embraced the Algerian Revolution, serving as a passionate mentor to a generation of young revolutionary poets.

Algiers, Algeria

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Literature & Poetry

5

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Vilhelm Moberg

Vilhelm Moberg

Sweden

1898-08-20 – 1973-08-08 (74 years old)

Towering Swedish novelist and dramatist whose monumental four-volume 'Emigrants' epic chronicled the 19th-century Swedish exodus to Minnesota, selling millions worldwide.

Solna, Sweden

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Literature & Poetry

4

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Arif al-Arif

عارف العارف

Palestine

1891 – 30 July 1973 (82 years old)

Distinguished Palestinian historian, Mayor of Jerusalem (1950-1951), and author of the monumental 'Nakba: The Catastrophe and the Lost Paradise'.

Ramallah, Palestine

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Literature & Poetry

4

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Viriato da Cruz

Viriato Francisco Clemente da Cruz

Angola

1928-03-25 – 1973-06-13 (45 years old)

Pioneering Angolan modernist poet and revolutionary strategist who coined the movement 'Vamos Descobrir Angola!' (Let's Discover Angola!) and served as first Secretary-General of the MPLA.

Beijing, China

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Literature & Poetry

3

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Kamal Nasser

كمال ناصر

Palestine

1924 – 10 April 1973 (49 years old)

Eloquent Palestinian Christian poet and official PLO spokesman known as 'The Conscience', assassinated in Beirut alongside Kamal Adwan and Abu Youssef.

Beirut, Lebanon

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Literature & Poetry

1

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Alejandra Pizarnik

Flora Alejandra Pizarnik

Argentina

1936-04-29 – 1972-09-25 (36 years old)

Cult existentialist poet of Latin America whose intense, laconic verses exploring silence, night, childhood, and death in Árbol de Diana and Extracción de la piedra de locura made her an immortal voice.

La Tablada, Argentina

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Literature & Poetry

2

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Ghassan Kanafani

غسان كنفاني

Palestine

9 April 1936 – 8 July 1972 (36 years old)

Towering Palestinian novelist and cultural icon whose masterworks 'Men in the Sun' and 'Returning to Haifa' gave voice to Palestinian dispossession.

Beirut, Lebanon

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Literature & Poetry

38

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Yasunari Kawabata

川端 康成

Japan

1899 – 1972 (72 years old)

First Japanese writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1968), master of subtle psychological nuance and traditional Japanese aesthetics in Snow Country and Thousand Cranes.

Kamakura, Japan

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Literature & Poetry

1

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Mak Dizdar

Mehmedalija Mak Dizdar

Bosnia and Herzegovina

1917-10-17 – 1971-07-14 (53 years old)

Preeminent 20th-century Bosnian poet whose 1966 masterpiece 'Kameni spavač' ('Stone Sleeper') drew upon medieval stećci tombstone inscriptions to express the tragic, defiant spirit of Bosnia.

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Literature & Poetry

7

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Abdelaziz El Aroui

عبد العزيز العروي

Tunisia

1898 – 1971 (73 years old)

Beloved dean of Tunisian folklorists, journalist, and radio pioneer whose Sunday evening broadcasts Hikayat El Aroui preserved thousands of oral tales, proverbs, and philosophical allegories.

Tunis, Tunisia

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Literature & Poetry

1

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Kenneth Slessor

Kenneth Adolphe Schloesser

Australia

1901-03-27 – 1971-06-30 (70 years old)

Pioneering modernist poet and official World War II war correspondent whose haunting Sydney Harbour elegy 'Five Bells' is celebrated as a masterpiece of Australian modernist verse.

North Ryde, Sydney, Australia

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Literature & Poetry

3

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Arthur Nortje

Arthur Kenneth Nortje

South Africa

1942-12-16 – 1970-12-08 (27 years old)

Brilliant, tragic poet whose posthumous collection 'Dead Roots' (1973) stands as one of the most intense and lyrical expressions of the agony of apartheid exile.

Oxford, United Kingdom

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Literature & Poetry

34

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Yukio Mishima

三島 由紀夫

Japan

1925 – 1970 (45 years old)

Prodigious Japanese author, nationalist, and aesthetician whose Confessions of a Mask, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, and Sea of Fertility tetralogy explored beauty and death.

Fuchu (Tokyo), Japan

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Literature & Poetry

3

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François Mauriac

François Charles Mauriac

France

1885 – 1970 (84 years old)

One of twentieth-century France's greatest Catholic writers, winner of the 1952 Nobel Prize in Literature, author of Thérèse Desqueyroux and Le Nœud de vipères, and fearless opponent of French colonialism in Algeria.

Vémars (Val-d'Oise), France

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Literature & Poetry

3

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Tarjei Vesaas

Tarjei Vesaas

Norway

1897-08-20 – 1970-03-15 (72 years old)

One of Norway's greatest 20th-century authors, writing in Nynorsk, famed for lyrical, psychologically haunting modernist classics such as Fuglane (The Birds) and Is-slottet (The Ice Palace).

Vinje, Norway

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Literature & Poetry

8

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Stijn Streuvels

Frank Lateur

Belgium

1871 – 1969 (98 years old)

Great master of Flemish naturalist prose, nephew of Guido Gezelle, whose iconic novel De vlaschaard (The Flax Field, 1907) elevated the rural struggle of Flemish peasants into a mythic cosmic tragedy.

Ingooigem (Anzegem, West Flanders), Belgium

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