Baldomero Lillo

Baldomero Lillo was born on January 6, 1867, in the coal-mining town of Lota. Working for eight years as an administrative clerk in the company stores of the Lota coal mines, Lillo was an eyewitness to the horrific labor conditions, silicosis, and child labor endured by miners working miles beneath the Pacific Ocean floor.

In 1904, he published Sub terra: Cuadros mineros, a tour de force of naturalist social realism that shook the conscience of the nation with harrowing stories like 'La compuerta número 12' (where an impoverished miner chains his terrified eight-year-old son to an air gate in the mine pit). His subsequent 1907 collection Sub sole portrayed rural and coastal laborers with equal dramatic compassion.