Gabriela Mistral, 'the woman of three centuries' whose voice remains essential in the 21st century.

The voice of Gabriela Mistral , who won the Nobel Prize for Literature 80 years ago , "remains essential in the 21st century," said Diego del Pozo, cultural attaché of the Chilean Embassy in France, in Santander, who defines the Chilean woman as a " writer of three centuries."

"She was born in 1889, grew up, developed her work and won the Nobel Prize in the 20th century, and in 2007 a legacy of more than 20,000 manuscripts that she wrote throughout her career came to light," he explained during the inauguration of the course Gabriela Mistral, eighty years of the Nobel Prize in literature , held at the Menéndez Pelayo International University .

Mistral (Vicuña, 1889–New York, 1957) is considered one of the most important figures in Latin American literature and thought : she was Chile's first female diplomat, the first Latin American woman to win the Nobel Prize, and the second person in the region to do so.

Del Pozo, who wrote the book "Recados completos" about the writer, stated that Mistral became a "global voice" and "cultural ambassador," despite her humble origins in northern Chile, "on the margins of society."

She worked as a rural teacher and defended her indigenous origins throughout her diplomatic and literary career, as well as women's rights and American identity.

"She was rebellious, intimate, visionary, and international," the author emphasized, adding that to study Mistral "you have to understand her in all her facets."

He also emphasized that the poet was an "inexhaustible" source of inspiration and knowledge , with a strong commitment to social transformation and education as a "cornerstone" of society.

His legacy lives on in this century, Del Pozo reiterated, and is a "powerful key to understanding one's own present and to unlocking a more just, more humane, and more conscious future."

Del Pozo celebrated the Chilean government's commemoration of Mistral's 80th Nobel Prize —this year—because it's "unprecedented" and honoring a figure like the poet is "well-deserved and a debt." "We're beginning to do justice, to pay tribute, and to recognize who she is," he noted.

However, the cultural leader lamented that since 1945, no other Latin American or Spanish-speaking woman has been awarded this distinction.

The Menéndez Pelayo International University course will focus on the different facets of Mistral's life , from her time as a rural teacher, through diplomacy and journalism, to her more intimate life and her life beyond her professional life.

The event's opening was attended by María Ángeles Osorio, executive director of the Chile-Spain Foundation, organizer of the event, and Javier Velasco, Chile's ambassador to Spain, among others.