Gustavo Gac-Artigas facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gustavo Gac-Artigas
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 1944 (age 81–82) |
| Nationality | Chilean American |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Spouse(s) | Priscilla Gac-Artigas |
Gustavo Gac-Artigas, born in Santiago, Chile, in 1944, is a talented Chilean American writer, playwright, actor, and theater director. He has lived in New Jersey since 1995. He is a respected member of several important literary groups, including the North American Academy of the Spanish Language and PEN-Chile. His creative works have been shared with people around the world.
His poetry has been translated into many languages, like English, French, Romanian, Italian, Korean, and Malayalam. It has appeared in well-known literary magazines such as the Revista de la Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española and Latino Book Review. His poems have also been included in several anthologies, which are collections of works by different authors. For example, his work was featured in the Multilingual Anthology for The Americas Poetry Festival of New York multiple times.
Gustavo Gac-Artigas has also written op-eds, which are opinion pieces, for news agencies like Agencia Efe and Le Monde diplomatique since 2015.
Contents
Art Without Borders: The Gac-Artigas Foundation
Gustavo Gac-Artigas and his wife, Priscilla Gac-Artigas, who teaches Latin American literature at Monmouth University, are the owners and curators of a special exhibit. This exhibit is called Memories, Geography of a Decade: Chile 1973-1983. It features 45 original art prints and 25 posters by famous artists. It also includes 50 pictures from the 1973 events in Chile and 25 photos of performances by a theater group called Théâtre de la Résistance-Chili. This group was formed by Chilean artists who had to leave their country and lived in Paris. The exhibit has been shown at several universities and cultural centers, including the University of Pennsylvania and Instituto Cervantes in New York.
Biography of Gustavo Gac-Artigas
In 1968, Gustavo Gac-Artigas traveled to Bulgaria for a youth festival and to Czechoslovakia to see the changes happening during the Prague Spring. When he returned to Chile, he left college to travel through Latin America. He performed a documentary theater play called Poetry Mail in different countries. This play included poems by famous writers and local artists, along with songs and news from newspapers. He traveled from Chile all the way to Bogotá, Colombia, with his play. In Colombia, he worked with important theater artists like Enrique Buenaventura and Santiago Garcia.
In 1971, he returned to Chile. There, he started and directed an experimental theater group called Theatre del Cobre (TEC). This group performed in the Cultural House of the El Teniente copper mine during the time of President Salvador Allende.
TEC's last performance in Chile was at the Chuquicamata mine in the north. They performed a play called Freedom, Freedom, which Gustavo Gac-Artigas had adapted. The play was about a group that opposed the political changes happening in Chile. The performance started on September 10, 1973, and ended with a discussion on September 11.
On September 11, 1973, Gustavo Gac-Artigas was taken into custody. He was later moved to Rancagua, where he was held as a political prisoner. After some months, he was released and had to leave Chile. He went into exile in Paris.
In Paris, he and Colombian actress Perla Valencia started a new theater group called Théâtre de la Résistance-Chili. This group traveled around Europe, performing in international festivals in cities like Avignon and Ljubljana.
In 1984, he tried to go back to Chile. However, he was on a list of people not allowed to enter the country. This meant he could not return home. After this, he and his theater group traveled through Latin America, performing in countries like Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. He spent a year in Colombia. After a period of protest, he was sent back to Europe, this time to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. He had lost his refugee status in France because he had been away for a year.
From 1986 to 1989, he lived in the Netherlands and continued his theater work. His group performed at festivals like the Stagedoor Festival. In 1989, he received the Poetry Park Award for his story Dr. Zamenhofstraat.
In 2018, his novel Y todos éramos actores, un siglo de luz y sombra (And All of Us Were Actors, A Century Of Light And Shadow), translated into English by Andrea G. Labinger, was a runner-up for an International Latino Book Award. In 2025, this novel won the American Legacy Award for Cross-Genre novel.
Gustavo Gac-Artigas moved to New Jersey in 1995 and still lives there today, continuing his writing.
Literary Works
Poetry Collections
- In 2025, Las cadenas de sor Juana / Sor Juana’s Fetters / Les chaînes de sor Juana.
- In 2024, Si lo hubiera sabido….
- In 2024, Confieso que escribo / I Confess that I Write.
- In 2024, POŞTA POEZIEI/El correo de la poesía.
- In 2023, Un poète dans la ville / Un poeta en la ciudad.
- In 2024, Invocación de confines/Invocarea limitei.
- In 2023, Desde el fondo del tintero: Dalibá, la brujita del Caribe and Exiliadas.
- In 2022, hombre de américa/man of the americas.
- In 2020, deseos/longings/j’aimerais tant.
Novels
- Y Todos Éramos Actores, un Siglo de Luz y Sombra (And All of Us Were Actors, A Century Of Light And Shadow) (2016). The English edition, translated by Andrea G. Labinger (2017), was a finalist for the International Latino Book Award in 2018. In 2025, it won the American Legacy Award.
- It Was A Time To Dream (1992), with a second edition in 2016 titled It Was Time To Dream Of The Pregnant Birdies.
- And The Earth Was Round (1993), with a second edition in 2016.
- Ado’s Plot of Land (2002).
- An Ordinary Murder (1994).
Non-Fiction and Chronicles
- CREATIVE NON-FICTION: Waiting for the Revolution: Cuba: The Unfinished Journey (2019). This work was a finalist for the American Legacy Book Award in 2025.
- Chronicle: Navegando los tiempos de la peste (2021), a collection of opinion articles.
College Textbooks
- To The Point: a complete reference manual for Spanish grammar (1999).
- Sans Détour: a complete reference manual for French grammar (1999).
- Roadmap To The Culture And Civilization Of Latin America (2006, sixth edition 2012).
Anthologies (Co-authored)
- Anthology Of Songs Of Struggle And Hope (1973). Co-authored with Perla Valencia.
Awards and Recognitions
Gustavo Gac-Artigas has received many awards for his writing and his overall contributions to literature.
Awards for Literary Texts
- He was a Finalist for the International Book Award in 2025 for Confieso que escribo/I Confess That I Write.
- He was the Winner of the American Legacy Book Awards in 2025 in the cross-genre category for And All of Us Were Actors, A Century of Light and Shadow.
- He was a Finalist for the American Legacy Book Awards in 2025 in the contemporary poetry category for the trilingual collection, deseos/longings/j’aimerais tant.
- He was a Finalist for the American Legacy Book Awards in 2025 in the nonfiction-creative category for Waiting for the Revolution, Cuba, the Unfinished Journey.
- He received the "Ossi di seppia" award in Italy in 2025 for a collection of poems.
- His filmscript, CANTO A LA MEMORIA: A POETIC JOURNEY, AN ODE TO MEMORY, was a Winner in two categories ("Best Feature Script" and "Best True Story Script") at the World Film Festival-France in January 2025. It also received a Silver Award Winner at the Hispanic International Film Festival in March 2025.
- He received an Honorable Mention at the International Latino Book Award in 2024 for hombre de américa/man of the américas.
- He also received an Honorable Mention at the International Latino Book Award in 2024 for Confieso que escribo/I Confess That I Write.
- He was a Finalist for the International Book Award in 2023 for hombre de américa/man of the américas.
- He was a Finalist for the International Latino Book Award in 2018, in the category “best book in translation from Spanish to English” for And All of Us Were Actors, A Century of Light And Shadow.
- He won the Poetry Park Award in Rotterdam in 1989 for his story “Dr. Zamenhofstraat”.
Recognitions for His Overall Work
- He received an award from the Constellation of Academies Mundus, a reproduction of “The Coq” by Brâncuși, in Tomis-Constanza in 2025.
- He received the Coroana de Aur Ovidius Award in Tomis-Constanza in 2024.
- He received the Mihai Eminescu XIII International Poetry Festival Award in Craiova, Romania, in 2024.
- He was honored as a Poet at the 17th Hispanic/Latino Book Fair in Queens in 2023.
- The New York City Council gave him a Proclamation in 2023 for his great achievements in literature.
- The New York State Assembly also gave him a Citation in 2023 for his literary career and for helping to keep the Spanish language alive in the United States.
- The Municipality of Turrialba, Costa Rica, recognized him as a Distinguished Poet in 2023.
