12 Facts About Juan Gelman

Juan Gelman published more than twenty books of poetry between 1956 and his death in early 2014.

Juan Gelman was a naturalized citizen of Mexico, where he arrived as a political exile of the Process, the military junta that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.

In 2007, Gelman was awarded the Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the most important award for Spanish-language literature.

Juan Gelman's works celebrate life but are tempered with social and political commentary and reflect his painful experiences with the politics of Argentina.

Juan Gelman Burichson was born on 3 May 1930 in the Villa Crespo neighborhood of Buenos Aires to Jewish immigrants from Ukraine.

Juan Gelman's father, Jose Gelman, was a social revolutionary who participated in the Russian Revolution of 1905; he emigrated to Argentina, went back shortly after the October Revolution, and then returned to Argentina for good, disillusioned.

Juan Gelman learned to read when he was three years old and spent much of his childhood reading and playing soccer.

Juan Gelman developed an interest in poetry at a very young age, influenced by his brother Boris, who read him several poems in Russian, a language the boy did not know.

In 1990, Juan Gelman was led to identify his son's remains.

In 1997, Juan Gelman received the Argentine National Poetry Prize, in recognition of his life's work, and in 2007 the Cervantes Prize, the most important prize for Spanish-language writers.

Juan Gelman included Uruguayan police officer Hugo Campos Hermida in a legal suit lodged in Spain for the "disappearance" of his daughter-in-law in Uruguay.

Juan Gelman died at age 83 of complications with preleukemia at his home in the Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City.