Antonio Cisneros
Antonio Cisneros, born in 1942, is a prominent Peruvian poet widely recognized for his contributions to literature. He has authored over twenty-five poetry collections, alongside translations, screenplays, and prose works. Education played a significant role in his early career as he studied at the University of San Marcos and the Catholic University in Peru, where he published his first poetry collections, including "Destierro" and "David." Cisneros has received various accolades, notably the National Poetry Award in 1965, and he has since gained international recognition for his literary work, which has been translated into multiple languages.
His teaching career has spanned various institutions, including universities in Europe and the Americas, where he has lectured on Latin American literature. Notable awards in his career include the Casa de las Américas Poetry Award and the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Prize for Culture. Cisneros continues to be an influential figure in poetry, actively engaging in lecturing and journalistic writing, with some of his most recognized works being "The Spider Hangs Too Far from the Ground" and "At Night the Cats." His ongoing contributions to literature reflect a rich cultural heritage and a commitment to sharing Peruvian poetry with a global audience.
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Subject Terms
Antonio Cisneros
Writer
- Born: December 27, 1942
- Birthplace: Lima, Peru
- Died: October 6, 2012
Biography
Born in 1942, Antonio Cisneros is probably the best-known living Peruvian poet. He has published several books of translations, screenplays, and prose, as well as over twenty-five of his own collections of poetry, and he is appreciated as a lecturer on college campuses throughout Europe and the Americas.
Cisneros pursued his education in Lima and Arequipa, Peru’s cultural centers. He studied at the University of San Marcos and the Catholic University from 1960 to 1965. During this time, he published his first collections of poetry in Spanish, Destierro (1961) and David (1962) and received the first of his many honors, the National Poetry Award (1965). Cisneros began his journalistic career shortly thereafter; he became a writer for Amaru magazine in 1966 while teaching at the universities of Huamanga and San Marcos. He moved to Europe, where he taught at the University of Southampton and the University of Nice as a professor of Latin American literature and Spanish. In 1974, Cisneros received a doctoral degree in humanities. Throughout his teaching life, he has maintained his professorship at the University of San Marcos while traveling widely and teaching in California, Virginia, and Budapest. From 1985 to 1991, Cisneros also served as director of lectures for the Raúl Porras Barrenechea Institute, an ongoing research collaboration between Peru and France.
Collections of Cisneros’s poetry have been published in English, French, Hungarian, Dutch, and German, as well as in Spanish. Cisneros has also translated the work of other Latin American poets, notably Jorge Lima and Ferreira Gullar, and has written the screenplays for several exhibited short films. The first of these was En la orilla (1976), which was directed by Jorge Suárez. In addition to the National Poetry Award, Cisneros has won many other honors, including the Casa de las Américas Poetry award (1968), a John Simon Guggenheim Scholarship (1978), the Rubén Dario Poetry award (1980), and the Civil Medal of Lima’s Municipality (1987). More recently, in 2000 Cisneros was awarded the prestigious Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Prize for Culture, given by the Organization of American States (OAS).
Cisneros’s best known collections of poetry in English are The Spider Hangs Too Far from the Ground, published in London in 1970, and At Night the Cats, published in New York in 1984. He remains active in poetry, lecturing, and journalistic writing.