Francisco Coloane was born in the southern Chilean island of Chiloé. His stories and novels, fruit of a literary career that spanned almost sixty years, have been translated into over ten languages. He was awarded the Premio Nacional de Literatura (National Prize for Literature) in 1964 in Chile, and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) by the French Republic. After his death in 2002, the Chilean government officially recognized him as a central figure of 20th-century Chilean literature. He was a great friend of Pablo Neruda and delivered an impromptu eulogy to the poet at an unofficial funeral held in the streets of Santiago on September 23 1973 after General Pinochet had forbidden any public memorial in honor of the Nobel laureate. The movie Tierra del Fuego (2000, directed by Miguel Littin) is based on Coloane’s novel by the same name.

Coloane's Wikipedia profile