Juan Gelman: the poetic life of a former Xinhua reporter

By the vast and blue Qinghai Lake, Juan Gelman kept puffing away at cigarettes and reciting poems in a low and rhythmic voice.

The 79 year old Argentine is a man of many talents, winner of the Cervantes Literature Prize, former Xinhua correspondent in Argentina, a social activist and a communist. Juan Gelman came to China 45 years ago to participate in the 2nd Qinghai Lake International Poetry Festival and to receive the Golden Tibetan Antelope Poetry Prize from the organizing committee.

Juan Gelman

Jidimajia, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Festival and Vice Governor of Qinghai Province, said in his award presentation speech, “His creation, with its sweet and refined language, as well as its rich and profound imagination, has embodied and safeguarded the dignity of both poetry and human beings.” Zhao Zhenjiang, a professor at Peking University who has translated Gelman’s works, noted, “He is a poet, but more a soldier. In a life that has spanned over half a century, he has been striving all along in the pursuit of truth and the upholding of justice.”

Born in 1930 in Buenos Aires, Juan Gelman joined the Communist Youth League at the age of 15 and was invited to work as a correspondent for Xinhua News Agency in Buenos Aires from 1959 through 1964. With great excitement, he recalled, “I was so proud of working for Xinhua.” Gelman visited China twice in 1960 and 1964 respectively and was received by the State leaders.