Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) was named Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto when he was born. Although he didn’t legally adopt the name Pablo Neruda until 1946, he began using the pseudonym to sign his work much earlier because his father disapproved of his writing. Neruda’s poetry was popular with global audiences during his lifetime, and in 1971 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He is considered by many to be the most widely-read Latin American poet of all time.

In 1921, Neruda left Southern Chile, where he’d grown up, and moved to Santiago for college. He studied French, intending to become a French instructor, but left school before long to focus on writing poetry. He published his first volume, Twilight Book, in 1923. It was followed the next year by Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair, which became his most popular work.

Neruda worked as a Chilean diplomat in various countries between 1927 and 1935. This included Spain, where he was horrified by the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), especially at the hands of ultra-nationalist dictator Francisco Franco. This experience inspired Neruda’s political writings and poetry and led him to join the Communist Party.