Juan Gelman.

Juan Gelman’s parents, Jewish Ukrainian immigrants, settled in Buenos Aires, where he was born on 3 May 1930. At the National School of Buenos Aires, he developed his literary skills. The political unrest in Argentina and his family’s experience of persecution would later shape his poetic themes.

In the 1950s, Gelman’s poetry started to attract attention. He wrote over 20 collections, translated into 14 languages. In 2007, he won the Miguel de Cervantes Prize. He also received the Reina Sofía Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He collaborated on films such as The Dark Side of the Heart 1992 and wrote columns for major newspapers.

Gelman married Mara La Madrid. They had a son, Marcelo Ariel Gelman Schuberoff. In the 1970s, during Argentina’s dictatorship, military forces abducted his son and his pregnant daughter-in-law. Gelman searched for them for decades. In 2000, he found his granddaughter, born in captivity and given to a pro-government family in Uruguay. This event became a central theme in his work.

The Miguel de Cervantes Prize in 2007 crowned his literary career. He wrote over 20 poetry collections translated into 14 languages. His decades-long search for his abducted son and his granddaughter’s recovery made him a key figure in Argentina’s human rights movement.