A Night for Neruda @ Edinburgh City Chambers, 13 Sep

Preview by Dima Alzayat | 12 Sep 2013

This Friday evening, the Chile: 40 Years On, Scotland Network will honour the life and work of internationally renowned Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. The one-night celebration will feature performances by acclaimed poets including Scotland’s Makar Liz Lochhead, Edinburgh’s Makar Ron Butlin, Neu! Reekie's Michael Pedersen and Chilean poet Pablo San Martin Varela, as well as Gaelic singer Dolina McLennan.

The tribute is part of a wider programme commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Chilean coup d'état of 1973 that ousted Chile’s constitutional president, Salvador Allende, and ushered in a brutal 17-year dictatorship headed by General Augusto Pinochet. Under Pinochet’s rule, thousands of Chileans were killed, tortured, or ‘disappeared.’ Hundreds of thousands were forced into exile, 500 of whom sought refuge in Scotland.

Born in 1904, Neruda is considered one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century and one of the most influential figures in Latin American literature. His poetry is renowned for its fantastic imagery and surreal use of language, and garnered him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. In addition to being a poet, Neruda was a diplomat and politician and wrote historical epics and political manifestos.

At the time of the coup, Neruda was hospitalised with cancer and died of a heart attack several days later, on 23 September, 1971. Like many of his intellectual contemporaries, Neruda supported the ousted Allende and recent reports implicate Pinochet’s regime in his death.

The Chile: 40 Years on Scotland Network’s commemoration programme continues until 2 October and includes a day of Chilean film at the Edinburgh Filmhouse, an exhibition of the iconic political posters of Larrea, and an anniversary concert celebrating the life and music of revolutionary artist Victor Jara. Event listings can be found at chile40yearson.org.

Edinburgh City Chambers, Members’ Lounge, Royal Mile, 13 Sep, 7pm, Free http://www.chile40yearson.org/ai1ec_event/a-night-for-neruda/?instance_id=1245