Guest Speakers

ELIKURA CHIHUAILAF

Panelist

Poet ~ Temuco, Chile

 

Elikura is from the Mapuche Nation in southern Chile. In his language of Mapuzugun, “mapu” means land and “che“, means people. He is a poet and an “oralitor”, a special kind of writer who stays close to the source of his writing: the oral culture of his elders. He is a professor at Universidad Mayor in Temuco Regional Campus in Chile and a member of the ARCIS University in Santiago. Elikura is also in the Editorial Committee of “Rocinante”, a magazine of art, culture, and society, and he is the General Secretary of the “Indigenous Languages Writers of America Association”.

Elikura has numerous books and publications and his work is being translated into English. Some of his most notable contributions to the Chilean and international writing landscape include: El invierno y su imagen, (Winter and its image) 1997; De sueños azules y contrasueños, (Of blue dreams and counter dreams) 2000, and Recado confidencial a los Chilenos (Confidential Message to Chileans) 1999. His poems have been translated and published in Italian, German, Dutch, Croatian, Hungarian, English, Swedish, and Flemish.

Elikura is the recipient of numerous poetry and essay awards. His writings have been set to music and adapted for theatre and contemporary dance groups. Elikura has worked across the globe - in France, México, Colombia, Holland, Italy and Sweden. In October 2005 he visited Victoria BC invited by PUENTE Theatre.