Joaquín Gutiérrez
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Don Joaquín Gutiérrez |
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| Born | Joaquín Gutiérrez Mangel 30 March 1918 Limón, Costa Rica |
| Died | 16 October 2000 (aged 82) San José, Costa Rica |
| Occupation | Writer, journalist |
| Language | Spanish |
| Nationality | Costa Rican |
| Citizenship | Costa Rica, Chile |
| Period | 1937–1999 |
| Genre | Fantasy, children's, socialist realism |
| Literary movement | '40s Generation |
| Notable works | Cocorí, Puerto Limón (Port Limón), Murámonos Federico (Let's Die, Federico), La Hoja de Aire (The Sheet Made of Air) |
| Notable awards | Magón National Prize for Culture, Rapa Nui Prize for Literature, José Martí World Literature Prize |
| Spouse | Elena Nascimento |
Joaquín Gutiérrez Mangel (30 March 1918 – 16 October 2000) was a Costa Rican writer who won multiple awards, and whose children's book Cocorí has been translated into ten languages. In addition to writing children's books, Gutiérrez was a chess champion, war correspondent, journalist, story-teller, translator, professor, and communist activist.
Born to Paula Gutiérrez Ross and Estela Mangel Rosat in Limón on the Caribbean coast, the geographic area that inspired Cocorí, Gutiérrez moved to San José when he was nine years old and studied at Buenaventura Corrales Elementary and then the Colegio Seminario (Seminary School). While attending Liceo de Costa Rica (Costa Rica High School), Gutiérrez and five other students founded a group called the Leftist Student Wing. In 1934, he graduated from Liceo de Costa Rica. He began studying law but was expelled during a student strike. Gutiérrez's father sent him to New York to study English for a year. During his year in New York, he cultivated a friendship with Costa Rican communist Manuel Mora, one of the leaders of the Costa Rican Civil War.
In 1937, he published his first book, Poesías ("Poems"). His second book of poetry was published in 1938, titled Jicaral. In 1939, at the age of twenty-one, Gutiérrez was named Costa Rica's national chess champion and he traveled to Argentina to compete in the World Chess Championships; however, the outbreak of World War II prevented him from further competing. He worked for a time at the Central Bank of Costa Rica and joined the People's Vanguard Party, a communist party.
Shortly thereafter, Gutiérrez traveled to Chile. He was attracted by the election of Pedro Aguirre Cerda, Chile's first leftist president. He returned to Costa Rica but was drawn back to Chile by a job offer from Editorial Nascimiento, one of Chile's largest publishing houses. He began working there while also contributing to Frente Popular (People's Front) and El Siglo (The Century), two leftist newspapers. In 1941, Gutiérrez was awarded the Rapa Nui Prize for Literature in Chile. There, he met his wife, Elena Nascimento, with whom he had two daughters.
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