José Santos Chocano

José Santos Chocano
The Singer of Americas
Born	José Santos Chocano Gastañodi May 14, 1875 Lima Peru -  Peru
Died	December 13, 1934(1934-12-13) (aged 59) Santiago de Chile -  Chile
Nationality	Peruvian
Known for	Poet, writer, journalist, diplomat and entrepreneur
Notable work	Iras Santas, Alma de América, Fiat Lux.
Awards	Gold medal from El Ateneo De Lima

José Santos Chocano Gastañodi (May 14, 1875 – December 13, 1934) was a Peruvian poet and political activist, whose work was widely praised across Europe and Latin America. Chocano interacted with major Spanish poets, as well as statesmen from many different regimes, where he was treated as a poet laureate. He claimed to have rediscovered Latin America through verse in his 1906 collection 'Alma América', which carried an introduction by the distinguished philosopher-poet Miguel de Unamuno. Chocano was involved in many violent feuds with other intellectuals, and was jailed for shooting a journalist who had criticised him. In his turn, Chocano was stabbed to death on a tram in Santiago de Chile by an unknown assailant.

Born in Lima, Peru, Chocano was admitted to the National University of San Marcos at the early age of 14 years After a short term in jail for political activism, he relocated to Madrid in the early 20th century. In this city his poems were first recognized by the Spanish literary and artistic circles; many notable artist and writers invited him to recite his poems at their reunions. This allowed Chocano to interact with prominent Spanish and Latin American intellectuals and artist such as: Juan Gris, who become known by this pseudonym incidentally by signing his the series of modernist style illustrations that he created for Chocano's books entitled Alma América and Poemas Indoespañoles (Soul America: Indo-Spanish poems) in 1906.Miguel de Unamuno, who wrote the prologue for his book "Soul America"; Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo, and Rubén Darío and thus his name reached a prominent status not only in Spain, but in France and all over Latin America. His 1906 poetry collection, Soul America, was offered and taken as a "New World" corrective to the purportedly cosmopolitan modernismo of Ruben Darío. Chocano as a sophisticated writer, whose metrics and creativity was sought by many statesmen, who contracted his services as a writer and adviser for many years, thus Chocano worked for different regimes and traveled a decade and a half through Latin and Central America, where he thanks to his status as a prominent and skillful writer, befriended an astonishing variety of political figures from different points on the ideological spectrum, such as: Pancho Villa in Mexico, Manuel Estrada Cabrera in Guatemala, and evenly Woodrow Wilson in the USA, with whom he struck up a correspondence. After the coup which deposed Estrada Cabrera in 1920, Chocano was briefly imprisoned, and subsequently returned to Peru, where he became associated with President Augusto B. Leguía. On November 5, 1922, Chocano was recognized by the government of Peru as a most notable poet of Peru, he was laureated as "The Poet of America" in a ceremony featuring Leguia himself, various ministers, delegates from all the provinces of Peru, and a number of young and established writers.