Juan Gelman (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1930) is one of the most read and influential poets in the Spanish language. He was published more than twenty books of poetry since 1956 and was been translated into fourteen languages. A political activist and critical journalist since his youth, Gelman was not only been a literary paradigm but also a moral one, within and outside of Argentina. Among his most recent awards were the National Poetry Prize (Argentina, 1997), the Juan Rulfo Prize in Latin American and Caribbean Literature (Mexico, 2000), the Pablo Neruda Prize (Chile, 2005), the Queen Sofia Prize in Ibero-American Poetry (Spain, 2005), and the Cervantes Prize (the most important award given to a Hispanic writer, Spain, 2007). He died in Mexico City in 2014.