Chilean writer Antonio Skarmeta dies

The Chilean writer Antonio Skarmeta, whose most famous novel, ardent patience, was adapted for the cinema in 1994 under the title The postmanwith Philippe Noiret who plays Pablo Neruda, died Tuesday October 15 at the age of 83, his family announced to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“My father actually died this morning. It’s a long process that started years ago with Alzheimer’s disease and ended with natural death.”said Fabian Skarmeta.

His work, which includes a dozen novels and numerous tales, stories, poems, works for young people and plays, has been awarded numerous prizes. In 2014, he received Chile’s National Literature Prize, the country’s highest award.

Exile

“Thank you, maestro, for the life you have lived. For stories, novels and theater. For political commitment »wrote Chilean President Gabriel Boric on 1990s and “who expanded the boundaries of literature”.

An ardent patiencepublished in 1987, tells of the friendly relationship of a young postman with Pablo Neruda, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. Michael Radford’s film adaptation received the Oscar for best music in 1996.

Born on November 7, 1940 in Antofagasta, northern Chile, Antonio Skarmeta studied philosophy at the University of Chile, where he worked years later as a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and as a theater director. After Augusto Pinochet’s military coup in 1973, he went into exile in Argentina and then in Germany, where he served as Chilean ambassador in the 2000s.