“Mi historia está en mis manos y en las manos con que otros las tatuaron.
De mi estadía quedan las magias y los ritos,
unas fechas gastadas por el soplo de un despiadado amor,
la humareda distante de la casa donde nunca estuvimos,
y unos gestos dispersos entre los gestos de otros que no me conocieron.”(“My story is on my hands and on the hands of others who etched it upon me.
—Olga Orozco, “Yo, Olga Orozco”
The rituals and magic from my stay remain,
times worn away by the breath of a ruthless love,
the distant smoke from the house we never entered,
and some vague gestures among the gestures of others who never knew me.”)
Today’s Doodle celebrates Argentine poet Olga Orozco, a master of the surreal, on her 100th birthday. With 18 published volumes, she is widely considered a pivotal figure in 1940s Argentine and Latin American poetry.
Olga Nilda Gugliotta Orozco was born on this day in 1920 in Toay, a small town in central Argentina. The mystery she felt in the region’s endless flat plains had a strong creative influence on her throughout her life.
Orozco took an early interest in poetry and went on to study literature at the University of Buenos Aires. She successfully published her early work in the literary magazine, Canto, and found creative company among a like-minded group of writers that came to be referred to as “The Generation of ‘40.”
In 1946, she published her first book of poetry, “Desde lejos” (“From Far Away”), sparking a prolific creative period that lasted decades and solidified her status among Argentina’s great poets. Her work was marked by a sense of magic and spirituality, exploring possible dimensions beyond the everyday physical world.
In honor of her work, Orozco received many notable awards, including the 1998 FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages—one of the most prestigious honors in Latin American and Caribbean literature.
Happy birthday, Olga Orozco!