Leopoldo Castilla (Salta, Argentina, 1947). Author of 23 poetry books, including Manada and Gong. In narrative he published several stories and a novel, in addition to essays such as The Tree of the Copla, The Song of the Catatumbo or Diary in the Perestroika. His poetry has been translated into English, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Swedish, Macedonian and Turkish. Distinctions: in Argentina, First Prize of Poetry of the City of Buenos Aires, First Prize of the National Arts Fund, Fundarte’s Golden Book of the Year for his Book of Egypt, Konex Award, Copper Rose Award from the National Library for his entire career, Award for the Best Poetry Book of the 2015-2017 triennium by the Argentine Academy of Letters, Grand Prize of Honor of the Argentine Foundation for Poetry, Esteban Echeverría Poetry Prize with the vote of writers from all over the country. In Venezuela he won the First Prize of the Víctor Valera Mora International Poetry Contest, organized by the Rómulo Gallegos Center for Latin American Studies and the University of Carabobo decorated him for his lifetime work. In 1976 he fled to exile in Spain, persecuted by the military dictatorship in his country. Leopoldo worked as journalist and puppeteer, and toured five continents writing a work that already has twelve volumes—a song to the planet where he tells, in poetry, his travelling experience. His short story The raid remained unpublished for more than 30 years and would later be made into an eponymous feature film directed by Rolando Pardo.
