The Mapuche poet Leonel Lienlaf will visit Muhlenberg this March.  Lienlaf, whom Professor James Barnhart-Park met as he researched his dissertation, is the author ofseveral documentary scripts relating to indigenous rights and cultural / environmental conservation. He has done scholarly work on ethno-semiotics and the nature of oral poetry, and has made a musical compact disc containing his reading of his own poetry accompanied by traditional Mapuche music. He has also lead and participated innumerous literary workshops in Chile and abroad.
Lienlaf’s 1989 collection Nepey Ñi Güñün Piuke (Se ha despertado el ave de mi corazón [The bird of my heart has woken]) was the first full-length collection of poetry to be published in bilingual format (Mapuzugun/Spanish) in Chile. It earned him the Premio Municipal de Literatura – a national prize also given to Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda. His work has been published in various anthologies, and translated into several languages.

Leonel Lienlaf

This visit is made possible by the cooperation and assistance of the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Dean Curtis Dretsch, the Department of
Anthropology and Sociology, and the Lectures and Forums Committee.