Pablo Neruda was born Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto in Parral, Chile, in 1904. He served as consul in Burma and held diplomatic posts in various East Asian and European countries. In 1945, a few years after he joined the Communist Party, Neruda was elected to the Chilean Senate. Shortly thereafter, when Chile's political climate took a sudden turn to the right, Neruda fled to Mexico, and lived as an exile for several years. He later established a permanent home at Isla Negra. In 1970 he was appointed as Chile's ambassador to France, and in 1971 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Pablo Neruda died in 1973.

Forrest Gander was born in the Mojave Dessert and grew up in Virginia. He is a writer and translator with degrees in geology and English literature. Among his recent books are Eiko & Koma and two anthologies: Panic Cure: Poetry from Spain for the 21st Century and Pinholes in the Night: Essential Poems from Latin America (with Raúl Zurita) (Copper Canyon Press, 2014). He also translated Alfonso D'Aquino's fungus, skull, eye, wing (Copper Canyon Press, 2013). Gander's book Core Samples from the World, an investigation into the way the self is revised and translated in encounters with the foreign, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He is the Adele Kellenberg Seaver Professor of Literary Arts and Comparative Literature at Brown University.

Books by Pablo Neruda (translated by Forrest Gander):

Forrest Gander's Website.

Pablo Neruda According to Wikipedia.