Editing Gabriela Mistral (section)

==International work and recognition==
[[File:Gabriela Mistral-01.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Gabriela during the 1950s.]]
Mistral's international stature made it unlikely for her to remain in Chile. In mid-1925, she was invited to represent Latin America in the newly formed Institute for Intellectual Cooperation of the [[League of Nations]]. In early 1926, she relocated to France, effectively becoming an exile for the rest of her life. Initially, she made a living through journalism and giving lectures in the United States and Latin America, including [[Puerto Rico]], the [[Caribbean]], [[Brazil]], [[Uruguay]], and [[Argentina]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Gazarian-Gautier |first=Marie-Lise |title=Gabriela Mistral: The Audacious Traveler |publisher=Ohio University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-89680-230-8 |editor-last=Agosín |editor-first=Marjorie |location=Athens |page=270 |chapter=The Walking Geography of Gabriela Mistral}}</ref>

Between 1926 and 1932, Mistral primarily resided in [[France]] and [[Italy]]. During this period, she worked for the League for Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations, attending conferences throughout Europe and the Americas. She held a visiting professorship at [[Barnard College]] of [[Columbia University]] in 1930–1931, briefly worked at [[Middlebury College]] and [[Vassar College]] in 1931, and received a warm reception at the [[University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus|University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras]], where she gave conferences and wrote in 1931, 1932, and 1933.

Like many Latin American artists and intellectuals, Mistral served as a [[Consul (representative)|consul]] from 1932 until her death, working in various locations including [[Naples]], Madrid, [[Lisbon]], [[Nice]],<ref name=":0" /> [[Petrópolis]], [[Los Angeles]], [[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara]], [[Veracruz]], [[Rapallo]], and New York City. While serving as consul in Madrid, she had occasional professional interactions with fellow Chilean consul and Nobel Prize recipient Pablo Neruda. Mistral was among the early writers to recognize the importance and originality of Neruda's work, which she had known since he was a teenager and she was a school director in his hometown of Temuco.

Mistral published hundreds of articles in magazines and newspapers throughout the [[Hispanophone|Spanish-speaking world]]. She had notable confidants such as [[Eduardo Santos Montejo|Eduardo Santos]], [[President of Colombia]], all the elected Presidents of Chile from 1922 to her death in 1957, [[Eduardo Frei Montalva]] (who would be elected president in 1964), and [[Eleanor Roosevelt]].

Her second major volume of poetry, ''Tala'', was published in 1938<ref name="nobel" /> in [[Buenos Aires]] with the assistance of her longtime friend and correspondent [[Victoria Ocampo]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 October 2020 |title=Gabriela Mistral: Noble Poetess |url=https://www.tvhs.org/post/gabriela-mistral-noble-poetess |access-date=26 April 2022 |website=The Three Village Historical Society}}</ref> The proceeds from the sale were dedicated to children orphaned by the [[Spanish Civil War]]. This volume contains poems that celebrate the customs and folklore of Latin America and [[Southern Europe|Mediterranean Europe]], reflecting Mistral's identification as "una [[Mestizo|mestiza]] de [[Basques|vasco]]," acknowledging her European Basque-Indigenous Amerindian background.

On 14 August 1943, Mistral's 17-year-old nephew, Juan Miguel Godoy, whom she considered as a son and called Yin Yin, tragically took his own life. The grief from this loss, along with her responses to the tensions of [[World War II]] and the [[Cold War]] in Europe and the Americas, are reflected in her last volume of poetry published during her lifetime, ''Lagar'', which appeared in a truncated form in 1954. Her partner [[Doris Dana]] edited and published a final volume of poetry, ''Poema de Chile'', posthumously in 1967. ''Poema de Chile'' depicts the poet's return to Chile after death, accompanied by an [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indian]] boy from the [[Atacama Desert|Atacama desert]] and an Andean deer, the [[Hippocamelus|huemul]]. This collection of poetry foreshadows the interest in objective description and re-vision of the epic tradition that would emerge among poets of the Americas, all of whom Mistral carefully read.[[File:MistralEarlyChildhoodCenter.JPG|thumb|left|200px|Gabriela Mistral Early Childhood Center in [[Houston]].<ref name="SchoolHistoriesHoustonISD">"[http://www.houstonisd.org/HISDConnectDS/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=0afe09c28afc3110VgnVCM10000028147fa6RCRD&vgnextchannel=2e2b2f796138c010VgnVCM10000052147fa6RCRD School Histories: the Stories Behind the Names] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710153727/http://www.houstonisd.org/HISDConnectDS/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=0afe09c28afc3110VgnVCM10000028147fa6RCRD&vgnextchannel=2e2b2f796138c010VgnVCM10000052147fa6RCRD|date=July 10, 2011}}." [[Houston Independent School District]]. Retrieved on 24 September 2008.</ref>]]On 15 November 1945, Mistral became the first Latin American and the fifth woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. [[Gustaf V|King Gustav]] of [[Sweden]] presented her with the award in person on 10 December 1945. In 1947, she received an honorary doctorate from [[Mills College at Northeastern University|Mills College]] in [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], [[California]]. In 1951, she was awarded the National Literature Prize in Chile.<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[File:Gabiela Mistral con Santiago Martinez Delgado.jpg|thumb|right|Gabriela Mistral with Master [[Santiago Martínez Delgado]] at [[Columbia University]] in NY, probably October 1930.]] -->

Poor health limited Mistral's travel in her final years. She resided in the town of [[Roslyn, New York]], and then transferred to [[Hempstead, New York]], where she died from [[pancreatic cancer]] on 10 January 1957 at the age of 67. Her remains were returned to Chile nine days later, and the Chilean government declared three days of [[National day of mourning|national mourning]], with hundreds of thousands of mourners paying their respects.

Some of Mistral's best-known poems include ''Piececitos de Niño'', ''Balada'', ''Todas Íbamos a ser Reinas'', ''La Oración de la Maestra'', ''El Ángel Guardián'', ''Decálogo del Artista'', and ''La Flor del Aire''. She also wrote and published approximately 800 essays in magazines and newspapers. Mistral was renowned as a [[correspondent]] and highly regarded orator, both in person and through radio broadcasts.

Mistral may be most widely quoted in English for ''Su Nombre es Hoy'' ("His Name is Today"):
{{blockquote|''We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer ‘Tomorrow,’ his name is today.''}}