Corona took the life of Luis Sepulveda, a popular Chilean writer

Sepulveda was hospitalized with symptoms of the corona virus after attending a literary festival in Portugal. He breathed his last while undergoing treatment there.

Sepulveda gained international recognition in 1986 with the publication of The Old Man Who Read Love Read Love Stories. His award-winning novel was written in the Ecuadorian Amazon under the name ‘Shuar’, about living with an aboriginal people. The novel was later adapted into a film. It starred the famous American actor Richard Dreyfus.

Sepulveda himself has written as well as directed and scripted the film. He has also written several books for children. Many of his readers still say without hesitation how Sepulveda’s ‘The Story of a Seagull’ and ‘The Cat Who Thought Her to Fly’ inspired them.

Like many other leftist writers, activists and intellectuals, this socialist writer was imprisoned for a long time during the reign of Augusto Pinochet, the military ruler of Chile, before he was deported.

The right-wing General Pinochet came to power in 1973, ousting Socialist President Salvador Allende. Sepulvedao was imprisoned the same year, and after two and a half years in captivity, he wrote other articles on Pinochet’s frenzy.

Sepulveda was later released under pressure from the international human rights organization Amnesty International. He was in hiding in Chile for several days before being arrested and deported.