Mexican poet Jose Emilio Pacheco dies
MEXICO CITY- Award-winning Mexican poet Jose Emilio Pacheco died Sunday, officials said. He was 74.
"We regret the passing of Jose Emilio Pacheco. Our sympathies to his family and friends," Mexico's National Culture and Arts Council said on Twitter.
President Enrique Pena Nieto also paid tribute.
"A great representative of our (Spanish-language) literature has passed away. Mexico will miss the great writer Jose Emilio Pacheco. May he rest in peace," the president tweeted.
Pacheco, born in Mexico City, was humble despite his fame, rejecting until the last moment the title of greatest living Mexican poet.
"I'm not the best poet of Mexico, not even of my neighborhood," he quipped in 2009, noting that he lived near Argentine poet Juan Gelman, who died earlier this month.
Well known as an essayist, translator and poet, Pacheco won international honors such as Spain's Queen Sofia Iberoamerican Poetry Prize (2009) and the Cervantes Prize (2009), the top award in the Spanish language.
In Latin America, he was honored with the Octavio Paz prize (2003) and Pablo Neruda Iberoamerican Poetry Prize (2004).
The poet was part of the 1950s generation of Mexican literature alongside authors like Sergio Pitol, Carlos Monsivais and Juan Vicente Melo.
Among Pacheco's better known works were "Los trabajos del mar" (1984), "Iras y no volveras" (1973) and his poetry collection "Tarde o temprano" (2009).
Pacheco also worked as a university lecturer in Britain, Canada and the United States.
He is survived by his wife, journalist Cristina Pacheco, and their daughters Laura and Cecilia, a poet laureate, essayist, novelist and translator who published her first works at 16.
--------------------------------------------------------------
"A great representative of our (Spanish-language) literature has passed away. Mexico will miss the great writer Jose Emilio Pacheco. May he rest in peace," the president tweeted.
Pacheco, born in Mexico City, was humble despite his fame, rejecting until the last moment the title of greatest living Mexican poet.
"I'm not the best poet of Mexico, not even of my neighborhood," he quipped in 2009, noting that he lived near Argentine poet Juan Gelman, who died earlier this month.
Well known as an essayist, translator and poet, Pacheco won international honors such as Spain's Queen Sofia Iberoamerican Poetry Prize (2009) and the Cervantes Prize (2009), the top award in the Spanish language.
In Latin America, he was honored with the Octavio Paz prize (2003) and Pablo Neruda Iberoamerican Poetry Prize (2004).
The poet was part of the 1950s generation of Mexican literature alongside authors like Sergio Pitol, Carlos Monsivais and Juan Vicente Melo.
Among Pacheco's better known works were "Los trabajos del mar" (1984), "Iras y no volveras" (1973) and his poetry collection "Tarde o temprano" (2009).
Pacheco also worked as a university lecturer in Britain, Canada and the United States.
He is survived by his wife, journalist Cristina Pacheco, and their daughters Laura and Cecilia, a poet laureate, essayist, novelist and translator who published her first works at 16.
--------------------------------------------------------------