Portrait of Gilberto Owen, Sinaloan poet of the Los Contemporáneos group.

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Gilberto Owen

  • Writer

Sinaloan poet and diplomat, a member of the Los Contemporáneos literary group. Born in El Rosario in 1904, he is regarded as one of the most distinctive voices of the twentieth-century Mexican literary vanguard.

Born
May 13, 1904
Birthplace
El Rosario
Died
March 9, 1952
Place of death
Filadelfia, Pensilvania, Estados Unidos

Biography

Gilberto Owen Estrada was born on 13 May 1904 in El Rosario, Sinaloa. He studied at the Instituto Científico y Literario in Toluca and at Mexico City’s Escuela Nacional Preparatoria.

He belonged to the Los Contemporáneos group, alongside Xavier Villaurrutia, Salvador Novo and José Gorostiza, and contributed to the magazines Ulises and Contemporáneos. His poetry, shaped by French symbolism and biblical and mythological tradition, includes La llama fría (1925), Novela como nube (1928) and Perseo vencido (1948).

Alongside his literary work, he pursued a diplomatic career that took him to Peru, Colombia and the United States, eventually serving as Mexico’s vice-consul in Philadelphia. He died in that city on 9 March 1952.

Related topics

  • Literature

Sources and data

The information on this page comes from public sources.