Mistral was born in Vicuña, Chile,[3] but grew up in Montegrande, an Andean village where she attended a primary school taught by her older sister, Emelina Molina.

At the age of fifteen, she supported herself and her mother, Petronila Alcayaga, a seamstress, by working as a teacher's aide in Compañía Baja, a seaside town near La Serena, Chile.

In 1904, Mistral published some early poems, including Ensoñaciones ("Dreams"), Carta Íntima ("Intimate Letter"), and Junto al Mar ("By the Sea"), in the local newspapers El Coquimbo: Diario Radical and La Voz de Elqui, using different pseudonyms and variations of her name.

These heartbreaks were reflected in her early poetry and gained recognition with her first published literary work in 1914, Sonetos de la muerte ("Sonnets on Death").

In 1922, Mistral published her debut book, Desolación ("Desolation"),[4] with assistance from Federico de Onis, the Director of the Hispanic Institute of New York.

In 1918, Pedro Aguirre Cerda, the Minister of Education and future President of Chile, appointed her as the director of the Sara Braun Lyceum in Punta Arenas.

She later published Lecturas para Mujeres (Readings for Women), a collection of prose and verse celebrating girls' education, featuring works by Latin American and European writers.

[6] After spending nearly two years in Mexico, Mistral traveled to Washington D.C., where she addressed the Pan American Union, and then continued her journey to New York and Europe.

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.

Like many Latin American artists and intellectuals, Mistral served as a consul from 1932 until her death, working in various locations including Naples, Madrid, Lisbon, Nice,[3] Petrópolis, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Veracruz, Rapallo, and New York City.

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.

This volume contains poems that celebrate the customs and folklore of Latin America and Mediterranean Europe, reflecting Mistral's identification as "una mestiza de vasco," acknowledging her European Basque-Indigenous Amerindian background.

Mistral may be most widely quoted in English for Su Nombre es Hoy ("His Name is Today"): We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life.

To him we cannot answer ‘Tomorrow,’ his name is today.Mistral's work incorporates gray tones and conveys recurring feelings of sadness and bitterness, reflecting her difficult childhood marked by deprivation and a lack of affection at home.

Her writing skillfully combines religious themes with emotions of love and piety, solidifying her position as one of the most esteemed representatives of Latin American literature in the 20th century.

[11] During the 1970s and 1980s, the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet appropriated Gabriela Mistral's image, portraying her as a symbol of "submission to authority" and "social order.

"[12] Author Licia Fiol-Matta challenged the traditional views of Mistral as a saint-like celibate and suffering heterosexual woman, suggesting that she was a lesbian instead.

Despite these claims, Doris Dana, who was 31 years younger than Mistral, explicitly denied in her final interview that their relationship was ever romantic or erotic, describing it as that of a stepmother and stepdaughter.

Mistral suffered from diabetes and heart problems, and she ultimately died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 67 on 10 January 1957,[3] in Hempstead Hospital on Long Island, New York, with Doris Dana by her side.

[14] Having lived through two world wars and other violent conflicts, Mistral's experiences paved the way for her third major collection, Tala (meaning "ravage" according to Gullberg).

Tala encompasses a blend of sacred hymns, simple songs for children, and poems that touch on subjects like water, corn, salt, and wine.

Mistral's collections of poems and songs beautifully express her care for children and the sorrows she endured as a teacher and poet in Latin America.

[16] Several selections of Mistral's poetry have been published in English translation, including those by Doris Dana,[24] Langston Hughes,[25] and Ursula K. Le Guin.