Josefina often recounted passages from Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy to the young Zurita and his sister, particularly the section about hell, which she knew by heart.

This early exposure to Dante's work left a lasting impact on Zurita, shaping the themes and imagery that would later permeate his poetry.

[4] Zurita attended school at Liceo Lastarria and later pursued Civil Engineering in Structures at the Federico Santa María Technical University in Valparaíso.

[6][7] After his release, Zurita attempted to find employment that would allow him to fulfill his responsibilities: "My best job was as a salesperson for accounting machines, but it became evident that I wasn't a good salesman.

"During this period, Zurita undertook various artistic actions aimed at critically and creatively integrating and expanding different concepts of art and life.

[8] He carried out various actions using his body as a medium of expression, intending to convey a sense of powerlessness in the face of reality and the need to communicate without words.

Inspired by photographs taken by his then-partner Diamela Eltit, which showed her injuries and burns, Zurita decided to carry out this act in what he described as "a competition in harm, in which of the two would go further in this mutual fury that included self-destruction."

According to Rodrigo Cánovas, author of Lihn, Zurita, Ictus, Radrigán: Chilean Literature and Authoritarian Experience, this book, like its predecessor, "represents a liberation from repressive codes that have attempted to subdue language throughout history.

In October 2012, composer Javier Farías presented the choral piece Cantos de vida nueva in New York, based on Zurita's poem.

The photograph of this inscription concludes the book La vida nueva, and due to its length of 3,140 meters, it can only be read from a high vantage point.

Between 1979 and 2016, Zurita wrote the trilogy comprising Purgatorio (1979), Anteparaíso (1982), and La vida nueva, whose final version was published in 2018.

[14] In 2019, he underwent a successful Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery in Milan, Italy, which greatly alleviated the symptoms of the disease.

In mid-2007, Los países muertos was published, a book that sparked controversy due to its mention of various figures in the Chilean cultural scene.

On May 4, 2013, Zurita was one of the founders of the Marca AC movement, which aimed to draft a new Political Constitution for Chile through the establishment of a constituent assembly.

Books and selections of Zurita's poems have been translated into various languages, including English, German, French, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Italian, Russian, Norwegian, Dutch, Hindi, Slovenian, and Greek.

Since 2008, Zurita began collaborating with the band González y Los Asistentes, led by poet and musician Gonzalo Henríquez, to create music based on recited poems.

[23] In July 2014, Zurita also participated in the 30th-anniversary concert of the Chilean band Electrodomésticos, where he recited the lyrics of the song "Yo la quería" from the 1986 album ¡Viva Chile!