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Jorge Edwards Valdés (29 June 1931 – 17 March 2023)[1] was a Chilean novelist, journalist and diplomat. He was the Chilean ambassador to France during the first Sebastián Piñera presidency.
Edwards attendedlaw school at theUniversidad de Chile.
During thepresidency of Salvador Allende, Edwards reopened the Chilean embassy inHavana,Cuba, but only three months later, he decided to leave the island. From this episode he wrote what is perhaps his most famous work,Persona non grata (1971), which made him world famous, in which he criticized the Cuban government.
In June 1994, Edwards accepted the post of Ambassador for Chile before the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which has its headquarters in Paris, a city where Edwards resided for many years.[2] Edwards lived inSantiago de Chile.
In 2008, his novelLa Casa de Dostoievsky won the prestigiousPremio Iberoamericano Planeta-Casa de América de Narrativa, one of the richest literary prizes in the world, worth $200,000.[3]
In 2010, Edwards was granted Spanish citizenship by KingJuan Carlos I of Spain.[4]
Jorge Edwards was the youngest of the Edwards Valdés siblings (Carmen, Laura, Angélica, Luis Germán and himself); on their mother's side (Valdés) they descend directly fromJosé Miguel Carrera.
Jorge Edwards wrote for severalnewspapers in Chile andLatin America (La Nación,Buenos Aires) and Europe (Le Monde, Paris; andEl País,Madrid). A large portion of his journalistic work has been collected in two books:
He has also written essays and biographies:
Jorge Edwards taught a course at theUniversity of Chicago during the autumn quarter of 2008. The course was titledMy personal history of the boom.[6]
