Mir, Pedro

▪ 2001

      Dominican poet (b. June 3, 1913, San Pedro de Macorís, Dom.Rep.—d. July 11, 2000, Santo Domingo, Dom.Rep.), was national poet of the Dominican Republic from 1982 until his death. His poems celebrated the working class and examined aspects of his country's painful past, including colonialism, slavery, and dictatorship. By his mid-30s Mir had developed a prominent literary reputation. His social commentary, however, angered Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, and Mir was forced into exile in 1947. He spent the next 15 years in Cuba (where he published perhaps his best-known poetry collection, Hay un país en el mundo, in 1949), Mexico, and the Soviet Union. Mir returned to the Dominican Republic in 1962, a few months after Trujillo's assassination. He continued his prolific writing career, publishing essays and novels as well as poems. He was awarded the Dominican National Prize for History in 1975 and was appointed national poet seven years later. In 1993 Mir also received the National Prize for Literature for lifetime achievement.

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