Chilean Writer Luis Sepúlveda Dies of COVID-19 at 70

Luis Sepúlveda, the acclaimed Chilean writer and activist, died on April 16, 2020, at age 70 due to complications from COVID-19. He had been hospitalized in Oviedo, Spain, since late February after contracting the virus at the Correntes d'Escrita literary festival in Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal, where he appeared with his wife. Sepúlveda was the first confirmed coronavirus case in Asturias. Born in Ovalle, Chile, on October 4, 1949, he was a member of Salvador Allende's personal guard and was imprisoned and tortured under the Pinochet regime, later exiled. He authored over twenty books, including the international bestseller "The Old Man Who Read Love Stories" (1989) and the beloved children's tale "Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly" (1996). An environmental activist, he sailed with Greenpeace and lived with the Shuar people in the Amazon during a UNESCO expedition. He founded the Ibero-American Book Fair of Gijón in 1997 and received numerous awards, including the France Culture Award Étrangère (1992), Grinzane Cavour Prize (1996), Chiara Career Award (2014), and was named Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters of France.