Pedro Shimose Kawamura, born in Riberalta, Beni, Bolivia, in 1940, has established himself as a voice of the Bolivian people. Although best known for his poetry he is also a journalist, composer of popular music, art and cinema critic, fiction writer, and sketch artist. His literary creations have been recognized with both international and domestic prizes, the most prestigious of them, Cuba's Premio Internacional de Poesía de Casa de las Américas (International Poetry Prize of House of the Americas), was awarded in 1972. Shimose has distinguished himself within the Bolivian intellectual community and is a member of the Academy of Bolivian Language. In the 1950s Juan Quirós founded a literary group, Prisma (Prism), in which Shimose participated. His literary generation includes Octavio Campero Echazú, Jesús Urzagasti, and Oscar Rivera Rodas. Many critics note that other twentieth-century Latin American poets, such as...