Marcela Paz

Marcela Paz studied at Academy of Painting (Santiago, Chile). The recorded working language is Spanish. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are children's and young adult. Works named in the authority record are Papelucho. Work by Marcela Paz is recorded in the collections of Memoria Chilena. Distinctions recorded are National Prize for Literature (Chile).

Marcela Paz was born in Santiago, Chile on February 28, 1902 (even though her biography indicates that she was born on February 29; however, 1902 was not a leap year). She was born into a well-off family and was the second eldest of eight children of Francisco Huneeus Gana and María Teresa Salas Subercaseaux. Since her youth she found refuge in solitude and in imagination, particularly after the death of Anita, her older sister, when Ester was only 11 years old. This added to the absence of friends her own age. Ester never went to a formal school but instead her education was left in charge of governesses. In 1929 she traveled to France, where during a few months she studied courses in the visual arts.

In 1947 Paz published her first book with her most famous character, Papelucho. Papelucho became a companion and an inspiration to generations of children and perhaps one of Chile's most well known humanized characters of the twentieth century. Between 1964 and 1967, she directed the Asociación Internacional del Libro Juvenil, the Chilean chapter of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY). In 1968 she received a Hans Christian Andersen honour diploma. In 1979 she received the gold medal from the Instituto Cultural de Providencia. In 1982, she was awarded with the Premio Nacional de Literatura de Chile.