Born in 1906 in La Unión, a small town in Nariño, Colombia, Aurelio Arturo practiced law for many years before being published as a poet. In 1928, during his law degree at the Universidad Externado de Colombia, he published his first poems in the university magazine and released some translations as a recreational activity. It was only in 1963 that he had his first and only book of poetry published, Morada al sur, which compiled a series of his poems written between the years 1945 and 1963.
Arturo grew up in a small town, far from the civil wars in the capital, and had a childhood surrounded by the rural world. However, as a young boy he moved to Bogotá, where he would live for the next few years. It was then that he began his legislative career and served as a magistrate, as well as joining the U.S. Embassy as a translator. His early adult life as a university student in a capital city was divided between his professional legislative responsibilities and his poetic writing, a passion that was for a long time silent and hidden from the media.
While working as a cultural official for Colombia and the U.S. Embassy, he directed the radio literary magazine “Voces del Mundo"” which instigated the participation of many young people in literature, as well as himself. He began translating contemporary English language poetry and further developed his creative writing skills when he travelled to the United States. Starting in 1932, he began writing poetry for Colombian media outlets, such as El Tiempo and El Espectador, and was part of the literary group “Piedra y Cielo.”
In 1963, his only book of poetry, Morada al sur, was compiled and published. It brings together the various texts published by the poet during his life as a writer for different magazines and newspapers. The book presents fourteen poems that extol memories of the author’s homeland. Arturo’s poetry speaks of how paradise is embodied through nature, which allows man and woman to merge with the earth. Moreover, the world is contemplated through its natural riches and the deepest human feelings. As a result, the book of poems won the Guillermo Valencia National Poetry Prize, and in 1977, the Colombian Institute of Culture added seventeen more texts to the work, for a total of 31 poems written between the years 1931 and 1960.
After being wrongly diagnosed with cancer in 1971, Arturo underwent a surgical procedure that resulted in a coma. However, it was not until three years later, on November 24, 1974, that he died of an aneurysm. A few months before his death, the lawyer and poet had received an honorary degree in Philosophy and Letters from the University of Nariño, in his hometown in Colombia. Aurelio Arturo, a person who started out unknown in the arts, is, today, prestigious and respected by the younger generations of literary people.
