Lilia Gutiérrez Riveros was born in Macaravita, a Colombian city located in the Eastern Cordillera, in 1956. She became a scholar of the sciences, whilst at the same time, dedicating herself to a career as a poet, essayist, and narrator. Many of her poems have been translated into various languages, including English, French, Portuguese, Arabic, and Mandarin, as have some of her anthologies and critical studies. The author was the winner of the 2010 World Ecopoetry Contest, as her literary work focused on respect for all forms of life. That same year, Gutiérrez Riveros was also named the Ambassador of Peace of the Universal Circle of Ambassadors of Peace.
A chemist and biologist, with a background in quantum medicine and astrochemistry, she has spent years of her career as a university professor and cultural official. However, her passion for the mountains and rivers of Macaravita prompted her to explore her creative writing skills. In total, she has authored 10 books of creative writing in different genres, including the poetry books La cuarta hoja del trébol (1997) and Intervals (2005), as well as 15 chemistry books, 13 biology books, and more than 20 publications on scientific methodology.
Based on her belief that poetry needed to occupy more space, Gutiérrez formed the Poetry Without Borders Foundation, which has held annual meetings since 2006. The project aims to break down any geographical or gender barriers in poetry, featuring poets from countries in Latin America, North America, and East Asia. She also encouraged the participation of several international poets in the Poets for Life Conference in 2011, whose primary focus was on the knowledge of human ancestry and nature for literary creation. The program of the event included a tree-planting day, in which each poet would plant a tree and assign children to care for it.
Gutiérrez’s initiatives and achievements reflect her ideals of defending the earth and the environment. This is clear in her poetry, which often criticizes the human neglect of nature for the sake of individual interests. Her poetics also encourage reverence for our planet and the nature that surrounds us, as can be seen in the poems “Mar Caribe” (2011) and “Somos Tierra” (2011).
