Publisher plans first English-language release for Pablo Neruda’s debut poetry collection

NEW YORK, N.Y. – A non-profit publisher has acquired rights to the late Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda’s first collection of poems, which has never been translated in English, and has launched a $50,000 Kickstarter campaign to help get it released.

Copper Canyon Press announced Monday that it plans to release Neruda’s “Crepusculario” in 2017. The Chilean poet was 19 when he self-published the book in 1923, and allegedly sold his father’s gold watch to raise money. “Crepusculario” is a variation of the Spanish word for twilight, crepusculo, and has been referred to as “Book of Twilight” or “Twilight Book.”

Copper Canyon, based in Port Townsend, Washington, already plans to publish a collection of recently discovered Neruda poems, “Then Come Back: The Lost Neruda,” in 2016.