Poet, filmmaker, performance artist, painter, and sculptor Cecila Vicuña was born in Santiago de Chile. After studying Fine Arts at the University of Chile, she was awarded a scholarship by the British Council to study art in London. The 1973 military coup in Chile forced her to remain in England where she participated in opposition movements. In 1980 she moved to New York City, where she continues to live and work.

She has published twelve books of poetry including her latest volumes, The Precarious/quipoem (Wesleyan University Press, 1997), and Word and Thread (Morning Star Publications, 1996). She has performed "ritual readings" throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Her poetry was the subject of an hour-long documentary in the Rohm and Haas "Poet Vision" series. Her own films, installations, and performance pieces have been exhibited at, among others, the Museum of Modern Art, the New Museum in New York, and at other museums in Amberes, Berkeley, Bogotá, and Santiago de Chile.

She is recipient of many honors and including an Arts International Award from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund in 1992 and the Human Rights Exile Award from the Fund for Free Expression in 1985.

Selected Poetry in Spanish and English:

• Word and Thread, translated by Rosa Alcalá, Morning Star Publications, 1996.
• La realidad es una línea, Kanaal Art Foundation, 1994.
• PALABRAmas/WURWAPPINschaw, translated by Edwin Morgan, Morning Star Publications, Folio 5/2, 1994.
• Unravelling Words and the Weaving of Water, edited by Eliot Weinberger, translated by Eliot Weinberger and Suzanne Jill Levine, Graywolf Press, 1992.
• La Wik’uña, , Francisco Zegers Editor, 1990.
• Samara, Ediciones Embalaje, Museo Rayo, 1986
• Luxumei o el Traspié de la Doctrina, Editorial Oasis, 1983
• Precario/Precarious, translated by Anne Twitty, Tanham Press, 1983.
• Siete Poemas, Ediciones Centro Colombo Americano, 1979.
• Saboramí, translated by Felipe Ehrenberg with the author, Beau Geste Press, 1973.

Poetry in Anthologies (a selection):

• Poems for the Millennium Volume II, edited by Jerome Rothenberg and Pierre Joris, The University of California Press, Fall, 1997.
• Veinticinco Años de Poesía Chilena, selección de Teresa Calderón, Lila Calderón, y Thomas Harris, fondo de Cultura Económica, 1996.
• Voicing Today’s Visions, Edited by Mara R. Witzling, Universe Publishing, 1994.
• These Are Not Sweet Girls, Poetry by Latin American Women, edited by Marjorie Agosin, White Pine Press, 1994.

Poetry in Magazines (a selection):

The American Poetry Review, Shambala Sun, Review: Latin American Literature and Arts, Palimpesto, Revista Universitaria, and Hora de Poesía

Books Edited:

• ÜL, Four Mapuche Poets, a bilingual anthology edited by Cecilia Vicuña, translated by Jonn Bierhorst, Americas Society, Fall 1997.
• Word-Soul, an anthology of oral poetry of the Mbya-Guarani, edited by Cecilia Vicuña with Rubén Bareiro Saguier, translated by W.S. Merwin (in progress).
• The Palabra Sur, series of Latin American Literature in translation, published by Graywolf Press.
• The Cardboard House, by Martin Adan, translated by Katherine Sliver, 1990.
• The Selected Poems of Rosario Castellanos, edited by Cecilia Vicuña.
• Giovani Poeti Sudamericani, A cura di Hugo Garicía Robles e Umberto Bonetti, Giulio Einaudi Editore, 1972.