Born Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto in southern Chile on July 12, 1904, Pablo Neruda led a life charged with poetic and political activity. During his lifetime, Neruda received numerous awards, including the International Peace Prize in 1950, the Lenin Peace Prize and the Stalin Peace Prize in 1953, and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. He died in Santiago, Chile on September 23, 1973, just twelve days after the overthrow of Chile’s democratic regime.