Antonio Skármeta

Antonio Skármeta (born November 7, 1940, Antofagasta, Chile—died October 15, 2024, Santiago, Chile) was a Chilean novelist, screenwriter, and diplomat, best known for his novel Ardiente paciencia (1985; Burning Patience) and for the film adaptations it inspired, including the Oscar-nominated Il postino (1994; The Postman).

Skármeta was the grandson of Yugoslav immigrants to Chile. While attending the University of Santiago, from which he graduated in 1963, he produced plays by Edward Albee, William Saroyan, and Eugène Ionesco with the university’s drama group. He received a master’s degree from Columbia University in New York City in 1966 and published his first book, a collection of short stories titled El entusiasmo (“Enthusiasm”), in 1967. It was followed by Desnudo en el tejado (1969; “Naked on the Roof”)—which won the Casa de las Américas de la Habana Prize and was the first of his works to be widely distributed—and by El ciclista del San Cristóbal (1973; “The Rider of San Cristóbal”). He finished another collection, Tiro libre (1973; “Free Kick”), and the novel Soñé que la nieve ardía (1975; I Dreamt the Snow Was Burning) while living in Argentina in exile from Chile’s military regime under Augusto Pinochet.

In 1975 Skármeta moved to Berlin, where he lived until he returned to Santiago in 1988. During this period he wrote Novios y solitarios (1975; “Couples and Singles”), No pasó nada (1980; “Nothing Happened”), and La insurrección (1980; The Insurrection). He followed these with Ardiente paciencia, a novel that tells the story of an extraordinary friendship that develops between the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, living in exile, and his postman. Ardiente paciencia subsequently became Skármeta’s most popular work. It was translated into 20 languages and was adapted for the screen twice—in Ardiente paciencia, for which Skármeta wrote the screenplay and which he directed in 1983 (two years before the manuscript was published in book form), and in the Italian film Il postino (The Postman), which was nominated for five Academy Awards, including best picture. The novel was adapted into a film again in 2022.

Skármeta’s subsequent books include Match Ball (1989), La boda del poeta (1999; The Poet’s Wedding), and El baile de la victoria (2003; The Dancer and the Thief). He also published Watch Where the Wolf Is Going (1991), a selection of his short stories in English translation; wrote several other film scripts (including the 1998 adaptation of Isabel Allende’s 1987 novel Eva Luna); hosted a successful television program on books; and translated a number of English-language works into Spanish. He served as Chile’s ambassador to Germany from 2000 to 2003.

In 2014 Skármeta received the Premio Nacional de Literatura, Chile’s national prize for literature.