Salomón de la Selva

Salomón de la Selva (March 20, 1893 - February 5, 1959) was a Nicaraguan poet who wrote in both English and Spanish.

Life
De la Selva was born in León, Nicaragua, son of Salomón Selva (a lawyer who had fought against the dictator (José Santos Zelaya). When he was 12 years old his father was imprisoned, and Salomón presented himself to President Zelaya during a visit to León and gave him a speech reminding him of human rights and those of a citizen which was enjoyed and well received by the president. Consequently Zelaya ordered his father's release and offered Salomon a scholarship to study in the United States when he was barely 13. He accepted the offer and studied at Williams College inWilliamstown, Massachusetts, and was later employed as a Spanish language professor.

By winter 1914-15 he met Rubén Darío in New York City and accompanied him to a conference offered at Columbia University on February 4, 1915. In New York, 1918, he published his first book of poetry: Tropical Town and Other Poems which was written in English. He frequented the literary circles of young New York poets with figures such as Stephen Vincent Benet and Edna St. Vincent Millay with whom it was said he had a love affair.

He served during World War I in the British forces, and from these experiences he wrote a book of poetry El soldado desconocido (The Unknown Soldier), written in Spanish and illustrated by Diego Rivera, which was published in Mexico in 1922. Around this time in 1922 he was also romantically involved with American author Katherine Anne Porter. He associated himself with the American labour movement and became secretary to labor union leader Samuel Gompers.

Between 1925 and 1929 he lived in Nicaragua and dedicated himself to the local syndicalist labour activism. He urged the affiliation of the Nicaraguan Worker's Federation (Federación Obrera Nicaragüense) to the Panamerican Worker's Central (Central Obrera Panamericana), which was affiliated to the American Federation of Labor.

By 1930 he had published articles supporting Augusto César Sandino published in San José, Costa Rica through different media such as the Diario de Costa Rica and Repertorio Americano of Joaquín García Monge.

In 1935 he moved to Mexico City, where he was able to influence Mexican politics; along with his brother Rogelio de la Selva, he was advisor to President Miguel Alemán Valdés. Whilst in France, as a Nicaraguan ambassador, he died on February 5, 1959 in Paris.

Recognition
He was elected an honorary member of the Mexican Academy of Language.

Poetry

 * Tropical Town and Other Poems (1918)
 * A Soldier Sings (1919)
 * El soldado desconocido (1922)
 * Evocación de Horacio, Canto a Mérida de Yucatán en la celebración de sus Juegos Florales (1947)
 * La ilustre familia (1954)
 * Canto a la Independencia de México (1955)
 * Evocación de Píndaro (1957)
 * Acolmixtli Netzahualcóyotl (1958)

Novels

 * La guerra de Sandino o el pueblo desnudo, written in 1935, posthumously published in 1985.