Chile. Óscar Nicomedes Vásquez Guzmán was born in the Barrio Club Hípico of Santiago, Chile, on June 25, 1914. He lived most of his childhood and adolescence in the Barrio Mapocho, the same neighborhood where the action of his most important novels, *Los hombres obscuros* (1939) and *La sangre y la esperanza* (1943), takes place. He was one of the central figures of the 1938 generation, alongside writers such as Carlos Droguett, Juan Godoy, and Francisco Coloane, and the main exponent of the proletarian novel in Chile. Some of his works include: *La ceniza y el sueño* (poetry, 1938), *Los hombres obscuros* (novel, 1939), *La sangre y la esperanza* (novel, 1943), *Donde nace el alba* (short stories, 1944), *La luz viene del mar* (novel, 1951), *Leche de burra* (novella, 1953), *Una moneda al río y otros cuentos* (short stories, 1953), *El pan bajo la bota* (short stories, 1960). He compiled anthologies of Chilean short stories and essays, and was also an active promoter of national literature. He passed away the day after his 50th birthday, on June 26, 1964.