Mark Eisner has spent most of the past two decades working on projects related to Pablo Neruda. He is the author of Neruda: The Poet's Calling (Ecco, 2018), hailed by Library Journal as ‘a definitive biography, an instant classic’. Previously, he conceived, edited, and was one of the principal translators for Bloodaxe’s The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems (2010). He also wrote the introduction to City Lights’ first ever English translation of Neruda’s venture of the infinite man, a project he developed. He is now producing a documentary on Neruda, with support from Latino Public Broadcasting. An initial version, narrated by Isabel Allende, won the Latin American Studies Association Award of Merit in Film.
Eisner holds a BA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. He earned an MA in Latin American Studies from Stanford University, where he later served as a Visiting Scholar. Eisner was integral role in the early stages of the Red Poppy Art House in San Francisco's Mission district, and continues to help lead Red Poppy, the literary-non profit, ‘dedicated to the power of Latin American poetry to not only evoke emotions, but to shift social consciousness, sparking both individual and collective change’. They recently created a multilingual anthology of Latin American resistance poetry, which Eisner co-edited.
Author photo: Keila Hand
