Chilean writer Augusto d’Halmar was BOTD in 1882. Born Augusto Thomson in Santiago, his father abandoned his mother before his birth, and he was raised by his mother in Valparaíso. Orphaned at age 10, he was raised by his grandmother and stepsisters. After completing his education, he worked as a journalist, and became an editor for the literary magazine Luz y Sombra. He caused a sensation with his 1902 novel Juana Lucero, a gritty portrait of Santiago’s sexual underworld, shocking readers with his descriptions of prostitution, homosexuality, transvestism, rape and abortion. He worked as a parliamentary secretary for Foreign Minister Federico Puga, who appointed him as Consul General to India in 1907, followed by a posting to Peru. He left diplomatic service in 1915, returning briefly to Chile before settling in Paris. He became a war correspondent during World War One and was wounded on the front line, earning him a decoration from the French government. After the war, he moved to Spain, working as a translator, journalist and lecturer. In 1918, he published Nirvana, a travelogue chronicling his relationship with a young Egyptian boy whom he met on a trip to Cairo. He is best known for his 1924 novel Pasión y Muerte del Cura Deusto (The Passion and Death of Father Deusto), in which a priest must choose between his faith and his love for a young Roma man. With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he returned to Chile, writing and publishing prolifically and helping establish the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts in Valparaíso. In 1942, he was awarded Chile’s first National Literature Prize. He continued writing until his death in 1950, aged 67.