Juan Sánchez Peláez

In 2022, several events were held to honor the centennial of his birth.

Juan Liscano, in his Panorama de la Literatura actual (Overview of Current Literature), 1973, states: "Sánchez Peláez through his open writing and his existential attitude created a new path in our poetry."

He worked as a teacher in Maturín, Maracaibo and the state of Sucre. He was cultural attache to the Embassy of Venezuela in Colombia. He also lived in Paris and Madrid. In 1969 he was a Fellow at The University of Iowa's International Writing Program, after which he lived in New York City for two years. Sánchez Peláez was a contributor to numerous periodicals: Papel Literario (El Nacional), Zona Franca, Eco (Colombia) Revista Poesia (Valencia), Señal (Paris), Tabla Redonda, among others.

Juan Sánchez Peláez was born in Altagracia de Orituco but his family soon moved to Caracas, where he attended primary and secondary schools. He attended university in Santiago, Chile where he befriended the poets of the surrealist group Mandrágora. He published his first poems in their magazine and it was through this encounter that his lifelong interest in surrealism began. Upon returning to Caracas, he published Elena y los elementos in 1951. Elena y los elementos had a profound effect on Venezuelan poetry, outlining a distinctly Venezuelan form of surrealism that influenced the generation of avant-garde poets who emerged in the 1960s. This book was published in a fiftieth anniversary edition by Monte Ávila Editores after he was awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Universidad de los Andes in Mérida in 2001.

Pelaez married American painter and sculptor Ellen Lapidus Stern and had two daughters, Tamar Meisel, a medical coach and Raquel Sanchez, an artist, and licensed social worker. Both daughters and grandchildren live in Israel. After his divorce, he married Argentinian editor Malena Coelho (1937-2022). The couple was together for over 40 years until his passing.

Juan Sánchez Peláez (September 25, 1922 in Altagracia de Orituco, Guárico – November 20, 2003 in Caracas) was a Venezuelan poet and National Prize winner for Literature in 1975.