Impact and Legacy

Ernesto Cardenal’s published writings span 1957–2019. Some titles include Hora 0 (1957), Epigramas (1961), Salmos (1964), Oración por Marilyn Monroe y otros poemas (1965), El estrecho dudoso (1966), Oráculo sobre Managua (1973), El Evangelio en Solentiname (1975), Cántico cósmico (1989), and Versos del pluriverso (2005).

Ernesto Cardenal’s renown as a poet, revolutionary, and activist led to many speaking engagements and invitations throughout the years. In celebration of the opening of the Ernesto Cardenal Papers in November 2016, Cardenal visited the Benson Latin American Collection for a celebration and a reading of his work.

Cardenal was also an accomplished sculptor and throughout the decades remained a vocal presence in Nicaraguan culture. He received many awards recognizing his work as a writer, including the Premio Iberoamericano de Poesía Pablo Neruda in 2009 and the Premio Reina Sofía de Poesía Iberoamericana in 2012. Cardenal’s writings have been published in dozens of different languages, and his impact as a poet, liberation theologist, and activist continues to this day and will endure.