Manuel Rojas
(1896–1973)

The works of Latin American writer Manuel Rojas have educated people of the experiences of the poor and their attempts at attaining a better life—a theme that echoes Rojas's own life. As a small boy, he lost his father and was forced to support himself as a laborer in his early teens. When he was sixteen, he moved to Chile in search of a better life and worked at many different jobs. In 1924, he began to devote his energy to writing and published his first collection of short stories, Men of the South, in 1926.

With this publication, he won great prominence in the literary community, and in 1931 was named director of the University of Chile Press. Rojas's finest work Son of a Thief was written in 1951 and follows the life of a young boy left in poverty when his father is jailed. Due to his insights into the boy's mind, the novel has been regarded as his best as well as one of the best ever produced in Latin America. His writing techniques influenced a new generation of Latin American writers, and his literary contributions still remain vital to Latin American literature.

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