Poli Délano

I am Chilean, but when I was very small, my parents and I shared a house in Mexico City with the poet Pablo Neruda and his wife Delia, who was called Hormiguita (little ant). The house was called the Quinta Rosa María, and it was in the part of Mexico City called Mixcoac, which was countryside in those days.

Many events that took place long ago in that huge country house are now part of my collection of childhood memories.

They inspired me to write a number of stories about the experiences and adventures of a boy and his "Uncle" Pablo. One of the incidents which has never been erased from my memory (just as the scars were never erased from my left leg) is told in my book El tejón traicionero (The Sly Badger).