Enrique Lihn Carrasco was a Chilean poet, playwright, and novelist.  Born in 1929 in Santiago, Chile, Lihn aspired to be a painter, but after a failed attempt during university, he abandoned that dream to pursue writing. His work revolved around his contempt for the contemporary dictatorship as Chile was governed by a military junta. Works layered with social, political, and religious commentary are common throughout Lihn's canon. In his later years, he taught literature at the University of Chile. His final book, Diario de Muerte was written in the six weeks preceding his death from cancer in Santiago in 1988.