Julio de la Vega
Julio de la Vega (1924–2010) was a Bolivian poet and writer. He was born in Puerto Suarez, Santa Cruz, in 1924.
He was a founding member of the Bolivian literary group Gesta Bárbara in its second version in the 1940s. In 1947, he won the Flor Natural Prize at the Juegos Florales Cervantinos in La Paz. In 1966, he published his poetry collection, Poemario de exaltaciones, which won the Premio Franz Tamayo. In 1969, he received "first mention" at the Premio Erich Guttentag for his soon-to-be-published novel Matías, el apóstol suplente. This novel is widely regarded as one of the finest in Bolivian literature.
He taught literature at the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA) from 1971 to 2000. He became a member of the Bolivian Academy of Language in 1976. In 2004, he received the Pablo Neruda Medal in Chile. In 2005, he obtained the National Culture Prize (Premio Nacional de Cultura) of Bolivia.