Eunice Odio is considered the leading Costa Rican poet of the twentieth century. She was born in the capital of San José in 1919 and began her career reading poems on Costa Rican radio under the pseudonym Catalina Mariel. Famed for her beauty and fierce temperament, she traveled and lived throughout Central America and the United States before settling for much of her life in Mexico City. In addition to her poetry, Odio was the author of short stories and numerous political and cultural essays. She died in Mexico City in 1974. Her complete works were published by the University of Costa Rica in 1996. A total of four volumes of THE FIRE'S JOURNEY, a much-neglected masterpiece of 20th- century Latin American poetry, will be published by Tavern Books in an English translation for the first time.