title: Luis Enrique Sam Colop
text: # Luis Enrique Sam Colop
  
  Luis Enrique Sam Colop or Sam-Colop (born in Cantel, 1955, died July 15, 2011) was a Guatemalan/Native American linguist,
  
  lawyer, poet, writer, newspaper columnist, promoter of the K'iche' language, and social activist.
  
  ## Early life
  
  He was born in Cantel, Guatemala in 1955.
  
  ## Education
  
  Sam Colop graduated in Law at the Rafael Landivar University and obtained his Ph.D. at SUNY, Buffalo in 1994 with a dissertation on Maya poetry.
  
  ## Teaching career
  
  He taught K'iche' Language at the Universidad de San Carlos, Guatemala. Starting in 1999 he was a Fulbright-sponsored visiting scholar at St. Mary's College of Maryland
  
  ## Books and articles
  
  Published works by Luis Sam-Colop include two poem collections, Versos sin refugio and La copa y la raíz as well as various essays and articles. He is best known outside Guatemala for a new edition of the Popol Vuh in the native language. He recently received a Guggenheim fellowship in connection with this work.
  
  