Hélène Elizabeth Louise Amélie Paula Dolores Poniatowska Amor (born May 19, 1932), known professionally as Elena Poniatowska () is a French-born Mexican journalist and author, specializing in works on social and political issues focused on those considered to be disenfranchised especially women and the poor. She was born in Paris to upper-class parents, including her mother whose family fled Mexico during the
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...
. She left France for Mexico when she was ten to escape the Second World War. When she was eighteen and without a university education, she began writing for the newspaper ''
Excélsior
''Excélsior'' is a daily newspaper in Mexico City. It is the second oldest paper in the city after '' El Universal'', printing its first issue on March 18, 1917.
History
''Excélsior'' was founded by Rafael Alducin and first published in Mexic ...
'', doing interviews and society columns. Despite the lack of opportunity for women from the 1950s to the 1970s, she wrote about social and political issues in newspapers, books in both fiction and nonfiction form. Her best known work is ''La noche de Tlatelolco'' (''The night of Tlatelolco'', the English translation was entitled "Massacre in Mexico") about the repression of the
1968 student protests in Mexico City. Due to her left wing views, she has been nicknamed "the Red Princess". She is considered to be "Mexico's grande dame of letters" and is still an active writer.
Background
![Elena_Poniatowska](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Elena_Poniatowska.JPG)
Poniatowska was born with the name of Helène Elizabeth Louise Amelie Paula Dolores Poniatowska Amor in Paris, France, in 1932.
Her father was Polish-French, Jean Joseph Évremond Sperry Poniatowski, born to
a family distantly related to the last king of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...
,
Stanisław August Poniatowski
Stanisław II August (born Stanisław Antoni Poniatowski; 17 January 1732 – 12 February 1798), known also by his regnal Latin name Stanislaus II Augustus, was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1764 to 1795, and the last monarch ...
.
Her mother was French-born heiress María Dolores Paulette Amor de Yturbe, whose Mexican family lost land and fled Mexico after the ouster of
Porfirio Díaz
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...
during the Mexican Revolution.
Poniatowska's extended family includes an archbishop, the primate of Poland, a musician, several writers and statesmen including
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
.
Her aunt was the poet
Pita Amor
Guadalupe Teresa Amor Schmidtlein (May 30, 1918 – May 8, 2000), who wrote as Pita Amor, was a Mexican poet.
Biography
She was born in Mexico City,"Amor, Guadalupe (1920–)." '' Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages'', ...
.
She was raised in France by a grandfather who was a writer and a grandmother who would show her negative photos about Mexico, including photographs in ''
National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
'' depicting Africans, saying they were Mexican indigenes, and scaring her and her siblings with stories about cannibalism there.
Although she maintained a close relationship with her mother until her death, the mother was unhappy about her daughter being labeled a "communist" and refused to read Poniatowska's novel about political activist
Tina Modotti
Tina Modotti (born Assunta Adelaide Luigia Modotti Mondini, August 16/17, 1896 – January 5, 1942) was an Italian American photographer, model, actor, and revolutionary political activist for the Comintern. She left Italy in 1913 and moved to ...
.
The Second World War broke out in Europe when Poniatowska was a child. The family left Paris when she was nine, going first to the south of the country. When the deprivations of the war became too much and the southern part of France, the
Zone libre
The ''zone libre'' (, ''free zone'') was a partition of the French metropolitan territory during World War II, established at the Second Armistice at Compiègne on 22 June 1940. It lay to the south of the demarcation line and was administered by ...
, was invaded by Germany and Italy in 1942, the family left France entirely for Mexico when she was ten years old. Her father remained in France to fight, participating later in
D-Day in Normandy.
Poniatowska began her education in France at
Vouvray on the
Loire
The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...
. After arriving in Mexico, she continued at the Liceo Franco-Mexicano, then at Eden Hall and high school at the Sacred Heart Covent in the late 1940s.
In 1953, she returned to Mexico, where she learned to type, but she never went to university. Instead, she began working at the ''Excélsior'' newspaper.
Poniatowska is trilingual, speaking Spanish, English and French. Growing up, French was her primary language and it was spoken the most at home. She learned her Spanish from people on the streets during her time there as a young girl.
Poniatowska met astronomer
Guillermo Haro
Guillermo Haro Barraza (; 21 March 1913 – 26 April 1988) was a Mexican astronomer. Through his own astronomical research and the formation of new institutions, Haro was influential in the development of modern observational astronomy in M ...
in 1959, when she interviewed him, and married him nine years later in 1968.
She became the mother of three children, Emmanuel, Felipe, and Paula, and the grandmother of five. They divorced in 1981, and her ex-husband died on April 26, 1988.
Poniatowska lives in a house near Plaza Federico Gamboa in the Chimalistac neighborhood of the
Álvaro Obregón
Álvaro Obregón Salido (; 17 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) better known as Álvaro Obregón was a Sonoran-born general in the Mexican Revolution. A pragmatic centrist, natural soldier, and able politician, he became the 46th President of Me ...
borough in Mexico City. The house is filled chaotically with books. Spaces which do not have books in or on them contain photographs of her family and paintings by
Francisco Toledo
Francisco Benjamín López Toledo (17 July 1940 – 5 September 2019) was a Mexican Zapotec painter, sculptor, and graphic artist. In a career that spanned seven decades, Toledo produced thousands of works of art and became widely regarded a ...
.
She works at home, often forgetting to do other things like go to the gym as she gets involved in her writing. Although it takes time away from writing, she does her domestic chores herself, including paying bills, grocery shopping, and cooking.
Career
![YampolskyBookPresentation16](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/YampolskyBookPresentation16.JPG)
Poniatowska has published novels, non-fiction books, journalistic essays, and many forewords and prologues to books on Mexican artists.
Much of her writing has focused on social and human rights issues, especially those related to women and the poor.
Poniatowska began her writing career in 1953 at 21 years of age with the newspaper ''Excélsior'' and the next year with a publication called ''
Novedades de México'', both of which she still occasionally writes for.
Her first writing assignments consisted of interviews of famous people and society columns related to Mexico's upper class.
Her first published interview was with the ambassador of the United States.
She stated that she began "like a donkey" knowing nothing and learning on the job.
She was first published under her French name of Hélene but later changed it to Elena, or sometimes using Anel.
Poniatowska published her first book in 1954, called ''Lilus Kikus'' and since then her career has been a mix of journalism and creative writing.
Despite that the years from the 1950s and 1970s offered limited opportunities for women, she eventually moved from interviews and society stories into literary profiles and stories about social issues.
She emerged as a subtly present female voice in a patriarchal society even though she was referred to as "Elenita" (little Elena) and her work often dismissed as naïve interviews and "children's" literature. She progressed by persistence rather than by direct confrontation.
Poniatowska most influential work has been "testimonial narratives," writings based both on historical facts and accounts by people who normally are not recorded by the media.
She began writing on social issues after a visit to
Lecumberri
The Palacio de Lecumberri is a large building, formerly a prison, in the northeast of Mexico City, Mexico, which now houses the General National Archive (''Archivo General de la Nación'').
Known in popular culture as ''The Black Palace of Lecumb ...
, a famous former prison, to interview several incarcerated railway workers who had gone on strike. She found prisoners eager to talk and share their life stories.
She interviewed
Subcomandante Marcos
Rafael Sebastián Guillén Vicente (born 19 June 1957) is a Mexican insurgent, the former military leader and spokesman for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in the ongoing Chiapas conflict,Pasztor, S. B. (2004). Marcos, Subcomand ...
in 1994.
Much of this work has been compiled into seven volumes including ''Todo México'' (1991–1999), ''Domingo siete'' (1982) and ''Palabras cruzadas'' (1961).
Her best known book of this type is ''La noche de Tlatelolco'' which contains the testimonies of the victims of the 1968 student massacre in Mexico City.
Poniatowska is one of the founders of ''
La Jornada
''La Jornada'' (''The Working Day'') is one of Mexico City's leading daily newspapers. It was established in 1984 by Carlos Payán Velver. The current editor ''(directora general)'' is Carmen Lira Saade. ''La Jornada'' has presence in eight sta ...
'' newspaper, ''
Fem'', a feminist magazine,
Siglo XXI a publishing house and the
Cineteca Nacional, the national film institute.
Poniatowska's works have been translated into English, Polish, French, Danish and German, starting in the 1990s.
She has translated
Sandra Cisneros
Sandra Cisneros (born December 20, 1954) is an American writer. She is best known for her first novel, ''The House on Mango Street'' (1983), and her subsequent short story collection, ''Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories'' (1991). Her work ex ...
’ ''
The House on Mango Street
''The House on Mango Street'' is a 1984 novel by Mexican-American author Sandra Cisneros. Structured as a series of vignettes, it tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, a 12-year-old Chicana girl growing up in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago. Based ...
'' into Spanish.
She wrote one play called ''Meles y Teleo: apuntes para una comedia'' a year after the birth of son Emmanuel.
and one novella ''De noche vienes'' ("You Come by Night") was made into a feature film in 1997 directed by
Arturo Ripstein
Arturo Ripstein y Rosen (born December 13, 1943) is a Mexican film director and screenwriter. Considered the "Godfather of independent Mexican cinema", Ripstein's work is generally characterized by "somber, slow-paced, macabre melodramas tackling ...
starring
María Rojo
María de Lourdes Rojo e Incháustegui, commonly known as María Rojo (; born August 15, 1943 in Mexico City), is a Mexican actress and politician. She was Senator of the Republic in the upper house of Mexican Congress. She debuted during the Gol ...
and
Tito Vasconcelos
Tito may refer to:
People Mononyms
* Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), commonly known mononymously as Tito, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman
*Roberto Arias (1918–1989), aka Tito, Panamanian international lawyer, diplomat, and journa ...
.
Poniatowska frequently makes presentations at home and abroad in her three languages and is especially sought for talks and seminars in the United States.
She has also published biographies of the Nobel laureate
Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...
and artist
Juan Soriano.
Today, Poniatowska is considered to be Mexico's "grande dame" of letters
but she has not been recognized around the world like other prolific Latin American writers of her generation.
She has also not been fully integrated among Mexico's elite, never receiving diplomatic appointments, like
Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes Macías (; ; November 11, 1928 – May 15, 2012) was a Mexican novelist and essayist. Among his works are ''The Death of Artemio Cruz'' (1962), '' Aura'' (1962), '' Terra Nostra'' (1975), ''The Old Gringo'' (1985) and ''Christophe ...
,
and turning down political opportunities nor has she spent much time in the elite literary circles in Mexico. Fuentes commented on this once that she was too busy in the city's slums or shopping for groceries to have time for him and others. Although she admits such comments are said in jest, she contends that it shows that they consider her more of a maid, a cook, or even a janitor in the "great House of Mexican Literature."
For over thirty years, she has taught a weekly writing workshop. Through this and other efforts, she has influenced a generation of Mexican writers including
Silvia Molina and
Rosa Nissán.
Advocacy and writing style
Her work is a cross between literary fiction and historical construction.
She began to produce major works in the 1960s and her work matured in the 1970s, when she turned to producing works in put herself in solidarity with those who are oppressed politically and economically against those in power. Her work can be compared to that of
Antonio Skármeta
Antonio Skármeta (born Esteban Antonio Skármeta Vranicic on November 7, 1940) is a Chilean writer, scriptwriter and director descending from Croatian immigrants from the Adriatic island of Brač, Dalmatia. He was awarded Chile's National Lit ...
,
Luis Rafael Sánchez
Dr. Luis Rafael Sánchez, a.k.a. "Wico" Sánchez (November 17, 1936) is a Puerto Rican essayist, novelist, and short-story author who is widely considered one of the island's most outstanding contemporary playwrights. Possibly his best known play ...
,
Marta Traba
Marta Traba Taín (Buenos Aires, 25 January 1930 – Madrid, 27 November 1983) was an art critic and writer known for her contributions to Latin American art and literature.
Biography
Traba's parents were Catalan immigrants, Francisco Traba a ...
,
Sergio Ramírez
Sergio Ramírez Mercado (; born 5 August 1942 in Masatepe, Nicaragua) is a Nicaraguan writer and intellectual who was a key figure in 1979 revolution, served in the leftist Government Junta of National Reconstruction and as vice president of ...
,
Rosario Ferré,
Manuel Puig
Juan Manuel Puig Delledonne (December 28, 1932 – July 22, 1990), commonly called Manuel Puig, was an Argentine author. Among his best-known novels are '' La traición de Rita Hayworth'' (''Betrayed by Rita Hayworth'', 1968), ''Boquitas pint ...
and
Fernando del Paso
Fernando del Paso Morante (April 1, 1935 – November 14, 2018) was a Mexican novelist, essayist and poet.
Biography
Del Paso was born in Mexico City and took two years in economics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He ...
.
Although most of her fame is as a journalist, she prefers creative writing. Her creative writings are philosophic meditations and assessments of society and the disenfranchised within it.
Her writing style is free, lacking solemnity, colloquial and close.
Many of her works deconstruct societal and political myths, but they also work to create new ones. For example, while she heavily criticizes the national institutions which evolved after the Mexican Revolution, she promotes a kind of "popular heroism" of the common person without name. Her works are also impregnated with a sense of fatalism.
Like many intellectuals in Mexico, her focus is on human rights issues and defending various social groups, especially those she considers to be oppressed by those in power, which include women, the poor and others. She speaks and writes about them even though she herself is a member of Mexico's elite, using her contacts as such on others’ behalf.
She is not an impartial writer as she acts as an advocate for those who she feels have no voice. She feels that a personal relationship with her subjects is vital.
She stated to ''
La Jornada
''La Jornada'' (''The Working Day'') is one of Mexico City's leading daily newspapers. It was established in 1984 by Carlos Payán Velver. The current editor ''(directora general)'' is Carmen Lira Saade. ''La Jornada'' has presence in eight sta ...
'' that the student movement of 1968 left a profound mark on her life and caused her consciousness to change as students were murdered by their own police. It was after this that she was clear that the purpose of her writing was to change Mexico.
She has visited political and other prisoners in jail, especially strikers and the student protestors of 1968.
According to one biography, her house was watched around the clock. She was arrested twice (one in jail for twelve hours and once detained for two) when observing demonstrations. However, she has never written about this.
She has involved herself in the causes of her protagonists which are generally women, farm workers and laborers, and also include the indigenous, such as the Zapatistas in Chiapas in the 1990s.
She puts many in touch with those on the left side of Mexico's and the world's political spectrum although she is not officially affiliated with any of them.
She considers herself a feminist to the bone and looks upon civil movements with sympathy and enthusiasm.
However, she has resisted offers to become formally involved in political positions.
She became involved in
Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican politician who has been serving as the 65th president of Mexico since 1 December 2018. He previously served as Head of Government of Mexico ...
’s 2005 presidential campaign. She wrote about the seven-week occupation of the
Zócalo
The Zócalo () is the common name of the town square, main square in central Mexico City. Prior to the European colonization of the Americas, colonial period, it was the main ceremonial center in the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The plaza used t ...
that followed López Obrador's loss in 2006. She blames Mexico's businessmen and the United States for his loss as well as López Obrador's naivete.
Major works
Her major investigative works include ''La noche de Tlatelolco'' (Massacre in Mexico) (1971), ''Fuerte es el silencio'' (Strong is Silence) (1975) and ''Nada nadie. Las voces del temblor'' (Nothing No one: The Voices of the Earthquake) (1988).
The best known of these is ''La noche de Tlatelolco'' about the 1968 repression of student protests in Mexico City.
She found out about the massacre on the evening of October 2, 1968, when her son was only four months old.
Afterwards, Poniatowska went out on the streets in the neighborhood and began interviewing people while there was still blood on the streets and shoes strewn about and women searching for the children who had not come home. The book contains interviews with informants, eyewitnesses, former prisoners which are interspersed with poems by
Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...
and
Rosario Castellanos
Rosario Castellanos Figueroa (; 25 May 1925 – 7 August 1974) was a Mexican poet and author. She was one of Mexico's most important literary voices in the last century. Throughout her life, she wrote eloquently about issues of cultural and gend ...
, excerpts from pre Hispanic texts and newspaper, as well as political slogans.
Massacre in Mexico was the only book published on the subject for twenty years, contradicting the government's account of the events and the number dead. The government offered her the
Xavier Villaurrutia Award The Xavier Villaurrutia Award (Premio Xavier Villaurrutia) is a prestigious literary prize given in Mexico, to a Latin American writer published in Mexico. Founded in 1955, it was named in memory of Xavier Villaurrutia.
Multiple awards have been gi ...
in 1970 for the work but she refused it.
She did the same after the
1985 Mexico City earthquake
The 1985 Mexico City earthquake struck in the early morning of 19 September at 07:17:50 (CST) with a moment magnitude of 8.0 and a maximal Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). The event caused serious damage to the Greater Mexico City area a ...
. Her book about this event ''Nada, nadie, las voces del temblor'' was a compilation of eyewitness accounts not only to the destruction of the earthquake, but also to the incompetence and corruption of the government afterwards.
''Fuerte es el silencio'' is about several themes, especially the families of disappeared political prisoners, the leaders of workers’ movements, another look at the massacre in Tlatelolco and others who have defied the government.
Her first novel was ''Lilus Kikusy'' from 1954. It is a coming-of-age story about Mexican women before feminism. It centers on an inquisitive girl who is carefully molded by society to become an obedient bride.
''Tinísima'' is a fictionalized biography of Italian photographer and political activist Tina Modotti.
This book was the result of ten years of researching the life of the photographer and political activist.
''Querido Diego'' (Dear Diego) is an epistolary recreation of
Diego Rivera
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...
’s relationship with his first wife, Russian painter
Angelina Beloff
Angelina Beloff (born Angelina Petrovna Belova; russian: Ангелина Петровна Белова; June 23, 1879 – December 30, 1969) was a Russian-born artist who did most of her work in Mexico. However, she is better known as Diego Rive ...
with the aim of "de-iconize" him.
''Hasta no verte Jesús mío'' (Here's to You, Jesusa) from 1969 tells the story of Jesusa Palancares, a poor woman who fought in the Mexican Revolution and who later became a washerwoman in Mexico City.
Based on interviews conducted with the woman who was the model for the main character over a period of some ten years,
the book is considered to be a breakthrough in testimonial literature.
''Las Soldaderas: Women of the Mexican Revolution'' is about the women who were in combat accompanied by photographs from the era.
''Las siete cabritas'' (The Seven Little Goats) is about seven women in Mexican society in the 20th century, only one of whom,
Frida Kahlo
Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by the country's popular culture, ...
, is well known. The others are
Pita Amor
Guadalupe Teresa Amor Schmidtlein (May 30, 1918 – May 8, 2000), who wrote as Pita Amor, was a Mexican poet.
Biography
She was born in Mexico City,"Amor, Guadalupe (1920–)." '' Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages'', ...
,
Nahui Olín,
María Izquierdo,
Elena Garro
Elena Garro (December 11, 1916 – August 22, 1998) was a Mexican screenwriter, journalist, dramaturg, short story writer, and novelist. She has been described as the initiator of the Magical Realism movement, though she rejected this affiliation. ...
,
Rosario Castellanos
Rosario Castellanos Figueroa (; 25 May 1925 – 7 August 1974) was a Mexican poet and author. She was one of Mexico's most important literary voices in the last century. Throughout her life, she wrote eloquently about issues of cultural and gend ...
and
Nellie Campobello
Nellie (or ''Nelly'') Francisca Ernestina Campobello Luna (November 7, 1900 – July 9, 1986) was a Mexican writer, notable for having written one of the few chronicles of the Mexican Revolution from a woman's perspective: '' Cartucho'', which c ...
.
''La piel del cielo'' (The Skin of the Sky) provides moving descriptions of various regions of Mexico, as well as the inner workings of politics and government.
Awards
Poniatowska's first literature award was the ''Mazatlan Literature Prize'' (Premio Mazatlán de Literatura) in 1971 for the novel ''Hasta no verte Jesús mío''.
She received this award again in 1992 with her novel ''Tinísima''. The ''Mazatlan Literature Prize'' was founded by writer, journalist, and ''National Journalism Prize'' Antonio Haas, a close lifelong friend of Elena, and editorial columnist and collaborator next to her in ''Siempre!'' weekly news magazine and the national Mexican newspaper ''Excélsior''.
Poniatowska was nominated for the coveted ''Villarrutia Award'' in the 1970s, but refused it by saying to the Mexican president, "Who is going to award a prize to those who fell at Tlatelolco in 1968?"
In 1979, Poniatowska was the first woman to win Mexico's ''National Journalism Prize'' (Premio Nacional de Periodismo)
[ Mexico National Journalism Award "Premio Nacional de Periodismo de México" Spanish Wikipedia] for her contributions to the dissemination of Mexican cultural and political expression.
In 2000, the nations of
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
and
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
each awarded Poniatowska with their highest writing awards.
In 2001, Poniatowska received the
José Fuentes Mares National Prize for Literature José Fuentes Mares National Prize for Literature (Spanish: Premio Nacional de Literatura José Fuentes Mares or simply Premio José Fuentes Mares) is a Mexican literary award that has been presented annually since 1985 by the Universidad Autónoma ...
in 2001
as well as the annual prize for best novel by Spanish book publishing house ''Alfaguara'',
Alfaguara Novel Prize for her novel ''La piel del cielo'' (Heaven's Skin).
The
International Women's Media Foundation gave Poniatowska the ''Lifetime Achievement Award'' in 2006, in recognition for her work.
Poniatowska won the
Rómulo Gallegos Prize
The Rómulo Gallegos International Novel Prize ( es, Premio internacional de novela Rómulo Gallegos) was created on 6 August 1964 by a presidential decree enacted by Venezuelan president Raúl Leoni, in honor of the Venezuelan politician and Pres ...
in 2007 with her book ''El Tren pasa primero'' (The Train Passes First).
In the same year, she received the ''Premio Iberoamericano'' by the government of the Mexico City mayor.
Poniatowska has received honorary doctorates from Mexico's National University
UNAM
The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...
(2001), Sinaloa state university
Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa
, mottoeng =
, established = 5 May 1873
, type = Public university
, rector = Juan Eulogio Guerra Liera
, faculty =
, staff =
, students =
, undergrad =
, ...
(1979), the
New School of Social Research
The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...
in New York city (1994), the
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana
The Metropolitan Autonomous University (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana'') also known as UAM, is a Mexican public university. Founded in 1974 with the support of then-President Luis Echeverria Alvarez, the institut ...
of Mexico (2000) and the
University of Puerto Rico
The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...
(2010).
Other awards include the ''Biblioteca Breve'' (Breve Library) for the novel ''Leonora'', awards from the ''Club de Periodistas'' (Journalists Club), the ''Manuel Buendia Journalism Prize'', and the ''Radio UNAM Prize'' for her book of interviews with Mexican authors entitled ''Palabras Cruzadas'' ("Crossed Words"). She was selected to receive Mexico's National Literary Prize, but she declined it, insisting that it should instead go to
Elena Garro
Elena Garro (December 11, 1916 – August 22, 1998) was a Mexican screenwriter, journalist, dramaturg, short story writer, and novelist. She has been described as the initiator of the Magical Realism movement, though she rejected this affiliation. ...
, although neither woman ultimately received it.
In 2013, Poniatowska won Spain's
Premio Cervantes
The Miguel de Cervantes Prize ( es, Premio de Literatura en Lengua Castellana Miguel de Cervantes) is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language.
History
The prize was established in 1975 ...
Literature Award, the greatest existing Spanish-language literary award for an author's lifetime works, becoming the fourth woman to receive such recognition, following
María Zambrano
María Zambrano Alarcón (22 April 1904 – 6 February 1991) was a Spanish essayist and philosopher associated with the Generation of '36 movement. Her extensive work between the civic engagement and the poetic reflection started to be r ...
(1988),
Dulce María Loynaz
Dulce María Loynaz Muñoz (Havana, Cuba; 10 December 1902 – 27 April 1997) was a Cuban poet, and is considered one of the principal figures of Cuban literature. She was awarded the Miguel de Cervantes Prize in 1992. She earned her Doctorate ...
(1992), and
Ana María Matute
Ana María Matute Ausejo (26 July 1925 – 25 June 2014) was an internationally acclaimed Spanish writer and member of the Real Academia Española. In 1959, she received the Premio Nadal for ''Primera memoria''. The third woman to receive the Ce ...
(2010). Elena Poniatowska was awarded the Premio Cervantes for her "brilliant literary trajectory in diverse genera, her special style in narrative and her exemplary dedication to journalism, her outstanding work and her firm commitment to contemporary history."
List of works
* 1954 – ''Lilus Kikus'' (collection of short stories)
* 1956 – "Melés y Teleo" (short story, in ''Panoramas Magazine'')
* 1961 – ''Palabras cruzadas'' (chronic)
* 1963 – ''Todo empezó el Domingo'' (chronic)
* 1969 – ''Hasta no verte, Jesus mío'' (novel)
* 1971 – ''La noche de Tlatelolco'', about the 1968
Tlatelolco massacre
On October 2, 1968 in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City, the Mexican Armed Forces opened fire on a group of unarmed civilians in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas who were protesting the upcoming 1968 Summer Olympics. The Mexican government and ...
(historical account)
'The Night of Tlatelolco''* 1978 – ''Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela'' (collection of fictional letters from
Angelina Beloff
Angelina Beloff (born Angelina Petrovna Belova; russian: Ангелина Петровна Белова; June 23, 1879 – December 30, 1969) was a Russian-born artist who did most of her work in Mexico. However, she is better known as Diego Rive ...
to
Diego Rivera
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...
)
* 1979 – ''Gaby Brimmer,'' co-written autobiography of Mexican-born author and disability rights activist
Gabriela Brimmer
Gabriela "Gaby" Raquel Brimmer (September 12, 1947 – January 2, 2000), was a Mexican writer and activist for people with disabilities. She was born in Mexico City, the daughter of Sari and Michel Brimmer, Austrian Jewish immigrants. She had a b ...
* 1979 – ''De noche vienes'' (collection of short stories)
* 1980 – ''Fuerte es el silencio'' (historical account)
* 1982 – ''Domingo Siete'' (chronic)
* 1982 – ''El último Guajolote'' (chronic)
'The Last Turkey''* 1985 – ''¡Ay vida, no me mereces! Carlos Fuentes, Rosario Castellanos, Juan Rulfo, la literatura de la Onda México'' (essay)
* 1988 – ''La flor de lis'' (novel)
* 1988 – ''Nada, nadie. Las voces del temblor'', about the
1985 Mexico City earthquake
The 1985 Mexico City earthquake struck in the early morning of 19 September at 07:17:50 (CST) with a moment magnitude of 8.0 and a maximal Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). The event caused serious damage to the Greater Mexico City area a ...
(historical account)
'Nothing, Nobody: The Voices of the Earthquake''* 1991 – ''Tinísima'' (novel)
* 1992 - ''Frida Kahlo: la cámara seducida'' (in Spanish. Co-written with
Carla Stellweg also in English as ''Frida Kahlo: The Camera Seduced'')
* 1994 – ''Luz y luna, las lunitas'' (essay)
* 1997 – ''Guerrero Viejo'' (photos and oral histories of the town of
Guerrero, Coahuila
Guerrero is a city and seat of the municipality of Guerrero, in the north-eastern Mexican state of Coahuila. The 2010 census population was reported as 959 inhabitants.
San Juan Bautista missions
In the early 1700s, a series of Christian miss ...
, flooded by damming of the
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico.
The length of the Rio G ...
)
* 1997 – ''Paseo de la Reforma'' (novel)
'Paseo_de_la_Reforma''.html" ;"title="Paseo_de_la_Reforma.html" ;"title="'Paseo de la Reforma">'Paseo de la Reforma''">Paseo_de_la_Reforma.html" ;"title="'Paseo de la Reforma">'Paseo de la Reforma''* 1998 – ''Octavio Paz, las palabras del árbol'' (essay)
* 1999 – ''Las soldaderas'' (photographic archive) [''The Soldier Women'']
* 2000 – ''Las mil y una... La herida de Paulina'' (chronic)
* 2000 – ''Juan Soriano, niño de mil años'' (essay)
* 2000 – ''Las siete cabritas'' (essay)
* 2001 – ''Mariana Yampolsky y la buganvillia''
* 2001 – ''La piel del cielo'' (novel, Winner of the
Premio Alfaguara de Novela 2001)
* 2003 – ''Tlapalería'' (collection of short stories)
ranslated into English as ''The Heart of the Artichoke''* 2005 – ''Obras reunidas'' (complete works)
* 2006 – ''El tren pasa pimero'' (novel, Winner of the
Rómulo Gallegos Prize
The Rómulo Gallegos International Novel Prize ( es, Premio internacional de novela Rómulo Gallegos) was created on 6 August 1964 by a presidential decree enacted by Venezuelan president Raúl Leoni, in honor of the Venezuelan politician and Pres ...
)
* 2006 – ''La Adelita'' (children's book)
* 2007 – ''Amanecer en el Zócalo. Los 50 días que confrontaron a México'' (historical account)
* 2008 – ''El burro que metió la pata'' (children's book)
* 2008 – ''Rondas de la niña mala'' (poetry, songs)
* 2008 – ''Jardín de Francia'' (interviews)
* 2008 – ''Boda en Chimalistac'' (children's book)
* 2009 – ''No den las gracias. La colonia Rubén Jaramillo y el Güero Medrano'' (chronic)
* 2009 – ''La vendedora de nubes'' (children's book)
'The Seller of Clouds''* 2011 – ''Leonora'' (historical novel on the surrealist painter
Leonora Carrington
Mary Leonora Carrington (6 April 191725 May 2011) was a British-born Mexican artist, surrealist painter, and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City and was one of the last surviving participants in the surrealist movement of ...
, Seix Barral Biblioteca Breve Prize)
* 2012 – ''The Heart of the Artichoke.'' Trans. George Henson. Miami: Alligator Press (collection of short stories)
n Spanish ''Tlapalería''
Ancestry
References
Further reading
;English
* ''Stories That Make History: Mexico through Elena Poniatowska's Crónicas'', Lynn Stephen, 2021
* ''Elena Poniatowska: an intimate biography'', Michael Karl Schuessler, 2007
* ''Through their eyes: marginality in the works of Elena Poniatowska, Silvia Molina and Rosa Nissán'', Nathanial Eli Gardner, 2007
* ''Reading the feminine voice in Latin American women's fiction: from Teresa de la Parra to Elena Poniatowska and Luisa Valenzuela'', María Teresa Medeiros-Lichem, 2002
* ''The writing of Elena Poniatowska: engaging dialogues'', Beth Ellen Jorgensen, 1994
;Spanish
* ''Viento, galope de agua; entre palabras: Elena Poniatowska'', Sara Poot Herrera, 2014
* ''La palabra contra el silencio, Elena Poniatowska ante la crítica'', Nora Erro-Peralta y Magdalena Maiz-Peña (eds.), 2013
* ''Catálogo de ángeles mexicanos : Elena Poniatowska'', Carmen Perilli, 2006
* ''Elenísima : ingenio y figura de Elena Poniatowska'', Michael Karl Schuessler, 2003
* ''Me lo dijo Elena Poniatowska : su vida, obra y pasiones'', Esteban Ascencio, 1997
* ''Elena Poniatowska'', Margarita García Flores, 1983
External links
*
*
Elena Poniatowska: The Anti-Princess
Naturalized citizens of Mexico
Mexican nobility
French emigrants to Mexico
French people of Polish descent
French people of American descent
Mexican people of Polish descent
Mexican feminists
Mexican women writers
Mexican people of American descent
Mexican people of Russian descent
1932 births
Living people
Maria Moors Cabot Prize winners
Elena
Elena may refer to:
People
* Elena (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name
* Joan Ignasi Elena (born 1968), Catalan politician
* Francine Elena (born 1986), British poet
Geography
* Elena (town), a town in Veliko ...
Recipients of the Legion of Honour
Mexican women journalists
Mexican feminist writers
Premio Cervantes winners