Marisol Ceh Moo (also Sol Ceh born May 12, 1968) is a Mexican Maya writer and professor, born in

Calotmul Calotmul is a town and the municipal seat of the Calotmul Municipality, Yucatán in Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the nort ...

, Yucatán, Mexico. She writes in

Yucatec Yucatec Maya (; referred to by its speakers simply as Maya or as , is one of the 32 Mayan languages of the Mayan language family. Yucatec Maya is spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula and northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic commu ...

and in Spanish, and is known for her efforts to revitalize and protect the Yucatec Maya language. Her novel, ''X-Teya, u puksi 'ik'al ko'olel'' (''Teya, the Heart of a Woman'' 2008), is the first written by a woman in the Yukatek language.

Biography

Ceh Moo was born in

on May 12, 1968. Ceh Moo earned a degree in education from

Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán The Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (''Autonomous University of Yucatan''), or UADY, is an autonomous public university in the state of Yucatán, Mexico, with its central campuses located in the state capital of Mérida. It is the largest ter ...

and a degree in law from the Universidad Aliat. In 2007 and 2009, Ceh Moo won the Alfredo Barrera Vázquez award. Ceh Moo became the second woman to win the Nezahualcóyotl Award in 2014. In 2019 Ceh Moo became the first woman to win the Latin American Indigenous Literature Award.

Writing

She made her debut with ''X-Teya, u puksi'ik'al ko'olel'' (''Teya, A Woman's Heart''), the first modern novel published in the Maya language. The story is a political and realistic narrative. Ceh Moo broke with prior tradition of Mayan language publishing, which typically only includes short stories, myths, and poems that deal with themes relating to Mayan culture, by publishing the novel, which tells the story of a communist militant woman murdered in 1970s Yucatán. Ceh Moo uses tropes and literature types that she borrows from the Spanish and uses them in her native language. Ceh Moo was worried at first about breaking Mayan traditions in literature, but eventually chose to use new words and explore themes that were important to her. She has since published several other novels and translates between Spanish and Maya. Her 2014 novel won that year's Nezahualcóyotl Prize for Literature in Mexican Languages. Ceh Moo is working on a series of books in the Yukatek language. The series was started after she was chosen to take part in the

Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte The Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte (SNCA; ''National System of Art Creators'') is program developed by the former Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, and founded per presidential decree on September 3, 1993. Its goal is the advancem ...

, which awards a scholarship to recipients.

Publications

* * ''Sujuy K'iin'' (2011) * * * * ''Chen tumeen x ch’úupen'' (2014)

References

Citations

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ceh Moo, Marisol 1968 births Living people Maya people Mayan-language writers Mexican women novelists Mexican women academics Writers from Yucatán (state) 21st-century Mexican novelists 21st-century Mexican women writers