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Elena Poniatowska

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Born: May 18 1932

Hélène Elizabeth Louise Amélie Paula Dolores Poniatowska Amor was born on May 19, 1933, in Paris, France. Her father was French of Polish ancestry and her mother a Mexican who was raised in France. When she was nine Poniatowska's family moved to México City. She grew up speaking French and learned English in a private British school. However, her knowledge of Spanish came from talking with the maids, so her written Spanish was largely colloquial. Poniatowska developed ties with the Mexican lower class in her youth and thus gained a sense of belonging to and an understanding of the Mexican culture. She felt and thought of herself as completely Mexican and of Spanish as her native language. Her works include characters who belong to the underprivileged classes, and she often gave voice to the powerless of her country.

She started writing as a journalist in 1954 and interviewed many famous Mexican and international writers. Many of these interviews can be found in her Palabras Cruzadas and later in her Todo México . Besides her famous interviews, she also wrote several novels, short stories, chronicles, plays, and poems.

Among her novels are Hasta no verte, Jesús mío , which earned her the Mazatlan Prize; Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela ; La "Flor de Lis" ; and Tinísima . Other narratives include Lilus Kikus ; De noche vienes ; Ay vida no me mereces ; Domingo 7 ; Gaby Brimmer ; Todo empezó el domingo ; and El último guajolote .

Her chronicle La noche de Tlatelolco earned her the Javier Villarrutia Prize. She refused to accept it because she did not want to identify herself with then-President Echeverría's political establishment. Other chronicles include Fuerte es el silencio , and Nada, nadie: las voces del temblor .

In theater, her play Melés y Teleo uses a word game in the title, meaning "you read to me and I read to you." Finally, her poetry can be found in the Spanish publications Rojo de vida y negro de muerte, Estaciones, and Abside.

Ponistowska's skill as a novelist was her ability to combine fact with fiction. She lent her voice to the voiceless, but at the same time she took a step back and let the victims come forward to express their needs and pain, letting the Mexican people speak through her. Her settings were mostly in Mexico, and her characters were either Mexicans or people such as Angelina Beloff or Tina Modotti who lived important passages of their lives in Mexico. Many of her female characters are at the mercy of men. Their lives are ruled by a world made up of double standards. They try to do the right thing, but in the end they lose the men they loved and for whom they sacrificed. It is clear then that these women are never really appreciated.

Poniatowska had a great affinity with women and liked to write about them. But she also was interested in the poor, the weak, the street children, and the powerless. Interviewing the common people of Mexico became her trademark. After her first publication , her writings became more and more political. For example, in Querido Diego Quiela's story is completely personal. It focuses upon her and her lover, the famous painter Diego Rivera. By comparison, in Tinísima Poniatowska reveals not just Modotti's emotional life but also her professional and political life as a communist.

However, Poniatowska's style often made it difficult fo

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Elena Poniatowska

Elena Poniatowska

Books from Elena Poniatowska

La noche de Tlatelolco

Leonora

Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela

La piel del cielo

Tinisima

Paseo de la Reforma (Ave F?enix. Serie Mayor)

De noche vienes

Lilus Kikus and Other Stories by Elena Poniatowska

Las siete cabritas

Dos veces única

Nahui Olin, la mujer del sol

Las Soldaderas: Women of the Mexican Revolution

Hasta no verte, Jesus mío

Tlapalería

Nothing, Nobody: The Voices of the Mexico City Earthquake

Underground River and Other Stories

El amante polaco L2 (Biblioteca Breve)

Amanecer en el Zocalo/ Dawn in the Zocalo: Los 50 Dias Que Confrontaron a Mexico/ the 50 Days That Confronted Mexico

Graciela Iturbide: Juchitan de Las Mujeres 1979-1989

Planeta de libros. Volumen 3