Elena Poniatowska, Mexican Journalist and Author Receives Cervantes Prize
Elena Poniatowska, Mexican journalist and author received the Cervantes Prize, from the hands of the Royal Academy of Spain on April 23 Poniatowska is only the fourth woman to ever be awarded this highly prestigious award which is the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in Literature.
Elena Poniatowska was born in Paris from an upper class family of Polish origin, and went on to become the voice of Mexico’s poor and humble, after moving there at the age of ten.
The winners of this literary achievement award are traditionally announced towards the end of the year, but the ceremony is held the following April 23. The date of the ceremony honours the death of Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quijote, after whom this prize is named.
The Miguel de Cervantes Prize was established in 1976 by the Royal Academy of Spain. This prize is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language.
In 1954 Poniatowska began working at the age of eighteen, for the Mexican newspaper, Excelsior. Since then, she has written around fifty works that include essays, novels and biographies. Her most famous works are La Noche de Tlatelolco (published in English as Massacre in Mexico) about the student protest in 1968 and Las Soldaderas (Women of the Mexican Revolution)
Elena Poniatowska received threats on her life in 1971 when she released her book about the Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico City. It was the first account to challenge the official version of what happened that night.
Her book implicated very clearly the army’s role in the mass killings in downtown Mexico City. This was a very dangerous and highly explosive declaration during a time of complete censorship of all forms of communication. I was living in Mexico City at this time and can attest to her daring declarations against the one party system, which was a long-standing dictatorship.
Elena Poniatowska recalled how the painter Diego Rivera called her the little Polish girl who asked way too many questions.”
The jury underscored her work’s “firm commitment to contemporary history” and announced that the author “is one of the most powerful voices in Spanish language literature today.”
