Elena Poniatowska

Hélène Elizabeth Louise Amélie Paula Dolores Poniatowska Amor, known as Elena Poniatowska, was born in Paris in 1932 to upper-class parents and moved to Mexico at age ten to escape World War II. A journalist and author, she began writing for Excélsior at 18 and focused on social and political issues affecting the disenfranchised, particularly women and the poor, through testimonial narratives, novels, and nonfiction. She received the Premio Cervantes in 2013 and remains active as Mexico's grande dame of letters.