5 Mexican writers

Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz was born in 1914 in Mexico City. In 1934, he won the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship to study poetry in the United States. He founded and edited many Spanish language magazines and authored poems that earned him a Nobel Prize. According to the Nobel website, “his poetic corpus is nourished by the belief that poetry constitutes ‘the secret religion of the modern age.’”

Juan Rulfo
This photographer and screenwriter was also a short story writer and novelist. The Burning Plain and Other Stories is an English translation of some of his short stories. He is famous for capturing Mexican idiosyncrasies in the backdrop of universal humanity.

Jaime Sabines
This poet, born in 1926, addressed deep themes in his emotional poems. Love, death, loneliness, can they be expressed in simple words? If you read the work of Jaime Sabines, you may find that the answer is yes.

Martin Luis Guzman
Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, in 1887, Martin Luis Guzman studied law before joining the Mexican Revolution under Pancho Villa. Later, he lived in Spain and the United States. He recorded his experiences from the revolution in a biographical memoir of Pancho Villa and is considered one of the founders of the revolutionary genre, which depicts life during this time period.

Valeria Luiselli
What about history in the making? Valeria Luiselli is a contemporary Mexican author who resides in New York. She writes novels and nonfiction essays. She is a recent winner of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction for her novel Faces in the Crowd.

5 Mexican Artists

Frida Kahlo
The most iconic Mexican artist, the incomparable Frida Kahlo. With a back catalog of almost 150 surviving pieces of art, the majority of which are self-portraits that predominantly hone in on her complex and often tragic life, as well as a cult pop culture reputation, Frida Kahlo is a formidable figure of the Mexican art scene.

Diego Rivera
Her two-time husband, Diego Rivera, can’t go without a mention either. This prominent Mexican muralist is so iconic that he even features (as does Frida) on the MXN$500 banknote. His prolific body of work is still to this day on display in both the US and Mexico (amongst other countries) and many of his murals can be seen for free in Mexico City at the Palacio Nacional and the Secretaría de Educación Publica.

José Clemente Orozco
Allegedly the most complex of the Mexican Muralists, José Clemente Orozco was one of the founding fathers of the movement and heavily influenced by political issues, a theme which is notable throughout his repertoire of murals.

Carlos Almaraz
The art of Carlos Almaraz, his street art in particular, propelled him to the position of one of the Chicano Art Movement’s leading figures. Having moved to the US at a young age, Almaraz had become increasingly aware of and interested in this multicultural atmosphere and ultimately died as one of the most prominent artists on the scene which aimed to create a separate artistic identity for Chicano’s in the US. His work is explosively colorful and was often political.

Fanny Rabel
Polish-born Fanny Rabel was a trailblazing figure in Mexican art onto the booming muralism scene in the mid-twentieth century. Many consider her to be the first modern female muralist, and certainly one of the youngest. Either way, she was definitely the only female under the artistic tutelage of her close friend (maybe you’ve heard of her?) Frida Kahlo, and worked with both of the muralist big-hitters, Rivera and Siqueiros during her career. Her mural Ronda en el tiempo can be seen at Mexico’s National Anthropology Museum.

5 Mexican Historical Figures

Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) was a Spanish conquistador who conquered native populations in the Caribbean before setting his sights on the Aztec Empire. Cortés landed on the Mexican mainland in 1519 with only 600 men. They marched inland, befriending disgruntled Aztecs in vassal states along the way. When they reached the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán, Cortés was able to take the city without a battle. After capturing Emperor Montezuma, Cortés held the city— until his men eventually outraged the local population so greatly that they revolted. Cortés was able to retake the city in 1521 and this time, he was able to maintain his hold. Cortés served as the first Governor of New Spain and died a wealthy man.

Father Miguel Hidalgo
Father Miguel Hidalgo (1753-1811) was the last person anyone would have expected to kick off a revolution in Spanish colonial Mexico. Nevertheless, inside the facade of a dignified clergyman known for his command of complex Catholic theology beat the heart of a true revolutionary. On September 16, 1810, Hidalgo, who was by then in his fifties, took to the pulpit in the town of Dolores to inform his flock that he was taking up arms against the hated Spaniards and invited them to join him. Angry mobs turned into an irresistible army and before long, Hidalgo and his supporters were at the very gates of Mexico City. Hidalgo was captured and executed in 1811—but the revolution he inspired lived on. Today, many Mexicans regard him as the father (no pun intended) of their nation.

Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794-1876) joined the army during Mexico's War of Independence—the Spanish army, that is. Santa Anna eventually switched sides and over the following decades, he rose to prominence as a soldier and politician. Santa Anna would eventually be President of Mexico on no fewer than 11 occasions between 1833 and 1855. With a reputation for being both crooked and charismatic, the Mexican people loved him despite his legendary ineptitude on the field of battle. Santa Anna lost Texas to rebels in 1836, lost every major engagement in which he participated during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and in between, managed to lose a war to France in 1839. Still, Santa Anna was a dedicated Mexican who always answered the call when his people needed him—and sometimes when they didn't.

Benito Juarez
Legendary statesmen Benito Juarez (1806-1872) was a full-blooded Mexican Indian who initially spoke no Spanish and was born into grinding poverty. Juarez took full advantage of the educational opportunities that were offered to him, attending seminary school before entering into politics. In 1858, as the leader of the ultimately victorious liberal faction during the Reform War (1858 to 1861), he declared himself Mexico's President. After the French invaded Mexico in 1861, Juarez was removed from office. The French installed a European nobleman, Maximilian of Austria, as Emperor of Mexico in 1864. Juarez and his forces rallied against Maximilian, eventually driving the French out in 1867. Juarez ruled another five years, until his death in 1872. He is remembered for introducing many reforms, including curtailing church influence and for his efforts to modernize Mexican society.

Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa (1878-1923) was a bandit, warlord, and one of the main protagonists of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). Born Doroteo Arango in impoverished northern Mexico, Villa changed his name and joined a local bandit gang where he soon earned a reputation as a skilled horseman and a fearless mercenary. It wasn't long before Villa became the leader of the pack his cutthroats gang. Although he was an outlaw, Villa had an idealistic streak, and when Francisco I. Madero called for​ a revolution in 1910, he was among the first to answer. For the next 10 years, Villa fought against a succession of would-be rulers including Porfirio Diaz, Victoriano Huerta, Venustiano Carranza, and Alvaro Obregón. By 1920, the revolution had mostly quieted down and Villa retreated in semi-retirement to his ranch. His old enemies, however, fearful he might stage a comeback, assassinated him in 1923.