Mexican Writer, Journalist Elena Poniatowska Received the Cervantes Award

Mexican writer and journalist Elena Poniatowska, a well-known advocate of the poor, was honored on Tuesday with the Cervantes Award in literature, the most prestigious of the Hispanic letters. Poniatowska, 81 years old, is the fourth woman to be awarded the Cervantes since its creation in 1975. Her most important works include "La piel del cielo", "El tren pasa primero" and "La Noche de Tlatelolco", which recounts the 1968 massacre against students in the city of Mexico. "It has been a very steady and very rewarding journey for me", said Poniatowska on Tuesday to The Associated Press. The Spanish minister of Culture, José Ignacio Wert, highlighted the "brilliant literary career" of the author and its commitment to contemporary history. In addition, he emphasized his journalistic work, in in chronic and essay. Daughter of Polish father and Mexican mother, Poniatowska was born in 1932 in Paris. When she was nine years old his family moved to Mexico, where she learned Spanish with family employees. She started a successful career as a journalist in the early 1950's, in that same period of time she published "Lilus Kikus", and since then alternated literature with journalism. The author considered the award recognition for her work in both literary and journalistic facets. "I do interviews, I do articles, I congratulate people, I congratulate others and now, well, it is my turn, it is a surprise and that happens also for being a journalist", she said. The Mexican succeeds the Andalucian poet José Manuel Caballero Bonald, so once more is met the rule not written that the prize is alternately distributed between a Latin American and a Spanish writer. As it is tradition, King Juan Carlos will deliver the award, worth 125,000 euros (167.550 dollars), in a solemn ceremony that will take place at the University of Alcalá de Henares in Spain on April 23th. The Cervantes is considered the Nobel Prize of arts in Spanish. It was created in 1975 by the Spanish Ministry of Culture to recognize the figure of a writer who, with his work, has contributed to enrich the Hispanic literary heritage to either side of the Atlantic. The Mexican author is the fourth woman to receive the award after the Spanish Ana María Matute in 2011 and María Zambrano in 1988 and the Cuban Dulce Maria Loynaz in 1992. Among the winners of this prize there are: Nobel Prize for literature Mario Vargas Llosa, Camilo José Cela, Jorge Luis Borges, Alejo Carpentier and Álvaro Mutis. Source: AP