Elena Poniatowska is recognized today as one of Mexico's greatest writers. Lilus Kikus, published in 1954, was her first book. However, it was labeled a children's book because it had a young girl as protagonist, it included illustrations, and the author was an unknown woman. Lilus Kikus has not received the critical attention or a translation into English it deserved, until now. Accompanying Lilus Kikus in this first American edition are four of Poniatowska's short stories with female protagonists, only one of which has been previously published in English.
Poniatowska is admired today as a feminist, but in 1954, when Lilus Kikus appeared, feminism didn't have broad appeal. Twenty-first-century readers will be fascinated by the way Poniatowska uses her child protagonist to point out the flaws in adult society. Each of the drawings by the great surrealist Leonora Carrington that accompany the chapters in Lilus Kikus expresses a subjective, interiorized vision of the child character's contemplations on life. 
 "A tantalizingly complex feminist author, whose importance and originality have yet to be appreciated in this country."--Cynthia Steele, author of Politics, Gender, and the Mexican Novel, 1968-1988

Lilus Kikus and Other Stories

Literature & Fiction

ELENA PONIATOWSKA

History & Criticism

University of New Mexico Press

Compañeras de México: Women photograph women (English and Spanish Edition)

Arts & Photography

Amy Conger

Photography & Video

University Art Gallery, University of California

Celebrated as a triumphant collaboration between the American and Mexican governments, the damming of the Rio Grande in the early 1950s was expected to prove highly beneficial to the valley inhabitants of both countries. The success of this project, however, necessitated the gradual submersion of the colonial city of Guerrero beneath the water of the man-made reservoir. The inhabitants were uprooted and displaced, robbed of their land, their sense of community, their places of worship, study, and play—even their graves. Guerrero Viejo—simultaneously in Spanish and English text—is a haunting tale of power and priorities, of a place sentenced to die. Weaving oral interviews and personal investigation, Elena Poniatowska chronicles the historical and social development of Guerrero from its founding to its abandonment by all but a few residents. Their narratives and memories offer a vibrant vision of this historic colonial town which is juxtaposed to Guerrero's current state as captured in Richard Payne's photography. Through sensitive prose and eloquent black and white photographs, this book reclaims the city of Guerrero and offers a valuable lesson for the world today.

Guerrero Viejo

Anchorage Press

Depicts the use of vibrant color in Mexican architecture and art, from the Aztec and Maya empires through the Colonial period to the present

Mexican Color

Stewart, Tabori and Chang

Leonora A Novel Inspired by the Life of Leonora Carrington

Leonora: A novel inspired by the life of Leonora Carrington

Literary

Serpent's Tail

Women Artists of Modern Mexico: Frida's Contemporaries / Mujeres artistas en el Mexico de la modernidad: Las contemporaneas de Frida

Dolores Mercado

Marilyn Lara Corral

Samantha Castro

Angelina Villanueva

Argelia Morales

Rita Arias Jirasek

Ma Teresa Franco Gonzalez Salas

National Museum of Mexican Art

Museo Mural Diego Rivera (Mexico City, Mexico)

Frau des Windes

Insel Verlag GmbH

El universo o nada (Spanish Edition)

Seix-Barral

Leonora

Booket Planeta

Paseo de la Reforma

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Books by ELENA PONIATOWSKA