The Most Famous

WRITERS from Mexico

This page contains a list of the greatest Mexican Writers. The pantheon dataset contains 7,302 Writers, 27 of which were born in Mexico. This makes Mexico the birth place of the 37th most number of Writers behind Australia, and Bulgaria.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Mexican Writers of all time. This list of famous Mexican Writers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Mexican Writers.

1. Octavio Paz (1914 - 1998)

With an HPI of 68.82, Octavio Paz is the most famous Mexican Writer. His biography has been translated into 95 different languages on wikipedia.

Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and the 1990 Nobel Prize in Literature.

2. Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648 - 1695)

With an HPI of 64.95, Juana Inés de la Cruz is the 2nd most famous Mexican Writer. Her biography has been translated into 59 different languages.

Juana Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana, better known as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (12 November 1651 – 17 April 1695), was a New Spain writer, philosopher, composer and poet of the Baroque period, as well as a Hieronymite nun, nicknamed "The Tenth Muse" and "The Phoenix of America" by her contemporary critics. As a Spanish-criolla from the New Spain, she was among the main American-born contributors to the Spanish Golden Age, alongside Juan Ruiz de Alarcón and Garcilaso de la Vega "el Inca", and is presently considered one of the most important female authors in Spanish language literature and the literature of Mexico. Throughout history Sor Juana's significance to different communities has varied significantly, having been presented as a candidate for Catholic sainthood, a symbol of Mexican nationalism, freedom of speech, women's rights, sexual diversity, and others, making her a figure of great controversy and debate to this day.

3. Thomas Mayne Reid (1818 - 1883)

With an HPI of 61.41, Thomas Mayne Reid is the 3rd most famous Mexican Writer. His biography has been translated into 33 different languages.

Thomas Mayne Reid (4 April 1818 – 22 October 1883) was a British novelist who fought in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). His many works on American life describe colonial policy in the American colonies, the horrors of slave labour, and the lives of American Indians. "Captain" Reid wrote adventure novels akin to those by Frederick Marryat (1792-1848), and Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894). They were set mainly in the American West, Mexico, South Africa, the Himalayas, and Jamaica. He was an admirer of Lord Byron. His novel Quadroon (1856), an anti-slavery work, was later adapted as a play entitled The Octoroon (1859) by Dion Boucicault and produced in New York. While Reid's novels have turned almost completely forgotten in the Anglosphere, they have remained popular in Eastern Europe and particularly in Russia (ever since the Czar of Russia / House of Romanov imperial dynasty of the Russian Empire period), being considered a part of Western literature canon and published under the category of "World Classics" (along with Jack London and James Fenimore Cooper).

4. Juan Rulfo (1917 - 1986)

With an HPI of 60.47, Juan Rulfo is the 4th most famous Mexican Writer. His biography has been translated into 51 different languages.

Juan Nepomuceno Carlos Pérez Rulfo Vizcaíno, best known as Juan Rulfo (Spanish: [ˈxwan ˈrulfo] ; 16 May 1917 – 7 January 1986), was a Mexican writer, screenwriter, and photographer. He is best known for two literary works, the 1955 novel Pedro Páramo, and the collection of short stories El Llano en llamas (1953). This collection includes the popular tale "¡Diles que no me maten!" ("Tell Them Not to Kill Me!").

5. Fernando del Paso (1935 - 2018)

With an HPI of 57.76, Fernando del Paso is the 5th most famous Mexican Writer. His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Fernando del Paso Morante (April 1, 1935 – November 14, 2018) was a Mexican novelist, essayist and poet.

6. Laura Esquivel (b. 1950)

With an HPI of 54.88, Laura Esquivel is the 6th most famous Mexican Writer. Her biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Laura Beatriz Esquivel Valdés (born September 30, 1950) is a Mexican novelist, screenwriter and politician, serving in the LXIII Legislature of the Mexican Congress in the Chamber of Deputies for the Morena Party from 2015 to 2018. Her first novel Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) became a bestseller in Mexico and the United States, and was later developed into an award-winning film.

7. Juan Ruiz de Alarcón (1581 - 1639)

With an HPI of 54.21, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón is the 7th most famous Mexican Writer. His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Juan Ruiz de Alarcón (c. 1581 – 4 August 1639) was a New Spanish writer of the Golden Age who cultivated different variants of dramaturgy. His works include the comedy La verdad sospechosa (es), which is considered a masterpiece of Latin American Baroque theater.

8. Rosario Castellanos (1925 - 1974)

With an HPI of 53.57, Rosario Castellanos is the 8th most famous Mexican Writer. Her biography has been translated into 35 different languages.

Rosario Castellanos Figueroa (Spanish pronunciation: [roˈsaɾjo kasteˈʝanos]; 25 May 1925 – 7 August 1974) was a Mexican poet and author. She was one of Mexico's most important literary voices in the last century. Throughout her life, she wrote eloquently about issues of cultural and gender oppression, and her work has influenced Mexican feminist theory and cultural studies. Though she died young, she opened the door of Mexican literature to women, and left a legacy that still resonates today.

9. Mariano Azuela (1873 - 1952)

With an HPI of 52.16, Mariano Azuela is the 9th most famous Mexican Writer. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Mariano Azuela González (January 1, 1873 – March 1, 1952) was a Mexican writer and medical doctor, best known for his fictional stories of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. He wrote novels, works for theatre and literary criticism. He is the first of the "novelists of the Revolution," and he influenced other Mexican novelists of social protest. Among Azuela's first published writing were some short pieces for the magazine Gil Blas Cómico, where he wrote under the pen name of "Beleño", and his writing published under the heading Impresiones de un estudiante (Impressions of a Student) in 1896. His first novel, Maria Luisa, was written in 1907, followed by Los fracasados (The Failures) in 1908, and Mala yerba (Weeds) in 1909. The theme of his beginning novels are about fate. He wrote of the social life of Mexicans during the Díaz dictatorship. After experiencing the Mexican Revolution first-hand, his writing style became sarcastic and disillusioned. His first novel with the Revolution theme is Andrés Pérez, maderista in 1911, followed by Sin Amor (Without Love) in 1912, and his most popular, Los de abajo (The Underdogs) in 1915. He continued to write short works and novels influenced by the Revolution. It includes El camarada Pantoja (Comrade Pantoja) in 1937, Regina Landa in 1939, La nueva burguesía (The New Bourgeoisie) in 1941, and La maldición (The Curse, published posthumously) in 1955. These works mainly depicts the satirical picture of life in post revolutionary Mexico sharply and angrily stigmatizing demagoguery and political intrigue.

10. José Emilio Pacheco (1939 - 2014)

With an HPI of 50.99, José Emilio Pacheco is the 10th most famous Mexican Writer. His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

José Emilio Pacheco Berny (30 June 1939 – 26 January 2014) was a Mexican poet, essayist, novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the major Mexican poets of the second half of the 20th century. The Berlin International Literature Festival has praised him as "one of the most significant contemporary Latin American poets". In 2009 he was awarded the Cervantes Prize for his literary oeuvre. He taught at UNAM, as well as the University of Maryland, College Park, the University of Essex, and many others in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. He died aged 74 in 2014 after suffering a cardiac arrest.

People

Pantheon has 29 people classified as Mexican writers born between 1581 and 1997. Of these 29, 11 (37.93%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Mexican writers include Laura Esquivel, Cesar Millan, and Don Miguel Ruiz. The most famous deceased Mexican writers include Octavio Paz, Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Thomas Mayne Reid. As of April 2024, 2 new Mexican writers have been added to Pantheon including Sabina Berman, and Laura Mendez.