
Elena Poniatowska
Biography
Hélène Elizabeth Louise Amélie Paula Dolores Poniatowska Amor (born May 19, 1932), known professionally as Elena Poniatowska is a French-born Mexican journalist and author, specializing in works on social and political issues focused on those considered to be disenfranchised especially women and the poor. She was born in Paris to upper-class parents, including her mother whose family fled Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. She left France for Mexico when she was ten to escape the Second World War. When she was eighteen and without a university education, she began writing for the newspaper Excélsior, doing interviews and society columns. Despite the lack of opportunity for women from the 1950s to the 1970s, she wrote about social and political issues in newspapers, books in both fiction and nonfiction form. Her best known work is La noche de Tlatelolco (The night of Tlatelolco, the English translation was entitled "Massacre in Mexico") about the repression of the 1968 student protests in Mexico City. Due to her leftwing views, she has been nicknamed "the Red Princess". She is considered to be "Mexico's grande dame of letters" and is still an active writer.
Filmografi
Pedro2022 · Self
Juan Gabriel: Mi Primer Bellas Artes2026 · Herself
Xico's Journey2020 · Cuca (voice)
José Emilio Pacheco: me llamo Nadie2009 · Self
Leonora Carrington: The Lost Surrealist2017 · Self (interviewee)
Alaide Foppa Falla, The Unfortunate One2014 ·
Ana2020 · Escritora (México)
Leonora Carrington - The Surrealist Game2012 · Self
Tina Modotti: Dogma and Passion2013 · Herself
Asaltar los cielos1996 ·
The Busty Doll2017 ·
El Santos vs la Tetona Mendoza2012 · Self / Additional Voices (voice)
One Hundred Years with Juan Rulfo2017 · Self
Made in Mexico2012 · Self
Memoria de Los Olvidados2025 · Self
Chaos and Order: Manuel Felguérez and His Abstract Work2016 ·
Verónica Castro
Marco Antonio Solís
José Emilio Pacheco
Gabriel Weisz Carrington
Daniela Romo
Leonora Carrington
Lila Downs
Juan Gabriel
Jay de la Cueva
El Hijo del Santo
Enrique Guzmán
María Renée Prudencio