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.
With an HPI of 74.37, Octavio Paz is the most famous Mexican Writer. His biography has been translated into 92 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 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and the 1990 Nobel Prize in Literature.
With an HPI of 73.50, Juana Inés de la Cruz is the 2nd most famous Mexican Writer. Her biography has been translated into 49 different languages.
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (12 November 1648 – 17 April 1695) was a Mexican writer, philosopher, composer, poet of the Baroque period, and Hieronymite nun. Her outspoken opinions granted her lifelong names such as "The Tenth Muse" and "The Phoenix of Mexico", for she was a flame that rose from the ashes of "religious authoritarianism".Sor Juana lived during Mexico's colonial period, making her a contributor both to early Spanish literature as well as to the broader literature of the Spanish Golden Age. Beginning her studies at a young age, Sor Juana was fluent in Latin and also wrote in Nahuatl, and became known for her philosophy in her teens. Sor Juana educated herself in her own library, which was mostly inherited from her grandfather. After joining a nunnery in 1667, Sor Juana began writing poetry and prose dealing with such topics as love, feminism, and religion. She turned her nun's quarters into a salon, visited by the city's intellectual elite. Among them was Countess Maria Luisa de Paredes, Vicereine of Mexico. Her criticism of misogyny and the hypocrisy of men led to her condemnation by the Bishop of Puebla, and in 1694 she was forced to sell her collection of books and focus on charity towards the poor. She died the next year, having caught the plague while treating her sisters.After fading from academic discourse for hundreds of years, Octavio Paz re-established Sor Juana's importance in modern times. Scholars now interpret Sor Juana as a protofeminist, and she is the subject of vibrant discourses about themes such as colonialism, education rights, women's religious authority, and writing as examples of feminist advocacy.
With an HPI of 69.64, Thomas Mayne Reid is the 3rd most famous Mexican Writer. His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.
Thomas Mayne Reid (4 April 1818 – 22 October 1883) was an Irish-American novelist. He fought in the American-Mexican War (1846–1848). His many works are about American life, describing the colonial policy in the American colonies, the horrors of slave labour and the lives of American Indians. "Captain" Reid wrote many adventure novels akin to those by Frederick Marryat and Robert Louis Stevenson. He was a great admirer of Lord Byron. The action in his novels mainly takes place in the American West, Mexico, South Africa, the Himalayas, and Jamaica.
With an HPI of 68.63, Juan Rulfo is the 4th most famous Mexican Writer. His biography has been translated into 46 different languages.
Juan Nepomuceno Carlos Pérez Rulfo Vizcaíno, best known as Juan Rulfo (Spanish: [ˈxwan ˈrulfo] audio ; 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!").
With an HPI of 66.14, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón is the 5th most famous Mexican Writer. His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.
Juan Ruiz de Alarcón (c. 1581 - 4 August 1639) was a New Spain-born 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.
With an HPI of 64.46, Rosario Castellanos is the 6th most famous Mexican Writer. Her biography has been translated into 33 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.
With an HPI of 64.26, Laura Esquivel is the 7th most famous Mexican Writer. Her biography has been translated into 30 different languages.
Laura Esquivel (born September 30, 1950) is a Mexican novelist, screenwriter and a politician who serves in the Chamber of Deputies (2012-2018) for the Morena Party. 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.
With an HPI of 62.36, Amado Nervo is the 8th most famous Mexican Writer. Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Amado Nervo (August 27, 1870 – May 24, 1919) also known as Juan Crisóstomo Ruiz de Nervo, was a Mexican poet, journalist and educator. He also acted as Mexican Ambassador to Argentina and Uruguay. His poetry was known for its use of metaphor and reference to mysticism, presenting both love and religion, as well as Christianity and Hinduism. Nervo is noted as one of the most important Mexican poets of the 19th century.
With an HPI of 61.72, José Emilio Pacheco is the 9th most famous Mexican Writer. His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.
José Emilio Pacheco Berny audio (June 30, 1939 – January 26, 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.
With an HPI of 61.68, Cesar Millan is the 10th most famous Mexican Writer. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.
César Felipe Millán Favela (; Spanish: [ˈsesaɾ miˈʝan]; born August 27, 1969) is a Mexican-American dog trainer with over 25 years of canine experience. He is widely known for his Emmy-nominated television series Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, which was produced from 2004 to 2012 and is broadcast in more than 80 countries worldwide.Millan is a New York Times best-selling author and has his own line of dog products and instructional DVDs. Prior to The Dog Whisperer series, Millan focused on rehabilitating severely aggressive dogs and founded a rehab complex, the Dog Psychology Center, in South Los Angeles (2002–2008). In 2009, the Dog Psychology Center moved to Santa Clarita, California. Millan also opened an East Coast clinic at the Country Inn Pet Resort in Davie, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale.Millan's first three books, including Cesar's Way, all became New York Times best sellers, have cumulatively sold two million copies in the United States, and are available in 14 other countries.In 2009, in conjunction with IMG, Millan introduced a monthly magazine also titled Cesar's Way, with The Wall Street Journal reporting at that time that half of American consumers recognized Millan. The magazine ceased publication after its November/December 2014 issue. With Ilusión Millan, his former wife, he founded the Millan Foundation – later renamed the Cesar Millan Foundation and currently called the Cesar Millan PACK Project. The foundation was established to provide financial support to animal shelters and organizations engaged in the rescuing, rehabilitating, and re-homing of abused and abandoned animals, and to fund spay/neuter programs to help reduce dog overpopulation. It aims to "improve the health, happiness, and harmony of dogs and people – while helping both species learn from and support each other." Among other projects, the Foundation worked with Yale University to create a children's curriculum based on his work.
Pantheon has 26 people classified as writers born between 1581 and 1982. Of these 26, 9 (34.62%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living writers include Laura Esquivel, Cesar Millan, and Guillermo Arriaga. The most famous deceased writers include Octavio Paz, Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Thomas Mayne Reid. As of October 2020, 4 new writers have been added to Pantheon including Don Miguel Ruiz, Martín Luis Guzmán, and Javier Valdez Cárdenas.
1950 - Present
1969 - Present
1958 - Present
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1982 - Present
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1973 - Present
1968 - Present
1914 - 1998
1648 - 1695
1818 - 1883
1917 - 1986
1581 - 1639
1925 - 1974
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1939 - 2014
1873 - 1952
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1928 - 1983
Which Writers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 14 most globally memorable Writers since 1700.