Rosario Castellanos: 50 years since her death

The writer and feminist figure Rosario Castellanos, whose 50th death anniversary is being commemorated, was a restless thinker and professionaland a great reference for current authors, said narrator and essayist Olivia Teroba.

The author, in an interview with The Day, He commented that Castellanos (Mexico City, 1925-Tel Aviv, 1974) left in his work, so vast and within so many genres, a way of telling us that we have all the creative potential and we can and should take the space that belongs to us.

Teroba and her colleagues Diana del Ángel, Jazmina Barrera and Julia Santibáñez will participate in the conversation tomorrow From my dream I was born, my dream sustains me: Presence and dialogues of Rosario Castellanos with current literature, which is part of the academic and cultural event Rosario Castellanos: A Unique Radiance, in the main hall of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters.

Olivia Teroba said she was very excited about her participation in the talk about the diplomat: “It is very interesting how female writers today have this literary legacy in their way of thinking, which sometimes even affects a personal level.

Last year I travelled to Japan for a residency and met a Japanese researcher of literature on the work of Rosario Castellanos. It was very important for me to have this meeting based on this writer, who is very current, and fosters a way of communicating among ourselves and with our environment.

The author of A safe place She said that the techniques Castellanos “used in the narrative are reflected in her essays; I identify with this search for genres and ideas that she had regarding representing Mexico. Although our topics are very different, it is very important to know these precedents to feed my writing..

Teroba noted that the essayist questioned gender roles and the Mexican literary environment. “Her concerns and questions are a kind of path that is being followed, a dialogue of which she was one of the initiators in our country and which we now try to continue, with the nuances of contemporary times.

The writer, translator, diplomat and poet from Chiapas, Rosario Castellanos, captured in 1972 by the lens of photographer Rogelio Cuéllar

This comes from an understanding of feminism that she had in her texts, from knowing that something was happening in the world while she was writing, and that women were taking their place and the word, and she was a fundamental part of this movement in Mexico.

Olivia Teroba reviewed that in the plays and rehearsals of her predecessor there is much more creative freedom and can be read with great relevance, where the role of women in society is questioned, the injustices in the Mexican literary field and even stories that address these issues regarding what femininity is..

Without Castellanos, Teroba concluded, Later figures might not have happened; our writing today owes something to him. I like to think of it just like a tree, like a genealogy that is braided and in which various events, struggles and writings come together to create the literature we have today..

Activity program

Half a century after the death of Rosario Castellanos, activities were scheduled that covered her life and the range of her narrative, poetic, essayistic and dramatic production.

The National Coordination of Literature will hold a conference given by Martha Robles Otero on the depth and relevance of Castellanos’ work, tomorrow at 5 p.m. On Thursday, at the same time, poets such as Marisa Trejo Sirvent, Beatriz Saavedra and Gloria Vergara will participate in a reading of the author’s poetry. Both activities will be broadcast on the Facebook page of the institution and the Capilla Alfonsina.

On Thursday, the 21st edition of the International Cabaret Festival will also be inaugurated with the performance, at 8 p.m., of The eternal feminine: Cabarete tribute to Rosario Castellanos, at the Esperanza Iris City Theater.

The call for entries for the Cartas a Rosario Epistolary Literature Prize will remain open until September 2, in view of the centenary of Castellanos’ birth, which will be celebrated next year. More information at:

In Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, the poet and narrator will be celebrated with the contemporary dance piece The dispossession, directed by Abril Montalvo and David Serrano, and with the reading of The eternal feminine. Both activities will take place tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Emilio Rabasa City Theater.