Guest Speakers

Vicente Quirarte Carlos Montemayor
Carlos Montemayor a well known Mexican writer who is also a major editor, critic, and promoter of contemporary literature written in Indigenous languages. He was born in Parral, Chihuahua, June 13, 1947.
He also has written extensively on guerrilla movements in Mexico. He is a member of the Mexican Academy of Language, the Royal Spanish Academy and the Association of Writers in Indigenous Languages.
Carlos Montemayor interest in indigenous languages began in 1979-80, when he was asked to revise an anthology of Oaxacan storytellers.
He also has written books of poetry as "Weapons of wind", "April and Other Poems" and "Memory summer”.
He is the recipient of the International Juan Rulfo Prize for his story Operating in the tropics, and Premio Xavier Villaurrutia por Las llaves de Urgell. Award by Xavier Villaurrutia keys Urgell.
Other honors include the Premio José Fuentes Mares por su libro de poesía Abril y otras estaciones; Jose Fuentes Seas Award for his book of poetry in April and other stations; Premio Colima de narrativa por Guerra en El Paraiso, and Prize for fiction Colima War in El Paraiso.
Vicente Quirarte Natalia Toledo Paz
Natalia Toledo Paz was born in Juchitán , Oaxaca , in 1967. She studied at the Escuela de la Sociedad General de Escritores de México (SOGEM) in Mexico City and has participated in national and international poetry meetings.
Her work was supported by a grant from the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA) in 1994 and 2001 and the Oaxaca State Fund for Culture and the Arts in 1995. She has published Paraíso de fisuras (1992), Ca gunaa gubidxa, ca gunaa guiiba' risaca / Mujeres de sol, mujeres de oro (2002), Guie' yaase' / Olivo negro (2004), Xtaga be'ñe' / Flor de pantano (2004), and Guendaguti ñee sisi / La muerte pies ligeros (2005). The poems from the 2002 volume appeared in French translation in Lunaverses & Femmes d'or (2002), a volume that she shares with Juchitán poet Rocío González. On her audio CD Mujeres de sol, mujeres de oro (2001), her readings of poems in Zapotec and Spanish are set to music.
Her poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies in Mexico , the United States , Colombia , and Germany , including La voz profunda: Literatura mexicana en lenguas indígenas, edited by Carlos Montemayor (2004), Reversible Monuments, edited by Mónica de la Torre and Michael Wiegers (2002), and Words of the True Peoples. Anthology of Contemporary Mexican Indigenous-Languages Writers, volume 2, edited by Montemayor and Donald Frischmann (2005). In 2004 she was awarded the Nezahualcóyotl Prize for Indigenous-Language Literature for Guie' yaase' / Olivo negro. Toledo currently resides in Mexico City.