Writer and journalist Elena Poniatowska to speak at Kenyon College

GAMBIER, Ohio (March 25, 2005) Elena Poniatowska, renowned writer, journalist, and professor, will give a lecture titled "The Literature that Rises From the Streets" on Wednesday, March 30, at 7:30 p.m. in Kenyon College's Higley Auditorium.

During her visit at Kenyon, Poniatowska will also present a Common Hour discussion titled "Women Who Write" at 11:10 a.m. on Thursday, March 31, in Peirce Hall Lounge. Both talks are free and open to the public.

Poniatowska is recognized for her testimonial work about civil protest, particularly in the context of student, women's, and indigenous groups. She is the founder of the prestigious Editorial Siglo XXI of the Cineteca Nacional, a Mexican film organization, and of Taller Literario, a literary journal. She has taught at Cornell, Princeton, Harvard, and Stanford universities and received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Premio Nacional de Periodismo.

Poniatowska is the author of more than fifty books, including Dear Diego, Massacre in Mexico, Nothing, Nobody: The Voices of the Earthquake, and The Skin of the Sky, which won the Alfaguara Prize in 2001. In 1979 she became the first woman to win the Mexican national award for journalism.

Poniatowska's visit to Kenyon is sponsored by the Faculty Lectureships Committee.