María Ángeles Pérez López

Invitado de Honor

(Valladolid, Spain, 1967)  Poet and teacher at the Universidad de Salamanca, where she works on contemporary Spanish poetry.

As a poet, she has received several awards, including the Premio Nacional de la Crítica for Incendio mineral (2021, Vaso Roto) and the awards of the Fundación Centro de Poesía José Hierro and Meléndez Valdés de Poesía for Libro mediterráneo de los muertos (2023, Pre-Textos).

Anthologies of her work have been published in Caracas, Mexico City, Quito, New York, Monterrey, Bogotá, Lima and Buenos Aires. Also, in bilingual editions, in Italy and Portugal. In 2024, the Piedra del desconcierto antohology was published in Honduras, and in Spain the poetic essay La belleza de la materia.

Her book Carnalidad del frío has been published in a bilingual edition in Brazil and the United States. The New York Poetry Press edition (Carnality of Cold) received the Mention of Honor at the 2023 International Latino Book Awards.

She has published and written prologues for numerous works, including Teresa de Jesús.“Las Moradas” y siete diálogos actuales (2022, Vaso Roto).

She is part of the Asociación Genialogías, and is committed to recognizing the legacy of poets. She is a corresponding member of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language, an honorary member of the Nicaraguan Academy, an honorary citizen of Fontiveros, and a member of the Academia de Juglares de Fontiveros, the birthplace of Saint John of the Cross.

She has been on the jury of numerous literary awards in Spain and several American countries, including the Reina Sofía Prize for Iberoamerican Poetry and the Cervantes Prize.

Other activities involving the participant:

Poetry Room

Sara Poot Herrera

Teacher of Primary Education at the Escuela Normal Rural of Atequiza, Jalisco; she has a degree in Philosophy from the Universidad de Guadalajara; a Master's in Literature from the Escuela Normal Superior of Tepic and a PhD in Hispanic Literature from El Colegio de México, with a thesis on the work of Juan José Arreola.

Between books, chapters, prologues, essays, and articles, in addition to creative texts, she has more than 300 publications. She is the director and co-founder of UC-Mexicanistas, an international association of writers and researchers in Mexican culture studies, and she belongs to several editorial boards; she is also the deputy director of the Prolija Memoria magazine, at the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana.

She is a corresponding member of Mérida at the Mexican Academy of Language, and a member of the Alfonso Reyes Chair of the Tecnológico de Monterrey. She has received the Antonio Mediz Bolio Award from the Instituto de Cultura de Yucatán (2000); the Héctor Victoria Aguilar Medal from the H. Congreso del Estado de Yucatán (2008); the Yucatán Medal from the Government of the State (2009); the Galardón Honorífico Universitario Enrique Díaz de León from the Universidad de Guadalajara (2009); the Eligio Ancona Medal from the Government of the State of Yucatán by decision of the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (2014); the Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award (2013-2014), from the University of California, Santa Bárbara (UCSB), where she is a Distinguished Professor, and the Presea Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, awarded by the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana (2021). This year, the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán awarded her an honorary doctorate.

Other activities involving the participant:

Pedro Páramo: bringing the words of Juan Rulfo to the screen

José María Muñoz Quirós

Invitado de Honor

(Ávila, 1957) holds a degree in Hispanic Philology from the Universidad de Salamanca, a PhD in Literature Theory and is a professor of Language and Literature. He is the president of the “Juglares de Fontiveros” poetry academy and director of the literary magazine El Cobaya.

His books and awards include: Ritual de los espejos (1990), runner-up, Premio Adonais;  El sueño del guerrero, “Tiflos” National Poetry Prize; El cuaderno de invierno (1998), San Lesmes Abad International Poetry Prize, City of Burgos; Material reservado (1998), Jaime Gil de Biedma International Poetry Prize; El color de la noche (2007), Ciudad de Salamanca Poetry Prize; El rostro de la niebla (2009), Alfons el Magnànim Spanish Poetry Prize, Valencia. For his combined works, he received the Teresa de Ávila National Letters Award in 2018.

Two doctoral theses have been written on his work in poetry, at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and the Universidad de Valladolid.

His poems have been translated into different languages: French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Arabic, Bengali, and more.

He has published books with plastic artists such as Agustín Ibarrola, Antonio Oteiza, Florencio Galindo and Ángel Sardina, among others.

Other activities involving the participant:

Poetry Room

Carmen López-Portillo

She holds a law degree from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana and a Master's in Latin American History from the Sorbonne University. She is a member of several associations, including the Advisory Council for the Rescue of the Historic Center and the Editorial Committee of Politics, Sociology, and Law at the Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE), and is a founding member of the Mexican Society of Bibliophiles. She is part of the group of researchers convened by the University of California (UC-Mexicanistas) and the International Women’s Forum (IWF), of which she is currently the president.

Since 1991, she has served as the rector of the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana (UCSJ), where, along with coordinating the institution's academic activities, she promotes research and the dissemination of the life and work of Sor Juana, as well as a knowledge of Mexican art, culture, and gastronomy, and the restoration of the former convent of San Jerónimo, the space where the Tenth Muse lived. She is also a member of the Mexican Academy of Gastronomy.

In March 2009, she received the Medal for Institutional Merit from the Festival of Mexico in the Historic Center, and in November of that year, the Government of Mexico City awarded her the Diploma of Honor in the Bicentennial for her efforts to rescue the Historic Center.

She coordinated the book Sor Juana y su mundo (Proceedings of the International Congress, co-published by UCSJ, FCE, and UNESCO), and in 2012 published the book Óyeme con los ojos.Sor Juana para niños. She enjoys music, reading and painting.

Other activities involving the participant:

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz award ceremony