Rosario Castellanos was born in Mexico City in 1925 and spent much of her childhood and adolescence in Comitán, Chiapas. She studied philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the University of Madrid. She contributed to the newspaper Excélsior, the Chiapaneco Institute of Culture, and the National Indigenous Institute. She was a fellow at the Mexican Writers Center. She wrote poetry: Poesía no eres tú (Poetic Work, 1948–1971); novels Balún Canán (1958) and Oficio de tinieblas (Office of Darkness, 1962); and the short story collections Ciudad real (1961) and Los convidados de agosto (The Guests of August, 1964); as well as plays and essays on the concept of the feminine: Mujer que sabe latín (Woman Who Knows Latin, 1973), El uso de la palabra (The Use of the Word, 1974), and El mar y sus peces (The Sea and Its Little Fish, 1975). He died in Tel Aviv in 1974. He received the Xavier Villaurrutia, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Carlos Trouyet and Elías Sourasky Literature Prizes.