author
Ignacio Manuel Altamirano
1834–1893
A leading voice in 19th-century Mexico, this writer, teacher, journalist, and politician helped shape the country’s literary and civic life. His life story is especially striking: born into an Indigenous Nahua family, he learned Spanish as a boy and rose to become one of Mexico’s most influential men of letters.
1 Audiobook
La Navidad en las Montañas
by Ignacio Manuel Altamirano
About the author
Born in Tixtla, Guerrero, on November 13, 1834, Ignacio Manuel Altamirano came from an Indigenous Nahua family and did not learn Spanish until he was older. He went on to study in Toluca and built an unusually wide-ranging career as a writer, journalist, teacher, lawyer, and public servant.
Altamirano took part in the liberal political world of his time and became known not only for his public service but also for his efforts to promote education and literature in Mexico. He wrote novels, essays, and criticism, and is widely remembered as an important figure in the development of modern Mexican literature.
He died on February 13, 1893, in San Remo, Italy. Today he is still read as a major 19th-century Mexican author whose work connects literature, national identity, and the social debates of his era.