Centro Cultural Meyehualco de Elena Poniatowska

The Centro Cultural Meyehualco Elena Poniatowska was opened by the famous writer herself, in 2011. Today it’s an important part of the center of the Colonia Santa Cruz Meyehualco, in Iztapalapa.  The center is right on the southeast corner of the Parque Cri-Cri. Importantly, the Colonia de Meyehualco shouldn’t be confused with the Pueblo Santa Cruz Meyehualco, the neighborhing community to the south.

The Colonia, as opposed to the Pueblo, is one of the mid-20th century’s great early housing developments. People started moving here from all over the City in the late 1950s. The people already here were some of the most disadvantaged. Many eked out a living from the garbage landfill that came to be the great Parque Cuitláhuac to the north. By 2011, there was a need for a better library and access to the culture and learning that the entire community brought to the table.

• Hélène Elizabeth Louise Amélie Paula Dolores Poniatowska Amor (1932-) is called more simply Elena Poniatowska. Born in Paris, her mother had fled the Mexican Revolution. When she was ten, her family returned to Mexico to escape World War II. At 18, she began writing interviews and society columns for the newspaper Excélsior. She came to write about social and political issues in many newspapers and in novels and non-fiction books. Today she is considered one of the most important Mexican writers of the late 20th century.

The cultural center is an important center for community learning and exchange. It’s also caddy-corner from the Mercado Santa Cruz Meyehualco which can be visited at the same time.