Hélène Elizabeth Louise Amélie Paula Dolores Poniatowska ( born May 19 , 1932 ) , known professionally as Elena Poniatowska ( ) , is a French-born Mexican journalist and author , specializing in works on social and political issues focused on those considered to be disenfranchised especially women and the poor . She was born in Paris to upper class parents , including her mother whose family fled Mexico during the Mexican Revolution . She left France for Mexico when she was ten to escape the Second World War . When she was eighteen and without a university education , she began writing for the newspaper '' Excélsior '' , doing interviews and society columns . Despite the lack of opportunity for women from the 1950s to the 1970s , she evolved to writing about social and political issues in newspapers , books in both fiction and nonfiction form . Her best known work is '' La noche de Tlatelolco '' ( '' The night of Tlatelolco '' , the English translation was entitled " Massacre in Mexico " ) about the repression of the 1968 student protests in Mexico City . She is considered to be " Mexico 's grande dame of letters " and is still an active writer
1968 student protests in Mexico City
Tlatelolco massacre
Elena Poniatowska