Elsa Cross

Elsa Cross (born March 6, 1946, in Mexico City), is a contemporary Spanish-language Mexican writer perhaps best known for her poetry. She has also published translations, philosophical essays and is known as an authority on Indian philosophy.

She has a doctorate in Philosophy and Letters from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and is currently a professor in that Faculty.

In 1990, she was awarded the Premio Nacional de Poesía Aguascalientes for her book of poems El diván de Antar. She is also the recipient of the Premio Nacional de Poesía Jaime Sabines (in 1992).

According to Octavio Paz, ''Elsa Cross is one of the most personal voices in recent Latin-American poetry. Her work, already considerable, includes some of the most perfect poems of the last generation of Mexican writers. I say voice and not poetic writing since poetry, although written, must always be spoken. Two opposing notes reconcile harmoniously in Elsa Cross: the complexity of her thought and the clarity of her diction''.

Speaking of her poetry, Cross said ''it is the bond of the internal with the external. In one direction or another, for me poetry always bridges that inside with that of the outside, is the way of passing from one to the other of these spaces, but which unites them. The internal only can expressed when reflected in that outside -that necessary knot-, the outside can be a mirror or vice versa''.

Published works

 * Naxos, Ollín, México, UFSIA: MAG-MEX-B 7813, (1966)
 * Amor el más oscuro (1969)
 * Peach Melba, Sierra Madre, Series: Poesía en el mundo, (1970)
 * La dama de la torre, entitled La canción de Arnaut, Joaquín Mortiz, México, (poetry prize in the concurso nacional de la juventud 1971, 1972), (1972)
 * Tres poemas (Colección Cuadernos de poesía), UNAM, ISBN 978-968-5800-91-4, (1981)
 * Bacantes/Bacchae, Artífice Ediciones, México, ISBN 978-968-6654-05-9, (1982)
 * Canto malabar, Fondo de Cultura Económica, ISBN 978-968-16-2679-2, (1987)
 * Pasaje de fuego, D.F., Boldó i Climent, México, 2 ed., ISBN 978-968-6109-16-0, (1987)
 * Espejo al sol (poemas 1964-1981), Secretaría de Educación Pública, ISBN 978-968-29-2057-8, (1989)
 * El diván de Antar, JM, ISBN 978-968-27-0390-4, (1990)
 * Jaguar, Ediciones Toledo, México, ISBN 978-968-6332-24-7, (1991)
 * Casuarinas (El ala del tigre), UNAM, Coordinación de Humanidades, Dirección General de Publicaciones, ISBN 978-968-36-2020-0, (1992)
 * Moira, Gobierno del Estado, Instituto Chiapaneco de Cultura, ISBN 978-968-6492-87-3, (1993)
 * Poemas de la India, UNAM, (1993)
 * Urracas, Editorial Aldus, ISBN 978-968-6830-45-3, (1995)
 * De lejos viene, de lejos va llegando, Biblioteca del ISSSTE, ISBN 978-968-825-350-2, (1999)
 * Los sueños. Elegías, Conaculta, México, Práctica Mortal, ISBN 978-970-18-3990-4, (2000)
 * Poemas escogidos 1965-1999, UNAM, ISBN 978-968-36-8018-1, (2000)
 * Ultramar (Letras Mexicanas), Fondo De Cultura Economica USA, ISBN 978-968-16-6562-3, (2002)
 * El vino de las cosas: ditirambos, Conaculta, México, ISBN 978-968-411-588-0, (2004)
 * La realidad transfigurada en torno a las ideas del joven Nietzche, UNAM, (1985)
 * Canto por un equinoccio de Saint John Perse, Cuadernos de Humanidades, UNAM-INBA, (1980)
 * El himno de las ranas, Lectorum Pubns (Juv), ISBN 978-968-494-052-9, (1992)
 * Los DOS Jardines: Mistica y Erotismo En Algunos Poetas Mexicanos (La Centena), Ediciones Sin Nombre, ISBN 978-970-35-0291-2, (2003)