Pedro Páramo

Juan Rulfo (1917-1986) is the author of what is probably the most important novel in Mexican literature. Pedro Páramo was published in 1955 and went on to be translated into over forty languages, sell over a million copies in English alone and initiate an entire literary movement. Rulfo's other literary works are The Burning Plain and The Golden Cockerel. He also worked as an anthropologist and photographer. Margaret Sayers Peden received a bachelor's degree in 1948, a master's degree in 1963, and doctorate degree in 1966 from the University of Missouri. She was a professor of Spanish at the University of Missouri until her retirement in 1989. She is a translator. Emilio Carballido's The Norther (El Norte) became her first published translation in 1970. She has translated 65 books including works by Pablo Neruda, Isabel Allende, Claribel Alegría, Carlos Fuentes, Octavio Paz, and Cesar Vallejo. She has received several awards including the 2010 Lewis Galantiere Translation Prize for her translation of Fernando de Rojas' La Celestina and the 2012 Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation, which is awarded in recognition of a lifetime achievement in the field of literary translation.