Natalia Toledo

For the Paraguayan Olympic athlete, see Natalia Toledo (athlete).

Natalia Toledo Paz (born 1968) is a Mexican poet who writes in Spanish and Zapotec. Her work helped to revive interest in the Zapotec language.^[1] Ida Kozlowska-Day states that Toledo is "one of the most recognized contemporary poets in the native languages of Mexico."^[2]

Natalia Toledo Paz
Born	1968 (age 56–57) Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca, Mexico
Language	Zapotec, Spanish
Genre	Poetry
Subject	Women, environment, indigenous cultures
Notable works	Cuento del Conejo y el Coyote/ Didxaguca' sti' Lexu ne Gueu' (2008), Black Flower and Other Zapotec Poems (2015)
Spouse	Jaime Garza ​ ​ (m. 1995; died 2021)​
Children	2

Early life and education

Toledo Paz was born in Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca.^[3] She is daughter of the painter Francisco Toledo^[4] and sister of Dr Lakra. Until she was seven and moved to Mexico City, Toledo Paz lived in a community where Zapotec was the main language spoken.^[2] Toledo Paz has been writing since she was young.^[1] Toledo Paz studied in Casa de la Cultura de Juchitán and Sociedad General de Escritores de México (the General Society of Writers of Mexico, SOGEM).^[3]

Career

Toledo Paz's writing has been concerned with women and their relationship to the environment.^[5] Her writing, along with other writers' use of the Zapotec language in their work, has helped boost demand in Mexico to make indigenous cultures more visible.^[6] Toledo Paz enjoys using the Zapotec language because she feels that it has "a great aesthetic sensibility for creating images and beauty."^[2]

Toledo Paz has also collaborated with her father, Francisco, to create children's stories, such as Light Foot/Pies ligeros (2007).^[7] Toledo Paz has been a fellow of Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (the National Fund for Culture and for the Arts, FONCA) (1994–1995; 2001–2002), and Fondo Estatal para la Cultura y las Artes de Oaxaca (the Fund for Culture and for the Arts of Oaxaca, FOESCA) (1995–1996).^[3]

She is the president of Patronato de la Casa de la Cultura de Juchitán (Fund of the House of Culture of Juchitán).

Selected works

• Poetry
  • Paraíso de fisuras (1990), junto con Rocío González, Consejo Estatal para la Cultura y las Artes de Oaxaca.
  • Ca guna gu bidxa, ca guna guiiba' risaca (Mujeres del sol, mujeres de oro, 2002), Instituto Oaxaqueño de las Culturas.
  • Guie' yaase' (Olivo negro, 2004), CONACULTA.
  • Xtaga be'ñe' (Flor de pantano, 2004), Instituto Oaxaqueño de las Culturas.
  • Guendaguti ñee sisi (La muerte pies ligeros, 2005), Fondo de Cultura Económica.
• Anthologies
  • Demián Flores Cortés (1993), Palimpsesto, Ediciones Bi'cu'.
  • Aurora Mayra Saavedra (1996) Las divinas mutantes, UNAM.
  • Antología de poetas de Tierra Adentro (1997), TELAM Nava.
  • Varios Autores (1997), Historia de Arte de Oaxaca, tomo lll, Gobierno del Estado de Oaxaca.
  • Miguel Flores (1998), Toledo: la línea metafórica, Ediciones Oro de la Noche/FONCA.
  • Víctor de la Cruz (1999), Guie' sti' diidxazá, La flor de la palabra, UNAM.
  • Verónika Bennholdt-Thomsen (2000), Juchitán-Mexikos stad der fra un, Frederking & Thaler, Germany.
  • Memoria del XII Festival Internacional de Poesía de Medellín (2002), Colombia.
  • Mónica de la Torre, Michael Wiegers (2002), Reversible Monuments: Contemporary Mexican Poetry, Copper Canyon Press, USA.
  • Carlos Montemayor (2003), La voz profunda, antología de literatura mexicana en lenguas indígenas, Joaquín Mortiz.
  • Carlos Montemayor y Donald Frischmann (2006), Words of the True Peoples. Anthology of Mexican Indigenous-Language Writers, University of Texas Press.

Prizes

• Premio Nezahualcóyotl de Literatura, 2004.^[3]