The prominent Mexican writer and academic Cristina Rivera Garza is a candidate to win the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature.
by Mexico Desconocido
The Nobel Prizes are the highest awards in various scientific disciplines and topics of global interest. One of its most popular categories is literature. Filled with big names and not without controversy, prominent authors have received this recognition in several years. In this field, Mexican poet Octavio Paz received the Swedish Academy Award in 1990. Recently, one name that has gained traction as a possible winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature is Cristina Rivera Garza, one of the most prominent writers and academics in our country.
Cristina Rivera Garza, one of the candidates for the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature
The news that Cristina Rivera Garza is one of the strongest candidates to win the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature arose from the intense activity of various specialized betting houses. For a long time, it has become common to predict the winners of this prestigious award in its literary category.
This year, the candidate with the best chance of winning the prize, according to these speculation sites, is Chinese writer Can Xue. Following closely behind in the betting are Mexican Cristina Rivera Garza, Australian Gerald Murnane, and American Thomas Pynchon. Other notable names appearing in the predictions include Japanese Haruki Murakami, Spanish Enrique Vilas-Mata, Hungarian Laszlo Krasznahorkai, and Romanian Mircea Cartarescu.
Whether or not she wins the 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature, Cristina Rivera Garza is one of the greatest writers in Mexico and Latin America today. Rivera Garza was born in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, in 1964. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology at the FES Acatlán of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She holds a doctorate in Latin American History from the University of Houston.
Among her major works are the highly praised Nadie me verá llorar (Nobody Will See Me Cry) (1999) and, more recently, El invencible Verano de Liliana (The Invincible Summer of Liliana) (2021). This book has had an enormous impact, highlighting the various femicides in our country. The text tells the story of Liliana, Cristina’s younger sister, who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend when she was barely 20 years old. In addition to these important works, the distinguished author has received various awards, such as the Anna Seghers International Prize, Berlin, in 2005; the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize in 2009; the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize in 2022; and the Pulitzer Prize in 2024.
Other Mexicans who have won the Nobel Prize
If she wins the Nobel Prize in Literature next Thursday, October 9, 2025, Cristina Rivera Garza would join the list of Mexicans who have received this recognition. Among them are:
- Alfonso García Robles, Nobel Peace Prize winner 1982.
- Octavio Paz, Nobel Prize winner in Literature 1990.
- Mario Molina, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry 1995.
On the other hand, if the predictions come true and the Tamaulipas writer wins, Cristina would also be the first woman born in Mexico to receive this important award.
– With writings by México Desconocido.
