Cristina Rivera Garza, a renowned Mexican author and academic, receives the Pulitzer Prize for her impactful memoir shedding light on the femicide of her sister and the systemic issues surrounding gender violence in Mexico.
Cristina Rivera Garza, an acclaimed Mexican author and academic, recently won the Pulitzer Prize for her memoir “Liliana’s Invincible Summer,” which discusses the femicide of her sister Liliana in 1990 in Mexico. Liliana, an architecture student then aged 20, was killed by her ex-boyfriend, a crime that remains unsolved due to systemic issues and corruption within the Mexican police force. In her book, Rivera Garza explores not only her sister’s life and untimely death but also the broader issue of femicides in Mexico, where approximately 10 women are murdered daily and perpetrators are seldom brought to justice.
During her investigation, Rivera Garza received a tip from a reader which led her to believe that her sister’s killer had relocated to southern California under a different name and lived there until his death in 2020. However, she is still awaiting confirmation of his identity by U.S. and Mexican authorities. Rivera Garza’s memoir also converses on the wider cultural issues in Mexico, particularly machismo, and she stresses the importance of adopting feminist terminology and understanding gender violence as a structural issue.
Rivera Garza’s work goes beyond the personal to critique the Mexican state and societal norms that fail to protect women adequately, despite the growing feminist movements in the country. Her narrative intertwines her grief with a call for justice, highlighting the enduring pain and activism of those affected by femicide in Mexico.
