Manuel Bolom Pale is a Tsotsil essayist and poet from Jocosic, Huixtan, Chiapas. After graduating from college, he entered several literary fellowships to develop his craft, and he produced his first narrative work in 2004. From the beginning of his literary career, his work has received several national and international awards, including the Pat’otan prize. Much of his poetry emphasizes the importance of looking to indigenous community elders for guidance and wisdom. Bolom Pale is driven by a desire to overcome the centuries of oppression for the Tsotsil people, preserving the language and history of his people. His work is published in several collections, including “Buch’u Shainoj li vitse ¿Quién habita esta montaña?.” His wife is fellow writer Adriana del Carmen Lopez Santiz. In 2016, he received the Premio Nezahualcoyotl, a national literary prize for Indigenous writers, for his work, “Sk’inal xikitin: k’opojel yo’on nupunel—Fiesta de la Chicharra: un discurso ceremonial para matrimonio”
Audio Recordings with Manuel Bolom Pale
- Maya Tsotsil poet Manuel Bolom Pale reading from his work, August 30, 2019.