Margarita López Portillo

Margarita López Portillo y Pacheco (1914–2006) was a Mexican novelist who earned several awards for her novels and also had three of them adapted for film. She was a public servant, serving under three presidents in various capacities of regulating media. During her brother José López Portillo's presidency (1976–1982), she received sharp criticism for his nepotism and failure to act on warnings of potential fire at the Cineteca Nacional, a government-run film repository. She studied the works of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and led an effort to restore the convent where Sor Juana had lived. In 1980, she was granted the French Order of Arts and Letters.