María Luisa Ross Landa

María Luisa Ross Landa (August 14, 1887 – June 12, 1945) was a Mexican feminist writer, journalist, educator, actress, and civil servant. She was a pioneer of cultural radio in Mexico, and the first director of Radio Educación.

Early life María Luisa Ross Landa was born in Pachuca, Hidalgo on August 14, 1887, the daughter of Alejandro Ross, a Scottish military doctor, and Elena Landa, a school prefect of Spanish descent. Her father was deputy director of the recently founded General Hospital of Mexico, director of the General Hospital of Pachuca, and had ties to the government of Porfirio Díaz. Her mother was prefect at the National Secondary School for Girls in Pachuca. The family's social position afforded María Luisa access to an excellent private education, something which was available to few women at the time. Her teachers inspired her to find an academic vocation.

Some sources state that wrote the poem Metamorfosis for her, She also contributed to La Prensa and El Regidor in San Antonio, and Hispano-América in San Francisco. As a journalist, she used pseudonyms such as El Paje Merelí, Silvia Setala, and María Luisa.

Ross Landa wrote screenplays for the 1917 films Obsesión – in which she acted – and Triste crepúsculo. The same year, her poem Rosas de amor was staged at the Arbeu Theater. She was entrusted by José Vasconcelos to create and direct prominent educational-literacy projects, including Radio Educación, the country's first educational radio station. From 1924 to 1933, she was appointed head of the radio-telephone section of the Secretariat of Public Education (SEP), in charge of the station and its content. It had the task of disseminating educational, cultural, and scientific knowledge, while the Mexican government provided receiving devices to communities. Ross Landa would visit towns and communities, where she would give lectures on the value of education. She resigned from the position after the departure of Emilio Portes Gil from SEP, and returned to direct the station from 1931 to 1933. She was president of the Society of Mexican Didactic Authors, and was a member of the permanent commission of the National Congress of Educators.

At a philanthropic level, she participated in the foundation of the Mexican Red Cross, and went to Monterrey to help people affected by the flood of 1909. From 1933 to 1945, she directed various libraries.

Works Educational materials

Lecturas selectas (1922) Memorias de una niña (1923, 1924) El mundo de los niños (1924) Lecturas instructivas y recreativas (1925) Historia de una Mujer

Novels La culpa (1920) Así conquista España (1923)

Poetry Rosas de amor (1917)

Screenplays Obsesión (1917) Triste crepúsculo (1917) Maciste turista (1918)