Rafael Solana

Rafael Solana Salcedo (August 7, 1915 – September 6, 1992) was a Mexican writer, poet, journalist, critic and playwright.

He is considered a cornerstone of journalism and theatrical criticism, as well as an innovator of Mexican comedy theater in the 1950s, and a promoter of dramatic arts and national culture.

Early life Solana was born in the port of Veracruz in 1915.

As a teenager, Solana met and befriended Octavio Paz and José Revueltas, two other renowned writers.

Career In 1934, at just nineteen years old, Solana released his first poetry collection, Ladera.

By 1936, he founded and published the magazine Taller poético, an individual project soon joined by Efraín Huerta, José Revueltas, and Alberto Quintero Álvarez. The magazine aimed to bring together Mexican poets, regardless of age or their affiliation with any particular group.

After four issues of Taller poético, Solana decided to expand the magazine's themes and content. He brought together a new group of young writers who had published their poems in Barandal, where his friend Octavio Paz stood out. Thanks to Solana's initiative and diplomatic approach, in 1938, the members of both publications came together to create Taller magazine.

This new magazine would gain popularity and become the most important of its time. Solana was responsible for publishing the first four issues, while the following ones were overseen by Octavio Paz. The magazine had wide circulation and published the most prominent Mexican writers of the era, as well as many intellectuals exiled due to the Spanish Civil War.

He died on September 6, 1992, in Mexico City.

He wrote 9 novels and 22 collections of short stories.

Solana wrote 33 plays and is recognized as a renovator of Mexican theater. He frequently used humor, seeing it as one of the best ways to criticize society. His most famous and internationally known work is There Should Be Female Bishops .

As a journalist he contributed to the leading newspapers and magazines of his era, including Excélsior, , El Día and Siempre!.

Awards and distinctions In 1979, he was awarded the special prize of the . He won the National Prize for Arts and Sciences in the area of Linguistics and Literature in 1986. He was the founder of the Mexican Association of Theater Critics , which he led until his death.