Carlos Payán Velver (2 February 1929 – 17 March 2023) was a Mexican writer, journalist and politician. He was a senator from 1997 to 2000, elected by the proportional representation mechanism for the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). He was the founder of La Jornada.In 2018, the Senate awarded him its Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honour for his "unwavering defence of free expression and human rights".
Juan José Arreola Zúñiga (September 21, 1918 – December 3, 2001) was a Mexican writer, academic, and actor. He is considered Mexico's premier experimental short story writer of the 20th century. Arreola is recognized as one of the first Latin American writers to abandon realism; he used elements of fantasy to underscore existentialist and absurdist ideas in his work. Although he is little known outside Mexico, Arreola has served as the literary inspiration for a legion of Mexican writers who have sought to transform their country's realistic literary tradition by introducing elements of magical realism, satire, and allegory. Alongside Jorge Luis Borges, he is considered one of the masters of the hybrid subgenre of the essay-story. Arreola is primarily known for his short stories and he only published one novel, La feria (The Fair; 1963).