Martha Bátiz is a Mexican writer residing in Canada since 2003. She is the author of the short story collections A todos los voy a matar (2000), De tránsito (2014), honorable mention at the International Latino Book Award, and Plaza Requiem: Stories at the Edge of Ordinary Lives (2017), first place for Best Popular Fiction in English at the International Latino Book Award. Her novella Boca de lobo (2008) has been translated into English as The Wolf’s Mouth, into French as La Gueule du Loup, and in a new English edition as Damiana’s Reprieve.

A PhD in literature, university professor, and translator certified by the American Translators Association, she is also the founder of the Creative Writing in Spanish courses offered at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies since 2009. Named by Latinos Magazine as one of the ten most successful Mexicans in Canada, and selected among the Top 10 Most Influential Hispanic-Canadians by the Canadian Hispanic Congress and the Hispanic Business Alliance.

Her first novel Las cervantas (2026) or A Daughter’s Place (2025) has been very well received by international critics and is recognized in the literary spheres of both Canada and Mexico. The novel combines historical research and fiction to offer a feminist perspective on the Spanish Golden Age, giving center stage to characters that traditional history had silenced.

As a keynote speaker at the San Miguel Writers’ Conference 2027, Martha Bátiz brings an ideal perspective for an international literary community. Her reflections on bilingual writing, translation, creativity, and cultural exchange promise a captivating conversation that will celebrate literature as a bridge between people, languages, and generations, inviting us to be part of this enriching encounter.

"The Other Half of Don Quixote"

In this keynote, Martha Bátiz explores the overlooked women who shaped the life and work of Miguel de Cervantes. Drawing from the research behind her novel A Daughter’s Place (Las Cervantas), she reveals how Cervantes’ daughter, sisters, niece, and wife influenced both his world and his writing. Through their stories, Bátiz offers a fresh perspective on one of literature’s greatest figures while examining the broader question of whose voices history chooses to remember.

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For centuries, the history of literature has been written through a partial lens. At center stage stand the great authors, their names engraved on book covers, monuments, and in literary histories, their words shaping generations. Yet behind them, at the edges of portraits and in the shadows of the archives, remain figures whose presence was essential but whose stories have scarcely been preserved.
The women who surrounded these writers, their wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters, did far more than sustain the daily lives that made literary creation possible. They carried the burden of domestic work, childrearing, caregiving, and the countless demands of everyday life. They were also first readers, trusted interlocutors, copyists, typists, confidantes, advisors, perceptive critics, and, at times, decisive challengers. Without them, many great works might never have reached their final form. Without them, the careers of many celebrated authors would not have unfolded as we know them today.
And yet they were largely consigned to silence. While men were elevated to the pantheon of literary greatness, the voices of these women remained little more than echoes. This omission is no accident. It is one of the most enduring ways power determines who will be remembered and who will be left out of history.
This was precisely the case with Miguel de Cervantes and the remarkable women in his family. For years, I sought to uncover the true lives of his daughter, sisters, niece, and wife, women who lived alongside the man who forever transformed the Spanish language. What dreams did they hold? What sacrifices did they make? What role did they play in the life and work of the author of Don Quixote?
Those questions gave rise to my novel A Daughter’s Place (Las Cervantas), and they also inspired this keynote. I invite you to join me on a journey into the lesser-known corners of Cervantes’ life, where these women can finally be seen in their own light. By looking at Cervantes through their eyes, we discover not only a different story, but also a new way of understanding the man regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language: the other half of Don Quixote.

Books to feature: No Stars in the Sky; A Daughter's Place; Las Cervantas