Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was a seventeenth-century nun, writer, poet, and intellectual in New Spain. She is one of the greatest literary figures in the Spanish-speaking world and is admired for her learning and defense of women’s intellectual life.

Although she lived before Mexican independence, Sor Juana is central to Mexico’s cultural history. For citizenship learners and curious expats, she represents education, literature, women’s knowledge, and the richness of colonial-era intellectual life in what became Mexico.