Juana Inés de la Cruz

Juana Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana, better known as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, was a colonial Mexican writer, philosopher, composer and poet of the Baroque period, as well as a Hieronymite nun, nicknamed "The Tenth Muse" and "The Phoenix of America" by her contemporary critics. As a Spanish-criolla from the New Spain, she was among the main American-born contributors to the Spanish Golden Age, alongside Juan Ruiz de Alarcón and Garcilaso de la Vega "el Inca", and is presently considered one of the most important female authors in Spanish language literature and the literature of Mexico.

12 November 1651

Born on the same birth day (12 November): Alessandro Birindelli • Choi Yoo-jung (singer) • Dexter Lawrence • Ethan Zohn • Florent Manaudou • Ian Bremmer • Ken Houston • Nima Yooshij • Sam Jones (musician) • Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe