His work has been translated into 10 languages. Aridjis, twice a Guggenheim fellow, served as ambassador of Mexico to the Netherlands and Switzerland. He is founder and president of the Mexico City-based Grupo de los Cien, an influential environmental organization in Latin America. In addition, he is the current president of International PEN, which defends free expression and promotes literature and literacy worldwide. Eltit, who saw the Pinochet dictatorship attempt to control the literature of Chile, said that literature offers a means of consciousness-raising and redemption.
Literature has a real power to produce social changes.
Eltit played an important role in forging a literature of resistance during the years of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile from 1973 to 1990. She has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Social Science Research Council.