BORDER BOOK FESTIVAL
FEATURED WRITER AND ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Margarita Návar

María Margarita Návar was born in El Paso, Texas.  In the early seventies, she relocated to Austin to study Spanish, French and Italian languages and literature at the University of Texas as an undergraduate.  As a graduate student, she embraced her Mexican roots through the discipline of Folklore in the Department of Cultural Anthropology.  María Margarita has always had a strong inclination towards folk medicine, spirituality and healing.  Her maternal grandfather was a traditional folk masseur and bonesetter (sobador).  She is now an independent anthropologist and a licensed massage therapist.  In addition to her own healing arts private practice, she combines folklore and natural medicine by documenting the extraordinary life and botanical knowledge of her mentor, Doña Enriqueta Contreras, a Zapotec midwife-healer (curandera-partera) from Oaxaca, México.