Thelma Nava was born in
Mexico City, November 25, 1932. She studied at the
Casa del Lago Juan José Arreola; at the
Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM); and at the Centro Mexicano de Escritores ("Mexican Center of Writers") where she wrote her first work,
Aquí te guardo yo ("Here I keep you"). Nava was co-founder of the magazine
El Rehilete y, with
Luis Mario Schneider and
Armando Zárate. She founded the magazine
Pájaro Cascabel (1962–1968) and served as its publisher. She participated in the collective management of the magazines
Xilote (1969–1977) and
Manatí (1974–1984) as well as
La Brújula en el Bolsillo. With
Sergio Mondragón and
Margaret Randall, editors of the magazine
El Corno Emplumado, she co-organized the First Inter-American Meeting of Poets, which was held in 1964 at the Club de Periodistas de México. During the period of 1964–65, she associated with the newspaper
El Día, as a cultural journalist, taking charge of the "Showcase" section. She conducted interviews, poetry selections, and critical notes on poetry and theater. She also reviewed books and cultural magazines. From 1980 till 1982, with the writers
Juan de la Cabada,
Eraclio Zepeda, and
Saúl Ibargoyen, she joined the "Brigada Cultural Roque Dalton". In 1984, and for the next two years, she participated in the Acción cultural del ISSSTE program with a group of 36 poets who gave poetry talks in all
Mexican states. Nava participated in cultural promotion activities for teachers at the
National Pedagogical University, 1996–97. At Películas Nacionale ("National Movies"), she met the poet
Efraín Huerta whom she married in 1958. They had two daughters, Thelma and Raquel, and two granddaughters, daughters of Thelma: Varenka and Natalia. She died in
Castlegar, British Columbia, Canada, August 17, 2019. ==Awards and honors==