Mexican writer, poet, playwright, translator, television presenter, entrepreneur, and the official chronicler of Mexico City. As a noted intellectual, he influenced popular perceptions of politics, media, the arts, and Mexican society in general. He was a member of Los Contemporáneos, a group of Mexican writers, as well as of La Academia Mexicana de la Lengua (Mexican Academy of Letters).
Novo defied the machismo and conservative Catholicism prevalent in 20th century Mexican culture by making almost no efforts to conceal his homosexuality. He was, however, accepted by the Mexican government. He held official posts related to culture, was elected to the Mexican Language Academy, and had a television program on Mexico City’s history. Towards the end of his life, he dyed his hair a bright carrot-orange colour and wore many ostentatious rings and coloured suits. He has been compared to Oscar Wilde, but unlike Wilde, Novo never suffered the setback of scandal or persecution and remained an accepted and respected member of society and governmental circles until his death. In fact, some sectors resented the fact that a gay writer would align himself so closely with the government and media after the repression of social movements in the 1960s and 1970s.
He was well known for his wit. When a party, where young soldiers had been invited by gay scholar friends of his, had degenerated into a fight and a scandal, Salvador Novo brushed off the whole matter with a factual: “This is what happens when members of the intellectual elite try to enter military circles”.
On a 1,000-sq.m. plot of land purchased in 1950, Salvador Novo decided to build, with the aid of architect Alejandro Prieto, the cultural precinct “La Capilla”, for which purpose he adapted an old chapel as a theatre, inaugurated on 22 January 1953. Currently, “La Capilla” also includes a small restaurant, “El Refectorio”, as well as a theatre-bar “El Hábito”.
Salvador Novo died in Mexico City on 13 January 1974, aged 69.
Link to Wikipedia biography