Fernando Peñalosa

Mayan Folktales translated from
Q'anjob'al Maya language of Guatemala by Fernando Peñalosa.

Fernando Peñalosa is a retired sociolinguist who most recently taught sociology, linguistics and Chicano studies at California State University, Long Beach. For over twelve years he has been working with Maya in Guatemala and the Los Angeles area, studying their languages and oral literature. He founded Yax Te' Press to publish books by and about the contemporary Maya, mostly in Spanish, so the Maya themselves can read what has been written by or about them. In February of 1997 Yax Te' Press was reorganized as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt non profit organization known as the Yax Te’ Foundation. In March 2003 the operations of the Foundation were transferred to the K'inal Winik Cultural Center at Cleveland State University yaxte@csuohio.edu.

These stories were told to Fernando Peñalosa by don Pedro Miguel Say, a famous Q'anjob'al storyteller from San Miguel Acátan, Huehuetenango, Guatemala, who now lives in Los Angeles, California, in the Hollywood area.

Fernando Peñalosa es sociolingüista jubilado de la Universidad Estatal de California en Long Beach, CA, USA. Durante más de un lustro ha estudiado los idiomas y las tradiciones orales de los mayas de Centroamérica, especialmente las del grupo maya-q'anjob'al del Departamento de Huehuetenengo, Guatemala. Fundó Ediciones Yax Te' para que los mayas mismos pudieran tener acceso a lo que ellos han escrito o lo que se ha escrito sobre ellos. Puede comunicarse con la editorial por medio de correo electrónico: yaxte@csuohio.edu.

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