Alfonso Reyes "El regiomontano universal" was born in Monterrey, Mexico, in 1889, and died in Mexico City in 1959. He was the son of Bernardo Reyes, a former governor of Nuevo León and minister during the Porfirio Díaz regime. He published his first book, Cuestiones estéticas at the age of 21 and founded the Ateneo de la Juventud in 1910.

He lived in Madrid between 1914 and 1924, where he excelled as a literary journalist, investigator, translator, critic, and writer.

He was a member of the Mexican diplomatic corps, serving in France, Argentina and Brazil before returning to his country in 1939 to organize what is today El Colegio de México.