Angela Villalba

Angela Villalba lived and worked in Oaxaca, Mexico in the 1980’s and 1990’s when she started her calendar collection, which now numbers over 250 pieces. She operates Reign Trading Company, a folk art import business specializing in Day of the Dead and Mexican popular culture items such as vintage calendars, original movie posters, custom papel picado banners and classic oilcloth. Angela conducts lectures and workshops on Mexican folk art and culture for schools, teachers, organizations and museums around the U.S. She travels extensively throughout Mexico and prefers the markets, celebrations and villages in southern Mexico. She lives in Santa Rosa, California.

Carlos Monsiváis

Carlos Monsiváis (1938-2010) was Mexico’s leading cultural critic and one of Latin America’s sharpest social commentators, with a career spanning more than forty years and a popularity in Mexico rivaling that of Carlos Fuentes and Octavio Paz. Villalba would compete with him for antique treasures at Mexico City’s vintage flea markets for years until finally asking him to write the Prologue to Calendar Girls. Monsiváis was a compulsive collector of ephemera including posters, magazines, photos, calendars and comic books. His personal collection is showcased in his new museum, El Estanquillo, in the Centro Historico in Mexico City.