Juana Inés Ramírez was born in 1648 on the farmstead of San Miguel Nepantla on the slopes of the Popocatépetl volcano. She learnt to read very early and had a great appetite for knowledge. When she was six or seven, she begged her mother to let her dress up in men's clothes and allow her to go and study in Mexico University, which only men were allowed to attend. When she was eight, Juana was sent to live with her aunt in Mexico City; by then, rumors of her prodigious intellect had spread to the capital. At 20, Juana entered the Convent of the Order of St. Jerome. There, she collected a library of over 4,000 books, wrote poetry, carols, and plays that were published and widely read. Sor Juana defended the intellectual rights of women and the rights of women to have access to education.