Medardo Ángel Silva

Medardo Ángel Silva Rodas (Guayaquil, June 8, 1898 – Guayaquil, June 10, 1919) was an Ecuadorian poet and member of the “Generación decapitada” [Decapitated Generation]. He is considered the most pure of Ecuadorian modernists. The “Decapitated Generation” is a moniker given by journalists and historians to to a group of 4 writers in early 20th century Ecuador, because of similarities in their poetry and because they each died at a young age. The four members of the group are Medardo Ángel Silva and Ernesto Noboa y Caamaño from Guayaquil, and Arturo Borja and Humberto Fierro from Quito. The cause of Silva’s death is not certain; he died at 21 while visiting a young girlfriend. He is believed to have committed suicide, but may have been murdered as the result of a love triangle. Among his most famous poems is “El alma en los labios” [My soul on my lips], made famous in a song by Ecuadorian singer Julio Jaramillo.

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Vicente Amador Flor

Vicente Amador Flor Cedeño (Portoviejo, July 19, 1903 – December 3, 1975) was an Ecuadorian poet known for his poems about his native city Portoviejo. The central park of Portoviejo has borne his name since October 30, 1981, and many educational institutions in Ecuador bear his name. In 1983 a bust statue of Flor was placed in the central park of Portoviejo.

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Luis Enrique Fierro

Luis Enrique Fierro (Tulcán, Carchi Province, November 14, 1936) is an Ecuadorian physician, writer and poet. His literary portfolio includes poetry collections like “Baratillo de esperanza,” “Metástasis,” “Arrecife,” “De Muelles y Caminos,” and “Antología Poética.” In the medical field, Fierro served as the Provincial Director of Health from 1965 to 1972 and later became the director of the pediatrics department at the Luis Gabriel Dávila Hospital. His cultural contributions extended to leadership roles as well, where he served three terms as the president of the Carchi branch of the House of Ecuadorian Culture during the periods of 1983-1987, 1992-1997, and 2001-2005. Ecuador’s president honored Fierro with the Eugenio Espejo Award in Culture in 2005.

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Humberto Fierro

Humberto Fierro Jarrín (Quito, June 17, 1890 – Quito, August 23, 1929) was an Ecuadorian poet of modernismo, a literary movement that took place primarily during the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth-century in the Spanish-speaking world. He was close friends with Arturo Borja, Ernesto Noboa, and other tormented poets of the early twentieth century who committed suicide and were thus dubbed the “Decapitated Generation.” This group was heavily influenced by Rubén Darío’s modernismo movement as well as 19th-century French romantic poetry. Fierro’s best known poems can be found in his poetry collections, “El Lad en el Valle,” published in 1919, and “La Velada Palatina,” published posthumously in 1949. He spent almost all of his working life as a clerk in a Public Ministry Office. He died at the age of 39 in 1929 from a mountain fall, which some believe was suicide.

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Oswaldo Calisto Rivera

Oswaldo Calisto Rivera, known by his pen name Cachibache, often spelled Cachivache (Quito, September 22, 1979 – October 10, 2000) was an Ecuadorian poet and painter who died of suicide at the age of 21. In 2001 Cachibache’s only book of poems “Rojo encanto de la marmota” was published posthumously by the House of Ecuadorian Culture in Quito. He also completed a yet unpublished poetic trilogy which consists of: “La cachiva,” “Comible Sr. Lucas Alombrey” and “La falta de pantuflismo.” Cachibache’s poems have been included in several anthologies, such as Memorias del primer festival de poesía joven Hugo Mayo (2005), 13 poetas ecuatorianos nacidos en los 70 (2008), and Premonición a las puertas (2012).

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Fanny Carrión de Fierro

Fanny Carrión de Fierro (1936) is an Ecuadorian poet, literary critic, essayist and university professor. She is a 4-time winner of Ecuador’s Gabriela Mistral National Poetry Award. She has published essays on a variety of topics, including politics, culture, and society. Her poems have also appeared in English-language anthologies such as “These Are Not Sweet Girls: Poetry by Latin American Women” (1994) and “Eye to Eye-Women: Their Words and Worlds” (1997). She has taught at several universities in Ecuador and the United States. She is currently a professor at Ecuador’s Pontifical Catholic University (Quito). She has also been a visiting professor and Fulbright Scholar at Keene State College in New Hampshire, Willamette University in Oregon, and several other universities in Ecuador. Her work has been translated into English.

Family

Fanny Carrión de Fierro’s parents were Luis Enrique Carrión Carvajal and Leonor Acosta from Ibarra, Ecuador. Carrión de Fierro married Gustavo Adolfo Fierro Zevallos (Ph.D. in linguistics). They had four children: Gustavo Adolfo, Patricia Natalia, Luis Alberto and Pablo Fernando.

Education

She received a Doctorate in Literature from the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (Quito, 1981), as well as a Master of Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Bachelor’s degree (Licenciatura) in Education from the Central University of Ecuador.

She has been on the board of the Association of College Professors of the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador in Quito. She is also on the board on several development non-governmental organizations.

Member of

  • “Grupo America” – an Ecuadorian literary group.
  • Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana [Ecuadorian House of Culture], Literature Section.

Works

Poetry

  • En la Voz del Silencio (1980)
  • Ten poems translated into English included in the anthology These are not Sweet Girls, Poetry by Latin American Women, edited by Marjorie Agosin (1994)
  • Where light was born: A personal anthology of selected poems by Fanny Carrión de Fierro (1999; translated by Sally Cheney Bell)
  • Donde nació la Luz: Antología Personal (2000)
  • Desde el beso del tiempo and Esta voz, in Poetic Voices without Borders, edited by Robert L. Girón (2005)
  • Alfa Amor, Donde Nació la Luz and Geografía del Corazón, in Poetic Voices without Borders 2, edited by Robert L. Girón (2009)
  • Ecuador, on erotic attraction, “Hidden Pleasure” in Eye to Eye-Women: Their Words and Worlds, edited by Vanessa Baird, introduction by Anita Desai (1997)

Short stories

  • The Golden Ear of Corn and Other Stories, bilingual collection of short stories. Centro de Publicaciones de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, October 2010.

Criticism

  • José de la Cuadra: Precursor del realismo mágico hispanoamericano (1993)
  • Los Sangurimas, novela precursora de Cien Años de soledad, an essay about the novel “Los Sangurimas” by José de la Cuadra
  • Cien Años de Soledad, Historia y Mito de lo Americano, in: Lectura de García Márquez (Doce Estudios), edited by Manuel Corrales Pascual (Quito: Centro de Publicaciones de la Pontifica Universidad Católica de Ecuador, 1975)

Awards

  • Gabriela Mistral National Poetry Award (1958, 1961, 1981 and 1985)
  • National Poetry Award of Ecuador (1962)
  • “Juana de Ibarbuoru” Poetry Prize, Montevideo, Uruguay (1995).

Other writers with the last name Carrión

Fanny León Cordero

Fanny León Cordero (Gualaceo Canton, October 15, 1920) was an Ecuadorian jurist and poet. León was a member of the Association of Contemporary Writers of Ecuador, whose annual poetry contest is named after her. In 1947 León became Ecuador’s first female jurist, she worked as a judge for 31 years.

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Rodrigo Pesántez Rodas

Rodrigo Abelardo Pesántez Rodas (Azogues, July 25, 1937 – Guayaquil, April 2, 2020) was an Ecuadorian writer, poet, literary critic, anthologist, researcher, university professor, and cultural promoter. He’s best known for his essays and for publishing poetry anthologies containing poems by Ecuadorians. He is especially remembered as an exponent and champion of Ecuadorian women writers. His book, “Presencia de la mujer ecuatoriana en la poesía” (1960), is a poetry anthology that contains poems by 67 Ecuadorian women writers. Other books by him include: “Panorama del ensayo ecuatoriano,” “Ocho poetas tanáticas,” “Jorge Carrera Andrade, amistad y anhelos compartidos,” and “Siete poetas del Ecuador.” As a poet, his poetry books include “Viñas de Orfeo,” “De cuerpo entero,”and “Vigilia de mi sombra.” Among the many awards he received are: the José Vasconcelos Award (an international award from Mexico) and the National Cultural Merit Medal from the House of Ecuadorian Culture. For forty years, he taught Ecuadorian Literature at the University of Guayaquil. He was a member of the House of Ecuadorian Culture.

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J.D. Santibáñez

J.D. Santibáñez, born José Daniel Santibáñez (Guayaquil, 1959) is an Ecuadorian science fiction novelist and comic book writer. He studied Illustration at Parsons School of Design in New York. Santibáñez’s literary contributions include two notable novels: “Ejecútese el mañana” (2001; Execute Tomorrow), a thrilling blend of science fiction and noir set in the near future, and “El mago” (2003; The Magician), a captivating fusion of fantasy, supernatural elements, and action. Displaying his creative versatility, Santibáñez also delved into the realm of comic books, crafting the critically acclaimed “Cómic Book” (2008), a compilation of 27 enthralling graphic stories encompassing science fiction and crime. Alongside his remarkable artistic achievements, Santibáñez shares his knowledge and expertise as a professor at institutions such as the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL), Universidad Santa María (USM), and Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo (UEES). His written works, whether in prose or sequential art, enthrall readers with their fast-paced, darkly ironic, and immensely entertaining narratives populated by a diverse cast of characters, ranging from cowboys and time travelers to hitmen and apocalyptic monsters.

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Jorge Núñez Sánchez

Jorge Núñez Sánchez (Bolivar, February 6, 1947 – Quito, November 1, 2020) was an Ecuadorian writer, historian, and professor. He was the author of 56 books and co-author of 66 other books. He was a professor at the Central University of Ecuador and Treasurer of the National Academy of History. In 1992 he was appointed the director of the Department of History and Geography of the House of Ecuadorian Culture. In 2010 he was awarded the Eugenio Espejo Prize in Culture by the President of Ecuador.

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