21st Century Writers - Ecuadorian Literature

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (1989) is a writer from Ecuador. In 2020 she published, “The Undocumented Americans,” which was among Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2020, it was also a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Writing for The New York Times, Caitlin Dickerson called the book “captivating and evocative.” Cornejo graduated from Harvard in 2011, becoming the first undocumented immigrant to do so. She was an Emerson Collective fellow, and as of September 2020 is a Ph.D. candidate in the American studies program at Yale. Her articles have been published in The Atlantic, Elle, Glamour, n+1, The New Republic, The New York Times, and Vogue.

Gastón Calderón

Gastón Calderón Villegas (Guayaquil, November 25, 1993) is an Ecuadorian writer of young adult novels. He has published over 8 books, including “Primero es ella,” which made him the best-selling author in Ecuador of 2019. In 2023, he was honored with the prestigious Gold Medal for Cultural Diffusion by the association La Renaissance Française in Ecuador. The medal was presented to Calderón on January 4th at La Madriguera bookstore by Joëlle Cattan, a French writer and representative of the association.

Kerly Palacios

Kerly Palacios Escobar (Guayaquil, 1994) is an Ecuadorian writer and poet. She has published two poetry collections, “El desvelo de mis versos” (2018) and “Secuelas” (2020). In 2021, she published her first novel, “No puedo hacerte el amor,” an erotic romance about a couple who cannot consummate their marriage. She claims to have written it in just four hours in December 2020, while character development and editing took another six months. She has taken part in the International Book Festival of Guayaquil.

Orlando Pérez

Orlando Pérez Sanchez (Quito, 1963) is an award-winning journalist and writer from Ecuador. In 2002 he published, “La celebración de la libertad,” a collection of interviews with nine writers from Latin America and Spain. In 2013 he published a novel, “La ceniza del adiós,” and a nonfiction book, “Wikileaks en la mitad del mundo,” about the U.S. diplomatic cables in Ecuador published by Wikileaks. In 2014 he co-authored “Caso Chevron: la verdad no contamina” with Nelson Silva.

Diego Araujo Sánchez

Diego Araujo Sánchez (Quito, October 14, 1945) is a writer, journalist, and professor from Ecuador. He has been a professor of language and literature at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador for thirty years, and a visiting professor at the Department of Classical and Modern Languages at the University of New Mexico in the United States. For 30 years, he was the deputy director of the Quito newspaper HOY, where he wrote a weekly opinion column. He also wrote a column for the newspaper El Comercio. He has written numerous articles and essays, as well as two historical-political novels, “Los nombres ocultos” (2016) and “Las secretas formas del tiempo” (2021). He is a corresponding member of the Royal Spanish Academy and a numerary member of the Ecuadorian Academy of Language, where he has served as treasurer since September 2017.

Verónica Bonilla

Verónica Bonilla (Quito, June 11, 1962) is a prolific children’s book author, illustrator, and graphic designer from Ecuador. Her books have been published in Spanish, English and Chinese. She received China’s highest honor for a foreign writer, the 15th Special Book Award of China 2021, for her book Planatario en China, which was published in both Spanish and Chinese in 2019.

Miguel Álava Alcívar

Miguel Álava Alcívar, sometimes Miguel Alavalcívar (Portoviejo, 1988) is an Ecuadorian novelist, poet and philosophy professor. He has lived in Guayaquil for many years. His novels include Universos paralelos (2004), Amada inmortal (2005), El mundo contado al revés (2011) and El Trapecista (2012), which he has referred to as his best work. In 2012 he became a member of the Guayas Chapter of the House of Ecuadorian Culture. He is on the editorial team of the International Journal of Social Science and Economics Invention.

Bruno Sáenz Andrade

Bruno Sáenz Andrade (Quito, September 13, 1944 – Quito, January 11, 2022) was an Ecuadorian writer, poet, essayist and literary critic. He authored numerous books including: “El aprendiz y la palabra,” “Relatos del aprendiz,” “Comedia del cuerpo,” “1944, La promesa y la siega” and “La noche acopia silencios.” A lawyer by profession, in his working life he served as director of the School of Prosecutors in the Public Ministry, as well as Undersecretary of Culture. He was a regular speaker at the House of Ecuadorian Culture, the Benjamín Carrión Cultural Center, and the Rayuela bookstore, among other places. He was an emeritus member of the Ecuadorian Academy of Language since 2014. In 2003 his poetry book “Escribe la inicial de tu nombre en el umbral del sueño” won the Jorge Carrera Andrade Award.

Benjamín Ortiz Brennan

Benjamín Ortiz Brennan is an Ecuadorian journalist and writer. He is the author of two well-regarded historical novels: A la sombra del magnolio (2017) and El bicho que se bajó del tren (2021). He has worked as a chronicler for El Tiempo newspaper, news director of Ecuavisa, director of the newspaper Hoy for 17 years, and director of his own strategic communication agency for another 17 years.

Gonzalo Ortiz Crespo

Gonzalo Ortiz Crespo (Quito, October 18, 1944) is an Ecuadorian journalist, essayist, historian and writer. He has written three novels: Los hijos de Daisy (2009), Alfaro en la sombra (2012) and Pecunia non olet (2021), a corruption thriller which made it to Primicia.ec’s 2021 list of “the 10 books by Ecuadorian writers that marked the year.” He is a member of the Ecuadorian Academy of Language and the National Academy of History. He wrote for the newspapers El Tiempo, Hoy, EL COMERCIO and the magazine Gestión. He has worked as a university professor and has held various posts such as secretary of communication, secretary of the administration of President Rodrigo Borja, and councilor of Quito.

Segundo Moreta Morales

Segundo Moreta Morales (Otavalo, Ecuador) is an author, storyteller and intercultural educator. He is the author of the children’s book Juanita the Colorful Butterfly (2015), illustrated by Into Gualapuro and Luis Uksha. Told in Spanish, Kichwa, and English, it tells a charming tale of a butterfly who loses her color when a witch casts a spell on her; Juanita’s nature-dwelling friends help her to become colorful again.

Maria Virginia Farinango

Maria Virginia Farinango (Otavalo, Ecuador) was born in an Indigenous Quichua community near Otavalo, Ecuador. In 2011, she and Laura Resau co-authored the novel The Queen of Water, based on the true story of her girlhood. After many years of running her own Andean crafts business and traveling extensively with her husband, Tino, an Andean musician, Maria Virginia earned a master’s degree in psychology. Maria Virginia now resides in Otavalo with her husband, son, and daughter, where she practices clinical psychology.

Félix Villacís

Félix Abel Villacís del Valle (March 17, 2000) is an Ecuadorian novelist and poet. He has written four books. He worked as an editor for Editorial Déjà Vu and as the director of Editorial Madriguera from 2019 to 2021. His published books include “A la cuenta de tres” (2016), “La vida que me diste” (2018) and “Nudos” (2021). In 2020 he was a finalist of the eighth edition of “Día del libro y de la Rosa.”

Enrique Ayala Mora

Enrique Ayala Mora (Ibarra, November 13, 1950) is an Ecuadorian historian, essayist, editor, university professor and politician. He works as a professor at the Central University of Ecuador and the Simón Bolívar Andean University. He was a deputy of Ecuador, vice president of the National Congress and member of the Constituent Assembly (1997-1998). He is currently the President of the Ecuadorian Socialist Party. As an editor and writer, he has published over 30 works on history and politics.

Cecilia Velasco

Cecilia Velasco (Quito, May 1965) is an Ecuadorian author of children’s literature and was editor of the Central Bank’s magazine Difusión Cultural. She worked as a columnist for the Quito newspaper Hoy for nearly two decades. She teaches language and literature to children and adolescents. She was awarded the Norma-Fundalectura’s Latin American Prize for Children’s and Youth Literature in 2010. She currently lives in Guayaquil where she works as a teacher at The University of the Arts (UArtes).