Ecuadorian Novelists - Ecuadorian Literature

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.

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.”

Jennie Carrasco Molina

Jennie Carrasco Molina (Ambato, 1955) is an Ecuadorian novelist, short story writer, poet, journalist, editor, university professor and holistic therapist. She has worked with the press and on women’s issues. Her works include the short story collection “La diosa en el espejo” (1995), the poetry collection “Arañas en mi vestido de seda” (2001), and the novel “Viaje a ninguna parte” (2004). In 2011 her poetry collection “Confesiones apocalípticas” won the prestigious Jorge Carrera Andrade Prize. Some of her poems have been translated into English.

Roberto Andrade

Roberto Andrade Rodríguez (October 26, 1850 – October 27, 1938) was a politician, historian, author and polemicist. He was a participant in the assassination plot against President Gabriel Garcia Moreno. On August 6, 1875, Garcia Moreno was beaten with a machete while three or four others shot revolvers at him. Andrade landed a deadly shot to Moreno’s forehead. Throughout his life Andrade was persecuted for his polemicist essays and political ideology. “Pacho Villamar,” his semi-autobiographical work from 1910, is widely considered Ecuador’s first political novel.

Carlos Vásconez

Carlos Francisco Vásconez Gomezcoello (Cuenca, May 16, 1977) is an Ecuadorian novelist, short story writer, essayist, columnist and educator who has published short stories and novels since 1999. He is the president of the PEN Center Ecuador and was the president of the Azuay branch of the House of Ecuadorian Culture from 2011-2016. He is the vice-rector and a teacher at Las Pencas Educational Unit in Cuenca, Ecuador. He is also a professor at the School of Language and Literature at the University of Cuenca. He is the director of the newspaper La columna del invertebrado and is part of the Editorial Board of the cultural magazine Arrebol. He has been a columnist for several magazines and newspapers, such as Rocinante, Diners, BG Magazine, Cartón Piedra and La Casa. He has prefaced several anthologies of Ecuadorian short stories and poetry.

César Hermida Bustos

César Hermida Bustos (Cuenca, 1943) is an Ecuadorian doctor, university professor and novelist. He is the son of the writer Dr. César Hermida Piedra. He was a professor at the Central University of Quito from 1972 to 1993. Later he was an honorary professor there. In 2019 his novel Amoríos won the “La Linares” award. He returned to live in Cuenca in 2018.

Nicolás Augusto González

Nicolás Augusto González Tola, also N.A. González (Guayaquil, April 14, 1858 – Buenos Aires, Argentina, January 18, 1918) was an Ecuadorian writer, playwright, novelist, journalist, poet, historian and diplomat. His plays in verse are among his best known works, which include, “Hojas secas,” “Entre el amor y el honor,” and “Amor y Patria,” which he co-wrote with Alfredo Baquerizo Moreno (President of Ecuador from 1916-1920). “Cuestión Histórica, el Asesinato del Gran Mariscal Ayacucho,” (written between 1887 and 1889), is perhaps his most important and controversial work, in which he accuses General Juan José Flores of being behind the assassination of Antonio José de Sucre, prompting hatred and persecution from Flores’ son Antonio Flores Jijón (President of Ecuador from 1888-1892). Due to his political views and polemic writing he was exiled to other countries, such as Peru, Colombia, Guatemala and Spain. From 1908-1913 he lived in Spain as a diplomat, and published there his poetry book, “Humo y cenizas” (1908) and his novel “La Llaga” (1908). He returned to Guayaquil in 1917 where a special committee chaired by José Luis Tamayo (President of Ecuador from 1920-1924) awarded him the “Golden Lyre”.

Víctor Manuel Rendón

Víctor Manuel Rendón Pérez (Guayaquil, December 5, 1859 – Guayaquil, October 9, 1940) was an Ecuadorian writer, poet, novelist, playwright, biographer, translator, doctor, diplomat, pianist and composer. He wrote the novel “Lorenzo Cilda” in 1906 in French. His own Spanish translation of the book got him accepted to the Ecuadorian Academy of Language in 1921. The book also earned him a Gold Medal from L’Académie française on April 3, 1925. He translated many works from Spanish to French, including a 1904 translation of the poetry of Jose Joaquin de Olmedo. He also wrote a biography about Olmedo in French titled: Olmedo homme d’ etat et poete americain, chantre de Bolívar. He spoke 4 languages, and wrote over 40 books in Spanish and French, which were published in France, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Ecuador. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1935 by Celiano Monge, the secretary of the Ecuadorian Academy of Language, but did not win. On two separate occasions he rejected the Presidential nomination of Ecuador.

León Vieira

León Vieira Villafuerte (Baños, October 24, 1940) is an Ecuadorian poet, novelist, biographer, journalist, painter, and teaching professor. He’s lived in Guayaquil for many years where he’s taught at various teaching schools and universities and has directed various magazines. He’s also been the vice rector of the School of Fine Arts in Guayaquil and served as Regional Undersecretary of Education. In 2016, Vieira was decorated with the Juan Montalvo Medal by the city of Ambato for his academic and literary work. His novel El doctor Jehova (1976) was a finalist of the 1972 Seix Barral Award.

Edwin Ulloa Arellano

Edwin Ulloa Arellano (Riobamba, 1947) is an Ecuadorian poet, novelist, short story writer, journalist, psychologist and retired university professor. Ulloa has lived in Guayaquil since adolescence. He was an official of the House of Ecuadorian Culture in Guayaquil. His books include Sobre una tumba una rumba (1992, short stories), La sombra de tu sonrisa (2014, poetry), Polvo de Ángel (2010, novel). He has worked as the general editor of the ANDES State News Agency, Diario Expreso, and La Otra Magazine, and as the director of the newspaper El Telégrafo.

Santiago Vizcaino

Santiago Vizcaíno Armijos (Quito, 1982) is an Ecuadorian poet, novelist and short story writer. He has a degree in Communications and Literature from the Catholic Pontifical University of Ecuador (PUCE). He has worked as an editor at the newspaper Hoy, the Office of Publications of the House of Ecuadorian Culture, and the magazine Nuestro Patrimonio (Our Patrimony). In 2008 he published his first book of poetry, Devastacíon en la tarde (translated into English by Alexis Levitin as Destruction in the Afternoon) and a book-length study of the Argentine poet Alejandra Pizarnik, both of which received awards. In 2015, La Caída Editorial published a bilingual version of his short story collection “Matar a mamá/Matricide” with the English translation by Kimrey Anna Batts. In 2017 Vizcaíno published his debut novel Complejo. His second novel Taco bajo was published in 2019. Vizcaíno is currently the Director of the PUCE Center for Publications.

José Alfredo Llerena

José Alfredo Llerena (Guayaquil, 1912—Quito, 1977) was an Ecuadorian poet, journalist, fiction writer, art critic and essayist. He was a member of the literary group “the poets of Elan” and is regarded as one of Ecuador’s prominent cultivators and maintainers of the modernist movement. His most notable poetry book is “Agonía y paisaje del caballo” (1934), which contains 18 of the author’s poems. He also wrote a novel entitled “Oleaje en la tierra” (1955), and a book of short stories entitled “Segunda vida de una santa” (1953). His nonfiction books are: “Aspectos de la fe artística” (1938) and “Ecuador, perfil de su progreso” (1960).