Eugenia Tinajero Martínez

Eugenia Tinajero Martínez (Quito, January 10, 1922 – April 6, 2009) was an Ecuadorian painter, university professor and writer. Tinajero Martínez hailed from a distinguished lineage, being the descendant of renowned Ecuadorian authors Luis A. Martínez and Juan Leon Mera. Her best-known literary work is “Leyendas indígenas” (1954), a collection of stories that focus on the Indian motif. She spent several years in the United States and was a respected professor at Harvard University, where she had previously studied. The majority of her artwork is held in both public and private collections in the Ecuadorian cities of Quito and Ambato.

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Carmen Inés Perdomo Gutiérrez

Carmen Inés Perdomo Gutiérrez (Esmeraldas, 1973) is an Ecuadorian poet and journalist. She has contributed to magazines and periodicals in Ecuador. She is the author of three poetry collections: “Silencio en llamas” (2005), “Naufragio del Canto” (2008), and “Tempestad en la Floresta” (2013). Her poems have also been included in several national and international poetry anthologies. She obtained third place in the Gabriela Mistral women’s poetry contest. During the 2007–2009 biennium, she held the position of secretary of the Ecuadorian Society of Writers (SEDE).

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Gilda Holst

Gilda Holst Molestina (Guayaquil, 1952) is an Ecuadorian writer and university professor. In her fiction, she uses irony and humor to explore themes of gender inequality. She began her literary career in the 1980s, and in 1985 she enrolled in the creative writing workshop of writer Miguel Donoso Pareja. She has also dedicated herself to teaching, working for several years as a professor of literature at the Catholic University, where she eventually directed its School of Letters. She wrote the novel “Dar con ella” (2000) and 3 books of short stories, “Más sin nombre que nunca” (1989), “Turba de signos” (1995), and “Bumerán” (2006). Her work has also been featured in numerous anthologies, including “Cruel Fictions, Cruel Realities: Short Stories by Latin American Women Writers” (1997), edited and translated by Kathy S. Leonard. In 2021, the publisher Editorial Cadáver Exquisito released her Complete Works up to that point.

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Maritza Cino

Maritza Cino Alvear (Guayaquil, 1957) is an Ecuadorian poet and university professor. She has published 8 poetry collections and a collection of 23 short stories entitled “Días frívolos” [Frivolous Days]. Her poems have appeared in Latin American and Spanish magazines, as well as U.S.-based online magazines. In addition, some of her poetry has been translated into English, Italian and French. Her latest poetry collection “El temblor de los huertos” [The Tremor of the Orchards] was published in 2022.

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Maria Cecilia Corella

Maria Cecilia Corella Ramírez (Daule, September 9, 1967) is an Ecuadorian writer, poet, and cultural promoter. She has authored five books: “Poesías amatorias,” “Poemas Corellanos,” “La voz de los Daulis,” “Versos caminantes,” and “Daulis.” From 1985 to 2015, she was the editor of La Voz de los Daulis, a literary, historical, and cultural magazine. She hosts a local cultural TV show Viernes de Cultura y literatura on DV Daule Vision. She is presently the president of the Corporación Cultural Daule, whose cultural event, Sofá Cultural, aims to promote Daule’s literature, dance, music, and other local art forms. She is a member of the World Hispanic Union of Writers and the Union of Writers and Artists of Tarija.

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Rocío Durán-Barba

Rocío Durán-Barba (Quito, 19??) is an Ecuadorian writer, novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and painter. Her creative pursuits have taken her to Paris, where she has resided for many years. Proficient in both Spanish and French, Rocío has authored an impressive collection of over 50 books. Her debut novel, “París sueño eterno” (1997), garnered attention and was subsequently translated into French by the renowned translator Claude Couffon in 2003, titled “Ici ou nulle part.” Alongside her writing career, Rocío Durán-Barba worked as a consultant for UNESCO in Paris, leveraging her expertise to contribute to the organization’s mission. She also served as an advisor for UNESCO at the Ecuadorian Embassy. In addition to her literary achievements, Rocío is an accomplished painter, showcasing her artistic expressions through exhibitions held in various countries.

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Etelvina Carbo Plaza

Etelvina Carbo Plaza (Daule, March 18, 1834 – Lima, March 22, 1902) was an Ecuadorian poet. Her poems were well-regarded by her contemporaries and form part of some national poetry anthologies. A national poetry contest bearing her name is organized by Sociedad Literaria Etelvina Carbo Plaza, a Daule-based literary society founded in 2016 by writer Cecilia Corella Ramírez. This organization is affiliated with the World Academy of Literature, History, Art and Culture (Mexico). An elementary school in the city of Daule also bears the name Etelvina Carbo Plaza. In 2019, Charles J. García Plúas published a biography of her.

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Lola Orbe Carrera

Lola Orbe Carrera, born Luz María Dolores Orbe Carrera (Otavalo, March 31, 1920 – Quito, August 16, 2004) was an Ecuadorian writer, poet, teacher, director of schools and colleges in the province of Imbabura. In 1954, UNESCO awarded her a scholarship to Uruguay and Argentina. She wrote poetry, essays, hymns, biographies, among others. She admired and corresponded with the Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral.

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Mariana Cristina García S.

Mariana Cristina García Salvador (Quito, June 8, 1955 – Quito, 1985) was an Ecuadorian poet, essayist and journalist. Her poetry works include: “De Alfa a Omega” (1972), “Cantos Transparentes” (1974), “De la voz Innumerable” (1977), “Con la prisa de la vida en las manos” (1983), and “Voces para recordar” (1987, published posthumously). As a journalist, she collaborated with some of the country’s newspapers and magazines in the 1970s and 1980s, including El Comercio and Diario Expreso.

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Juliana Espinosa R.

Juliana Espinosa R. (Ibarra, 1986) is an Ecuadorian writer and social communicator. Her literary debut novel “Las Manos de Alondra” (2017) remains her only published work to date. The story revolves around a young girl who confronts the profound loss of her mother and sets off on a transformative journey of self-discovery. Espinosa skillfully explores themes of family, love, resilience, and personal growth, captivating readers with her sincere and engaging narrative. “Las Manos de Alondra” serves as a testament to Espinosa’s potential as a distinct and promising author.

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Mariella Toranzos

Mariella Toranzos Narváez (Guayaquil, January 24, 1988) is an Ecuadorian journalist, poet, and editor. Before becoming the Society editor for the daily newspaper Diario Expreso, she worked at the paper as a news reporter covering politics, and, as the sub-chief of its Guayaquil section, covering cultural topics. She has also written features on contemporary Ecuadorian authors, helping to introduce them to wider audiences. As a poet, she has participated in the Ileana Espinel Poetry Festival as well as other literary events in Guayaquil.

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Saranelly de Lamas

Saranelly de Lamas, aka Saranelly Toledo de Lamas (Riobamba, 1933 – Guayaquil, 1992) was a poet, journalist and fiction writer. As a journalist she was the Cultural Correspondent of the newspapers El País and Occidente (Cali, Colombia) and El Tiempo de Bogota (New York, U.S.) and editor of the Art Page of the newspaper El Nacional (Caracas, Vezenuela). Her major works include: “Revenant” (1961), “Crónicas para un lugar desconocido” (1982) “Orfeo y otros cantos,” and “Los peces de jade cantan a la Paz.”

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María Luisa Lecaro

María Luisa Lecaro Pinto was an early 20th-century Ecuadorian poet from Guayaquil who wrote under the pseudonym Tatá. In 1927, she came in second place in a poetry contest sponsored by the journal Savia, with Hugo Mayo taking first place. She was the sister of cartoonist and caricaturist Guillermo Lecaro Pinto, known by the pseudonym Lekropín, director of humorous and anticlerical journals in the city of Guayaquil, and to whom she dedicated one of her best-known poems. Her work, which had been ignored for decades, was rediscovered thanks to the poetry anthology “Del Vanguardismo hasta el 50” [From Avant-garde To 1950], published by the Ecuadorian writer and literary critic Rodrigo Pesántez Rodas in 1999.

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Martha Lizarzaburu

Martha Lizarzaburu, born Martha Emilia Lizarzaburu Dávila (Quito, June 14, 1940 – January 27, 2019) was an Ecuadorian poet and worked as literature teacher for 29 years at the “24 de Mayo” School in Quito. She published 3 poetry collections: “Aljibe” (1964), “Memorial de la sombra y la ternura” (1973), and “Ataduras para el viento” (1977). Her work was also featured in the poetry anthology “Antología de ocho poetas tanáticas del Ecuador (2005) edited by Rodrigo Pesántez Rodas.

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Elsy Santillán Flor 

Elsy Santillán Flor (Quito, December 23, 1957) is an Ecuadorian poet, fiction writer, playwright, and author of children’s literature. She’s also a lawyer by profession and has worked in Ecuador’s courts. From 1999-2002 she was secretary of Ecuadorian Society of Writers (SEDE). She was the recipient of the Jorge Luis Borges National Prize and the Pablo Palacio Prize. One of her plays received honorable mention at the Joaquín Gallegos Lara Prize in 2011. The majority of her short fiction was collected in “Los miedos juntos” (2009). In 2021, she published her latest work, a horror novel titled “Fantasmagórica aventura del grupo 21” [The Phantasmagorical Adventure of Group 21]. Some of her works have been translated into Hungarian and French.

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