Female writers - Ecuadorian Literature

Ana Minga

Ana Minga (Loja, 1984) is an Ecuadorian journalist, poet and short story writer. She has published five books of poetry. Her book entitled “Tobacco Dogs / Perros de Tabaco” (2013) is an English translation of her poems by Alexis Levitin, published in a bilingual edition by Bitter Oleander Press. Her latest and fifth poetry collection, “La Hora del Diablo,” was released in 2018. Her works have been published in Argentina, Mexico, United States, Spain and Italy. She has lived in Quito and currently lives in Cuenca.

Benigna Dávalos

Benigna Dávalos Villavicencio (Riobamba, circa 1910 – Quito, circa 1960) was an Ecuadorian poet and composer; her most recognized work is the text for the pasillo song “Ángel de Luz,” which is also known in Peru under the name “Rayo de Luz,” popularized by the duo Las Limeñitas. In August 2018, the Museum of the Ecuadorian Pasillo was created, where a statue of Benigna Dávalos lies among the statues of 4 other legendary pasillo composers.

Aurora Estrada y Ayala

Aurora Estrada y Ayala de Ramírez Pérez (Pueblo Viejo Canton, Los Ríos Province, November 17, 1901 – Guayaquil, March 12, 1967) was an Ecuadorian poet, columnist, narrator, educator and politician. She is considered a major figure in Ecuadorian literature. Among her best regarded works are: Himno a la Provincia de Los Ríos, Himno al Colegio Aguirre Abad, and Canto de las Trabajadoras. In 1922 she founded and was the editor in chief of Potreo, a monthly magazine which published some of Ecuador’s best young poets of the time, such as Jorge Carrera Andrade, Hugo Mayo, Francisco Fálquez Ampuero, as well as poets from other countries, such as the future Nobel laureate Gabriela Mistral from Chile. Estrada only published 2 books during her lifetime, Como el incienso (1925) and Tiniebla: veinte trenos y una canción de cuna (1943). An anthology containing many of Estrada’s poems was published by Isabel Ramírez Estrada in Aurora Estrada i Ayala, estudio biográfico-literario y antología (1976). Most of Estrada’s poems were published in magazines and newspapers in and outside of Ecuador which have not yet been collected and published in a “complete” collection.

Ana María Iza

Ana María Iza (Quito, 1941-2016) was an Ecuadorian poet, she worked as a journalist, specifically on the radio. Her poems appeared in some of the most important poetry anthologies of Ecuador and Latin America, such as: Poesía Viva del Ecuador (1990), Diccionario de literatura española e hispanoamericana (1993), Joyas de literatura ecuatoriana (1993), and Between the silence of voices (1997). In 2015 she was honored in Poetry in Parallel Zero, an event that brings together great figures of literature to Ecuador for a week. In 2016 she was honored with a medal by the National Assembly of Ecuador.

Mayari Granda Luna

Mayari Granda Luna (Quito, 1977) is an Ecuadorian poet and a literary critic. Her poetry has appeared in several magazines, including Hoja Verde in Chile and Eskeletra in Quito. Granda Luna has also authored poetry books such as “Palabras con el eje roto” (1995) and “Noctivago” (1998).

Adelaida Velasco Galdós

Adelaida Velasco Galdós (Guayaquil, 1894 – December 26, 1967) was an Ecuadorian writer, feminist, and humanist. She is recognized her dedication to Catholic Christian feminism. In 1932, Velasco co-founded the Legion of Popular Education alongside writer Rosa Borja de Icaza. This organization aimed to promote education and empower women in Ecuador. Additionally, in 1936, she represented Ecuador in the Inter-American Commission of the “Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom” in Washington D.C. Starting in 1939, Velasco initiated a campaign to nominate Gabriela Mistral, a renowned Chilean poet, for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her efforts proved successful when Mistral became the first Latin American author to receive the prestigious award in 1945. Mistral later acknowledged in various interviews that it was Adelaida Velasco who had originally proposed her nomination for the Nobel Prize.

Leonor Bravo Velásquez

Leonor Bravo Velásquez (Quito, January 8, 1953) is an Ecuadorian children’s and young adult author. She has published 54 books, 44 of which are stories and novels that are available in various countries throughout Latin America and the United States, as well as major libraries specializing in children’s literature around the world. Her books “La biblioteca secreta de la Escondida” and “Dos cigüeñas, una bruja y un dragón,” are on the IBBY Honor List (International Board on Books for Young People).

Kristel Ralston

Kristel Ralston (Guayaquil, 1984) is a bestselling writer of more than 25 contemporary romance books. Her novel “Lazos de cristal” was one of the five manuscripts on the shortlist for the Second Literary Contest of Indie Authors (2015), sponsored by Amazon, Diario El Mundo, Audible and Esfera de Libros. This contest received more than 1200 manuscripts from different literary genres of Spanish speakers from 37 countries. Kristel was the only Latin-American among the five finalists of the contest. Ralston was also on the shortlist for the romantic novel contest Leer y Leer 2013, organized by Vestales publishing house from Argentina, and she is co-administrator of the literary blog Escribe Romántica. Ralston has published several novels. A prestigious Ecuadorian magazine nominated her as one of the Women of the Year 2015 in the Art category for her literary work.

Fanny Caicedo

Emma Fanny Caicedo Mier, also known as Fanny Caicedo de Cobo (Yaguachi, 1932 – circa 2001), was an Ecuadorian poet and teaching professor. Her books include Perlas Azules and Cantares del Silencio. She was a councilor of the Tungurahua Province. She wrote for several newspapers in the city of Ambato, including La Crónica, Avance, El Heraldo and others.

Susana Freire García

Susana Freire García is a writer, historian and cultural promoter. She was born in 1977. She has a doctorate in Jurisprudence from the Central University of Ecuador but does not practice law. She is a researcher and historian of various aspects of the city of Quito, and is part of the Proyecto Quitología (English: Quitology Project), founded by Ulises Estrella. She has published 9 books with themes related to the city. Her books include Tzantzismo: tierno e insolente (2008), Un maestro en tiempos difíciles (2013), and Caperuso y el violinista (2010), which won the Alicia Yánez Cossío Children’s Literature Contest. She is also the co-author of Cae el telón (2012). Freire’s father is the writer and historian Edgar Freire Rubio (Ecuador, 1947).

Leira Aráujo Nieto

Leira Aráujo Nieto (Guayaquil, 1990) is an Ecuadorian poet, writer, screen writer, actress, literature professor, and researcher. In 2015 she published her first poetry book, “Caníbales.” That same year her poetry collection, “Última noche en el país de los hoteles,” won the Ileana Espinel Poetry Prize. Her poems have been published in various national and international anthologies. She earned a PhD in Spanish Language and Literature from the University of Granada (Spain). She currently lives in Granada, Andalusia, Spain.

Catalina Sojos

Catalina Sojos Mata (Cuenca, 1951) is a poet, writer, columnist, author of children’s literature, and a translator. In 1989, at the age of 37, she published her first poetry book: Hojas de poesía. She has been awarded the Gabriela Mistral National Poetry Prize, 1989, and the Jorge Carrera Andrade Prize, 1992. She is currently the director of the Manuel A. Landívar Museum in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Solange Rodríguez

Solange Rodriguez Pappe (Guayaquil, 1976) is a college professor and short story writer. In 2010 her book Balas Perdidas received the Joaquín Gallegos Lara Prize. In 2018 her book La primera vez que vi un fantasma received honorable mention at the National Literature Competition made by the House of Ecuadorian Culture. Some of her stories have been translated into English, French and Mandarin.

Sonia Guiñansaca

Sonia Guiñansaca (Cuenca, 1989) is a migrant poet, cultural organizer and activist whose work aims for culture equality and social justice, focusing on migrant rights, climate change, LGBTQ+ rights, and gender discrimination. At the age of 5 Guiñansaca migrated to the United States to reunite with her parents in New York City.

Siomara España

Siomara España Muñoz (Paján, January 4, 1976) is an Ecuadorian poet, essayist, professor and literary critic. She has been the director of the literature branch of the Guayas chapter of the House of Ecuadorian Culture, a high school teacher, a literature professor at the University of Guayaquil, the director of the School of Literature in the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Guayaquil, the director of Research and Postgraduate Studies at the University of the Arts, and a professor of literature at the University of the Arts.