Writers from Guayaquil - Ecuadorian Literature

José Joaquín Pino de Ycaza

José Joaquín Pino de Ycaza (Guayaquil, January 30, 1902 – Guayaquil, February 25, 1959) was an Ecuadorian poet, educator, historian and politician. Since as early as 14 years old he began publishing his poems in national literary magazines such as Patria and Helios, and later also in Juventud (Quito) and Proteos (Guayaquil). He directed the magazine Hermes, which published the most prominent early 20th century poets of Ecuador, such as Wenceslao Pareja, Miguel E. Neira, José Antonio Falconí, and his friend Medardo Angel Silva. In 1984 the Guayas branch of the House of Ecuadorian Culture published a collection of his poems in a small book entitled “Sándalo.”

Camilo Destruge

Camilo Destruge Illingworth (Guayaquil, October 20, 1863 – February 26, 1929) was an Ecuadorian historian, journalist and chronicler. In 1879 he founded the industrial museum known today as the Municipal Museum of Guayaquil, and directed it for 17 years. He authored numerous historical episodes, biographies and texts, such as La entrevista de Bolívar y San Martín (1918). He wrote for various newspapers, such as El Telégrafo, Diario de Avisos, Los Andes, Guayaquil Artístico, and La Nación. He also created and operated newspapers, held public office, was a volunteer firefighter and was a primary school teacher. He was a member of the National Academy of History and also received a decoration from the government of Venezuela. He was declared “Emeritus Chronicler of Guayaquil.” An institution of historical studies, a school, and a street bear his name in Guayaquil.

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.

Wenceslao Pareja

Dr. Wenceslao Pareja y Pareja (Guayaquil, September 1, 1880 – Quito, February 26, 1947) was an Ecuadorian doctor, medical researcher, writer and poet. As a doctor, he was one of the world’s leading experts on yellow fever, and was nominated for a joint Nobel Prize in Science for his research work with Hideyo Noguchi. Pareja published 4 books of poems. His 1912 polemic poem “Exodo,” which was published in El Guante magazine, is among the first poems to introduce modernismo in Ecuador. Pareja’s poem “La voz del río” from his first book, Voces Lejanas y otros poemas (1915), best exemplifies modernismo in his poems.

Abel Romeo Castillo

Abel Romeo Castillo y Castillo (Guayaquil, January, 22 1904 – Guayaquil, November 11, 1996) was an Ecuadorian writer, historian, biographer, journalist and poet. He was the son of José Abel Castillo Albornoz, the former owner of the newspaper El Telégrafo. Castillo earned a doctoral degree in history in 1931 from the Central University of Madrid, Spain. Among his more notable books are his biographical works on Medardo Ángel Silva, Aurora Estrada i Ayala and José Joaquín de Olmedo, to name a few. His poems “Romance de mi destino” and “Romance criollo de la niña guayaquileña,” were turned into popular pasillo songs. Castillo was one of the founders of the Society of Independent Artists and Writers, and of the Guayas branch of the House of Ecuadorian Culture. Castillo was a member of the Ecuadorian Academies of Language and History.

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).

Enrique Segovia

Enrique Segovia Antepara (Guayaquil, 1901-Guayaquil, December 6, 1967) was an Ecuadorian poet. Known for his work, “América,” published in 1939, Segovia had a tumultuous life marked by addiction to morphine, cocaine, and alcohol. Rodolfo Pérez Pimentel, a prominent chronicler of Guayaquil, recalled seeing Segovia in their neighborhood during his childhood, describing him as a pale, thin, and poorly dressed figure resembling a zombie. According to writer José Ayala Cabanilla, Segovia was frequently spotted wandering the streets barefoot, clad in tattered clothing, under the influence of drugs or alcohol. To make a living, he would offer his services as a writer of love letters for a sucre each and Quinceañera speeches for 10 sucres each. A few months prior to his death, the Guayas branch of the House of Ecuadorian Culture published “Mis mejores poesías” (My Best Poems), a collection of Segovia’s poems written between 1920 and 1967.

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.

Pedro Saad Herrería

Pedro Saad Herrería (Guayaquil, September 16, 1940 – Quito, June 6, 2014), was an Ecuadorian writer, filmmaker, politician, diplomat, historian and journalist. He was the son of Ecuador’s communist party leader, Pedro Saad Niyaim. He authored several books, such as “Historias del pueblo de Guayaquil” (2010), “Ecuador un país en imágenes/Ecuador a Country in Images” (2002, in Spanish/English bilingual edition), and “La caída de Abdalá” (1997), among others. In April 2014, Saad was honored by the Voltaire Masonic Lodge at the House of Ecuadorian Culture in Quito with the Cultural Merit Medal for his extensive and prolific intellectual career.

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.

Fernando Artieda

Fernando Artieda Miranda (Guayaquil, June 14, 1945 – April 15, 2010) was an Ecuadorian writer, poet and journalist. For 40 years he worked as a journalist for newspapers and magazines such as La Razón, Expreso, Meridiano and Hoy, as well as television media such as Ecuavisa and RTS. During the presidency of Abdalá Bucaram he was the secretary of communications.

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.

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.

Luís Carlos Mussó

Luís Carlos Mussó (Guayaquil, March 17, 1970) is an Ecuadorian poet and novelist. His first novel Oscurana (2012) won the Felicísimo Rojas Literary Prize and the Joaquín Gallegos Lara Prize. His latest novel Teoría del manglar (2018) is a work that follows the structure of the periodic table of elements and deals with the death of his father. Among his 8 poetry books, Tiniebla de esplendor (2006) and Mea Vulgatea (2014) have won the prestigious Jorge Carrera Andrade Award.

Miguel Antonio Chávez

Miguel Antonio Chávez Balladares (Guayaquil, June 7, 1979) is an Ecuadorian novelist and short story writer. His first short story book was Círculo vicioso para principiantes (2005). It was followed by the novel La maniobra de Heimlich (2010), the theater piece La kriptonita del Sinaí y otras piezas breves (2013), and the novel Conejo ciego en Surinam (2013). In 2007 he was a finalist for Radio France Internationale’s Juan Rulfo Prize with the story La puta madre patria. In 2011 he was named “one of the 25 best kept secrets in Latin American literature” by the Guadalajara International Book Fair.