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.
Education
Gilda Holst completed her secondary studies at the American School, and higher education at the Catholic University of Santiago of Guayaquil, where she obtained a licentiate in literature in 1984.
Works
Short stories
- Más sin nombre que nunca (1989)
- Turba de signos (1995)
- Bumerán (2006)
Novels
- Dar con ella (2000)
Her works has been included in the following anthologies
- El lugar de las palabras (Guayaquil, 1986)
- El muro y la intemperie (Hanover, 1989),
- El libro de los abuelos (Guayaquil, 1990)
- Así en la tierra como en los sueños (Quito, 1991)
- ¡A que sí! (1993)
- Cuento contigo (Guayaquil, 1993)
- Veintiún cuentistas ecuatorianos (Quito, 1996)
- Antología de narradoras ecuatorianas(Guayaquil 1997)
- Cuento latinoamericano del siglo XXI (Mexico, 1997)
- Dos veces buenos # 2. Más cuentos breves latinoamericanos (Buenos Aires, 1997)
- Cruel Fictions, Cruel Realities: Short Stories by Latin American Women Writers (Pittsburgh, Latin American Literary Review Press, 1997)
- 40 cuentos ecuatorianos (Guayaquil, 1997)
- Antología básica del cuento ecuatoriano(Quito, 1998)
- Cuento ecuatoriano de finales del siglo XX(Quito, 1999)
- Cuento ecuatoriano contemporáneo (Mexico, 2001)
- Gilda Holst: Obra Completa (Guayaquil, 2021)