Ximena Mendoza Párraga

Ximena Mendoza Párraga

Ximena Mendoza Párraga de Granda (Portoviejo, January 31, 1951) is an Ecuadorian poet. She’s a member of the Manabi chapter of the House of Ecuadorian Culture, President of the Writers Association of Manabi, and the first Provincial Culture Director of Manabi, named to this position by the Ministry of Culture. Her poems have appeared in various anthologies. She was married to the poet Euler Granda.

Personal life

She was married to the Ecuadorian poet Euler Granda.

She has two children: Fabrizzio Alejandro and Mayka Sofía Zambrano Mendoza.

Awards & Recognitions

  • Cultural Merit Award from the Ministry of Education and Culture
  • First Mural Prize for Ilustrado Palabras con Vergüenzas (1973)
  • Special Mention at Medardo Ángel Silva Prize (1984)
  • Cultural Merit Award from the House of Culture Manabi chapter (1995)
  • Honorable mention at the eme ñ Third International Meeting of Women Poets in the Middle of the World (2007).
  • Second prize at the fourth International Meeting of Poets in the Middle of the World.

Poem

OLEADAS

Por la buenas
o por las malas
te pesque,
te hice mío,
como quien hace suyo el mar
Y se deja llevar
Por sus aleadas;
Como quien arranca fruta del árbol
Y le da su mejor mordisco;
te detuve sin licencia,
sin permiso de nadie,
y quedé para siempre
al lado de tu historia
y de tu vuelo.
Así y todo, después
que es el ayer de los ayeres
somos otro vuelo y otra historia.

English translation
(by Richard Gabela)

WAVES

For better 
or worse
I caught you, 
I made you mine,
Like one who claims the sea
And lets oneself be carried away
by its waves;
Like one who plucks fruit from the tree
And takes his best bite;
I stopped you without license, 
without anyone's permission,
and remained a constant presence 
in your story 
and your journey.
Even so, once
it becomes the yesterday of yesterdays
we are but another flight and another story.

Selected works

  • Portoviejo 30 (Poesía);(various authors) (1978).
  • La piel del silencio (1975).
  • Incendio en el Alma (1985).
  • Los pájaros Rojos (2000).
  • XV Recital Nacional Portoviejo es Poesía (various authors) (2016).
  • Antología Poética de Mujeres Manabitas “Voces de Ternuras al Corazón del Pueblo” (various authors).

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