August 2022 - Ecuadorian Literature

Tadeusz Jakubowicz

Tadeusz Jakubowicz (1887-1985) was a Polish translator who translated works from English, Russian, French, Italian, and Spanish into Polish. In 1950, he translated the famous Ecuadorian novel “Huasipungo” by Jorge Icaza from Spanish to Polish as “Dławiące dzierżawy.” Among other authors whose works he translated are: Alexandre Dumas, Gustav Flaubert, John Dos Passos, and John Galsworthy.

Věra Prokopová

Věra Prokopová (May 1903 – October 28, 1985) was a Czech translator who translated from the French, Russian and Spanish languages into Czech. In 1963, she translated the Ecuadorian novel “El chulla Romero y Flores” into Czech as “Chlapík z Quita,” (literally, The Lad from Quito). Her translation of Icaza’s work (with an afterword) was published in 1963 by SNKLU (Státní nakladatelství krásné literatury a umění). Adolf Born designed the book’s dust jacket.

Vlaicu Bârna

Vlaicu Bârna (1913 – 1999) was an award-wining Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian poet. In 1965 he made a Romanian translation of the Ecuadorian novel “Huairapamuchcas” by Jorge Icaza as “Copiii vîntului,” (literally, “Children of the Wind”). Other authors he translated include Adam Mickiewicz, Heinrich Heine and Victor Hugo. He won the Ion Pavelescu Prize for sonnets in 1934 and the Romanian Academy’s Mihai Eminescu Prize in 1977. He wrote two historical novels for young people: Romanul Caterinei Varga (1961) and Când era Horia împărat (1962).

Mervyn Savill

Mervyn Savill was a British translator, writer, and editor. During his most productive period (from the 1940s to the 1960s), he translated more than 100 books for various publishers into English from German, French, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Spanish. Savill translated the famous Ecuadorian novel “Huasipungo” by Jorge Icaza into English in 1952, and it was published in 1962 by Dennis Dobson Ltd, London. His translation was based on the original 1934 publication of the book. His other accomplishments as a translator include being the first to bring German Nobel laureates Herman Hesse and Heinrich Böll to the English public.

József Füsi

József Füsi, born József Horváth (Hajmáskér, April 2, 1909 – Budapest, August 10, 1960) was a Hungarian writer, playwright, literary translator, and teacher. In 1949, he translated the novel “Huasipungo,” by Ecuador’s Jorge Icaza into Hungarian as “Indián átok” (literally, Indian Curse). For ten years from 1935, he was a teacher at the capital’s Italian secondary school, and until 1947, acting director. After that, he was acting director of the Vígszínház for a year, as well as dramaturg-lecturer. Between 1954 and 1957 he was a member of the military writing group. His plays appeared on the radio in the 1950’s. His most notable translations include Giovanni Boccaccio’s Life of Dante and Benvenuto Cellini’s Autobiography.

Tibor Kobáň

Tibor Kobáň (1912-1996) was a Spanish-to-Slovak translator who in 1963 translated “En las calles,” a novel by Ecuador’s Jorge Icaza, as “Na uliciach” (literally, On The Streets). Self taught in Spanish and a lover of literature in Romance languages, in 1948 Kobáň created the first Spanish-to-Slovak translations of Latin American works. They were the novels “Miércoles santo” [Defilé hriechu] and “La noche toca a su fin” [Noc už pominula] by Manuel Gálvez and “El camino de las llamas” [Cesta lám] by Hugo Wast, well-known Argentinian writers of that time.

Barbara Pregelj

Barbara Pregelj (April 12, 1970) is a Slovenian writer, editor, scholar of Spanish-language literature, researcher, translator, cultural promoter, and university professor. She’s the author of more than 20 scientific articles and 2 books, and has also translated over 40 books from Spanish to Slovenian. In 2001 she translated the Ecuadorian novel, “Huairapamuchcas,” by Jorge Icaza into Slovenian as “Huairapamuške: sinovi vetra” She has organized and coordinated many visits by foreign authors in Slovenia, along with visits by Slovenian authors to Spain, and several international symposia. She regularly presents papers at conferences, symposia and roundtables, both in Slovenia and abroad.

Susana Costales Terán

Susana Costales Terán (Riobamba, March 24, 1960) is a writer and poet. She has twice served as president of the Association of Contemporary Women Writers of Ecuador, Matriz Chimborazo. She is also a member of the House of Ecuadorian Culture in Chimborazo, President of the musical group Rondalla de Riobamba, President of the Los Superstar Club, and President of the Club Antifaz. Her father was the renowned writer Luis Alberto Costales. She is currently a language and literature teacher at Unidad Educativa Jefferson, a school in the Riobamba canton. She also directs a cultural radio program, gives free public speaking classes, and conducts literary workshops and conferences. She owns and operates Café Libro El Zaguán, a cafe which aims to serve as a cultural meeting spot for poetry, art and music; it holds poetry recitals at the end of each month.

Georges Pillement

Georges Pillement (March 23, 1898 — April, 14 1984) was a French writer, translator, Spanish and Hispano-American literature scholar, author of books on art and tourism, and photographer. In 1938, he translated “Huasipungo,” Ecuador’s most famous novel (written in 1934 by Jorge Icaza) into French as “La Fosse aux Indiens” (literally, The Indian Pit). It was the first time “Huasipungo” was translated into another language (it was eventually translated into over 40 languages by other translators, including Russian, Chinese, and English). Moreover, in 1945 he published a French anthology of Ecuadorian short stories entitled “Gens de l’Equateur,” which contained stories by José de la Cuadra, Gil Gilbert, Jorge Icaza, Gallegos Lara, A. Malta, H. Salvador. In his illustrious career, Georges Pillement won the Prix des Deux Magots for his novel “Plaisir d’amour” in 1937, and the French Academy’s Prix Louis Barthou in 1964 and the Prix Georges Dupau in 1975.

Vadim Khazin (Вадим Хазін)

Vadim Khazin, or Вадим Хазін (Kyiv, Ukraine, April 2, 1937) is a Ukrainian translator and a geologist (PhD) who has lived in the United States since 1992. In 1967, he translated Jorge Icaza’s novel “El Chulla Romero y Flores” into Ukrainian as “Лихі пригоди Ромеро-і-Флореса” [literally, The Misadventures of Romero y Flores]. He knows various languages and has translated several works from English, Spanish, Italian and Polish to Ukrainian. He is a certified member of the American Association of Translators, where he initiated the creation of the English-Ukrainian certification of translators and until 2016 headed the relevant section of examiners. Now he heads the English-Russian certification section. He lives and works in New Jersey, USA.

Paul Zech

Paul Zech (February 19, 1881 — September 7, 1946) was a German Expressionist writer of the first half of the twentieth century. His German translation of Jorge Icaza’s famous novel “Huasipungo” was published after his death in 1952 as “Huasi-Pungo. Ruf der Indios,” (literally, Huasipungo. Cry of the Indians). Zech’s prolific literary output included essays, poetry, plays, and translation. In 1933, having garnered criticism and opposition from Germany’s far-right, he emigrated to Buenos Aires, Argentina in the fall of 1933, where he remained in exile from the Nazis until his death in 1946. Known primarily for his translations of classic French works, almost all of his longer works, including seven novels, remained unpublished during his lifetime. These posthumous works were instrumental in finally bringing him the recognition he so richly deserved.

Carlo Bo

Carlo Bo (Sestri Levante, Italy, January 25, 1911 – Genoa, July 21, 2001) was an Italian poet, literary critic, translator, and professor, as well as a Lifetime senator of Italy (since 1984). In 1949, Bo translated the Ecuadorian novel “Cholos” by Jorge Icaza into Italian as “I meticci,” (literally, The Mestizos). In an article titled “Calvino, Pavese, Icaza” published in La Hora newspaper in 2010, María Helena Barrera-Agarwal, wrote this about Bo: “He was a polyglot and man of extraordinary erudition, whose talent was perfectly reflected in the way in which he rendered Icaza’s work into Italian: his version, clean and true, retains the novel’s original qualities.” Among the other Spanish-language authors B0 translated into Italian are: Venezuela’s Rómulo Gallegos, Argentina’s Ricardo Güiraldes, and Spain’s Federico García Lorca and Miguel de Unamuno. Bo served as rector of the University of Urbino for over 50 years (from 1947 until his death in 2001 at the age of 90).

Horacio Mendoza Parraga

Horacio Mendoza Parraga (Portoviejo, 1947) is an Ecuadorian poet, writer, and university professor. He is the author of several poetry collections. He is known as a lyrical, social and romantic poet, and his poems have also been included in various anthologies. In 1971, he won first prize in a national poetry contest organized by the House of Ecuadorian Culture. In 1968, 1972, and 1973, he received honorable mentions in the Ismael Pérez Pazmiño National Poetry Contest. He has served as Councilor of the Portoviejo canton; Director of the Municipal Board of Culture of Portoviejo; President and Executive Director of the Manabí Rehabilitation Center; and has been the President or Director of several private companies. He is currently the Director of Culture at the Universidad Particular San Gregorio in Portoviejo.

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.

Gabriela Ruiz Agila

Gabriela Ruiz Agila (Quito, Ecuador, 1983) is an Ecuadorian journalist, poet, and researcher of mixed Chinese and Ecuadorian heritage, specializing in migration, human rights, and environmental issues. Her heritage is reflected in her work, particularly in Madame Ho. Escrituras de viaje (2017), where she explores themes of identity and migration, drawing from her personal background. She holds degrees in Communication from the Central University of Ecuador and Public Administration from the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC), where she also earned a master’s in Public Policy. Ruiz Agila is recognized for her contributions to independent journalism and has received multiple awards, including the National Eugenio Espejo Journalism Award in 2017.