Óscar Vela Descalzo is an Ecuadorian lawyer and writer who is considered one of the most representative contemporary literary voices of Ecuador. He was born in Quito, Ecuador in 1968. His novels Desnuda oscuridad (2011) and Todo ese ayer (2015) both won the Joaquín Gallegos Lara Prize for best novel of the year. His novel Yo soy el fuego (2013) won the Jorge Icaza Prize. His novel Ahora que cae la niebla (2019) tells the story of Manuel Antonio Muñoz Borrero, an Ecuadorian diplomat stationed in Stockholm during World War II who issued passports to hundreds of Jews in order to save their lives. His latest novel, Los crímenes de Bartow, was published in 2021. Since 2019 he has been a member of the Ecuadorian Academy of Language.
Works
Novels
- El toro de la oración (2002)
- La dimensión de las sombras (2004)
- Irene, las voces obscenas del desvarío (2006)
- Desnuda oscuridad (2011)
- Yo soy el fuego (2013)
- Todo ese ayer (2015)
- Náufragos en Tierra (2017)
- Ahora que cae la niebla (2019)
- Los crímenes de Bartow (2021)