Hipólito Alvarado Espinosa de los Monteros (Guayaquil, 1929 – Guayaquil, 2016) was an Ecuadorian writer, novelist, and poet. He published the short story book, “La segunda voz” (1975) and the poetry book “Más allá del tiempo y las imágenes” (1986). Some of his poems were translated into English and included in the anthology “Tapestry of the Sun. An Anthology of Ecuadorian poetry” (2009) by Alexis Levitin and Fernando Itúrburu. Hipólito Alvarado’s non-fiction books include: “Una celebridad llamada soya” (1985) and the first volume of “Cómo escribir un cuento” [How To Write A Story] (2001).
Hipólito Alvarado’s 18 unpublished works
On September 22, 2012, Jorge Martillo Monserrate published an article in the Gente [People] section of the newspaper El Universo titled “Hipólito Alvarado, un escritor de ficción olvidado en vida” [Hipólito Alvarado, a fiction writer forgotten while alive]. Interviewed for the article, Hipólito Alvarado mentions that he has written at least 18 other books (approx. 16 fiction, 2 nonfiction) which had never been published (and are still unpublished). Martillo quotes Alvarado:
“I’m going to die soon and just look at the number of books. They’re never going to publish them for me,” he says with a broken voice. “I have thought about leaving them to the House of Culture, as a gift, that they may keep them there, maybe one day they will think of publishing them. I’d feel sorry from heaven –if I get to go to heaven– to see my books end up in a garbage can.” (You can read Martillo’s full article here.)
According to the biographer Rodolfo Perez Pimentel some of the titles of these unpublished collections include: “La Edad y el Polvo,” “Una adorable victima,” “A la buena de Dios,” “Por esas calles,” and “El juego del amor y otros juegos,” among others.
Published Works
Short story
La segunda voz (1975)
Poetry
Más allá del tiempo y las imágenes (1986)
Short Story Anthologies
- Cuento ecuatoriano contemporáneo (Guayaquil, s.f)
- Nuevos cuentistas del Ecuador (Guayaquil, 1975)
- Bajo la carpa (Guayaquil, 1981)
- 40 cuentos ecuatorianos (Guayaquil, 1997)
- Antología básica del cuento ecuatoriano (Quito, 1998)
- Tapestry of the Sun. An Anthology of Ecuadorian poetry (2009) with poems translated into English by Alexis Levitin and Fernando Itúrburu.
Name variations
- Hipólito Alvarado
- Hipólito Alvarado Espinosa
- Hipolito Alvarado Espinosa de los Monteros