Poets - Ecuadorian Literature

Enrique Segovia

Enrique Segovia Antepara (Guayaquil, 1901-Guayaquil, December 6, 1967) was an Ecuadorian poet. Known for his work, “América,” published in 1939, Segovia had a tumultuous life marked by addiction to morphine, cocaine, and alcohol. Rodolfo Pérez Pimentel, a prominent chronicler of Guayaquil, recalled seeing Segovia in their neighborhood during his childhood, describing him as a pale, thin, and poorly dressed figure resembling a zombie. According to writer José Ayala Cabanilla, Segovia was frequently spotted wandering the streets barefoot, clad in tattered clothing, under the influence of drugs or alcohol. To make a living, he would offer his services as a writer of love letters for a sucre each and Quinceañera speeches for 10 sucres each. A few months prior to his death, the Guayas branch of the House of Ecuadorian Culture published “Mis mejores poesías” (My Best Poems), a collection of Segovia’s poems written between 1920 and 1967.

Xavier Oquendo Troncoso

Xavier Oquendo Troncoso (Ambato, 1972) is an Ecuadorian poet, editorial writer, editor and professor. He has published over 11 titles, including poetry, short stories, children’s literature and anthologies of young writers from Ecuador. In 1993 he won the Pablo Palacio Short Story Award and the National Poetry Award. In 1999 the city of Ambato awarded him the Juan León Mera Award for all his literary work. His book “Salvados del naufragio” (2005) is a compilation of his poetry from 15 years of work up to the year in which it was published. His poems appeared in English translation in a book entitled “Poems That Love Me” (2016), translated by Gordon E. McNeer. Some of his poems have also been translated into Italian and Portuguese.

Aurora Estrada y Ayala

Aurora Estrada y Ayala de Ramírez Pérez (Pueblo Viejo Canton, Los Ríos Province, November 17, 1901 – Guayaquil, March 12, 1967) was an Ecuadorian poet, columnist, narrator, educator and politician. She is considered a major figure in Ecuadorian literature. Among her best regarded works are: Himno a la Provincia de Los Ríos, Himno al Colegio Aguirre Abad, and Canto de las Trabajadoras. In 1922 she founded and was the editor in chief of Potreo, a monthly magazine which published some of Ecuador’s best young poets of the time, such as Jorge Carrera Andrade, Hugo Mayo, Francisco Fálquez Ampuero, as well as poets from other countries, such as the future Nobel laureate Gabriela Mistral from Chile. Estrada only published 2 books during her lifetime, Como el incienso (1925) and Tiniebla: veinte trenos y una canción de cuna (1943). An anthology containing many of Estrada’s poems was published by Isabel Ramírez Estrada in Aurora Estrada i Ayala, estudio biográfico-literario y antología (1976). Most of Estrada’s poems were published in magazines and newspapers in and outside of Ecuador which have not yet been collected and published in a “complete” collection.

Ana María Iza

Ana María Iza (Quito, 1941-2016) was an Ecuadorian poet, she worked as a journalist, specifically on the radio. Her poems appeared in some of the most important poetry anthologies of Ecuador and Latin America, such as: Poesía Viva del Ecuador (1990), Diccionario de literatura española e hispanoamericana (1993), Joyas de literatura ecuatoriana (1993), and Between the silence of voices (1997). In 2015 she was honored in Poetry in Parallel Zero, an event that brings together great figures of literature to Ecuador for a week. In 2016 she was honored with a medal by the National Assembly of Ecuador.

Ramiro Caiza

Victor Ramiro Caiza Guamán (Machachi, April 19, 1963) is an Ecuadorian poet, essayist and cultural promoter. He is the author of over 18 books of poetry and essays. He is the former president of the House of Ecuadorian Culture’s branch in Barcelona, Spain. He has served as secretary of the Association of Poets and Writers of Catalonia, Spain. He founded and was the president of the House of Ecuadorian Culture’s branch in the Mejía Canton of Ecuador. His latest books are Mejía Festivo (2020) and Haikus Cotidianos (2020). Caiza currently lives in Quito, Ecuador.

Mayari Granda Luna

Mayari Granda Luna (Quito, 1977) is an Ecuadorian poet and a literary critic. Her poetry has appeared in several magazines, including Hoja Verde in Chile and Eskeletra in Quito. Granda Luna has also authored poetry books such as “Palabras con el eje roto” (1995) and “Noctivago” (1998).

Antonio Ordóñez

Antonio Ramiro Ordóñez Andrade (Quito, January 23, 1943) is a poet, dramaturg, theater actor and director. He was a founder of the “Tzántzicos” group (1961-1969), actor and director of the Ensayo theater, actor of the Ecuadorian popular theater, director of the School of Dramatic Art of the House of Ecuadorian Culture (2 years), director of the School of Theater of the Faculty of Arts from the Central University of Ecuador (11 years), professor at the Faculty of Arts of the Central University (32 years), member of the Ecuadorian Institute of Theater, member of the General Board of the House of Ecuadorian Culture. Many of his early poems were published in Pucuna magazine in the 1960s. In 2014 the House of Ecuadorian Culture in Quito published his only book of poetry El demonio en el fondo de los ojos.

Alfonso Murriagui

Alfonso Murriagui Valverde (Quito, 1929-January 19, 2017) was an Ecuadorian poet, fiction writer, dramatist, journalist, and an exponent of communism. Murriagui‘s poetry is marked by political and revolutionary ideology. For several years he was an editor of En Marcha, the official weekly periodical of the Central Committee of the Communist Marxist Leninist Party of Ecuador. In 1961 he was a founding member of the Tzántzico group of the 1960s. That same year he began writing for Pucuna magazine. In 1965 he became vice president of the Association of Young Writers of Ecuador. He was the director of public relations of the Luís Vargas Torres de Esmeraldas Technical University from 1972-1976. He was the director of cultural diffusion of the Philosophy Department of the Central University of Ecuador from 1985-1992). During the last 15 years of his life he was the editor of the culture section of the leftist weekly periodical Opción.

Adelaida Velasco Galdós

Adelaida Velasco Galdós (Guayaquil, 1894 – December 26, 1967) was an Ecuadorian writer, feminist, and humanist. She is recognized her dedication to Catholic Christian feminism. In 1932, Velasco co-founded the Legion of Popular Education alongside writer Rosa Borja de Icaza. This organization aimed to promote education and empower women in Ecuador. Additionally, in 1936, she represented Ecuador in the Inter-American Commission of the “Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom” in Washington D.C. Starting in 1939, Velasco initiated a campaign to nominate Gabriela Mistral, a renowned Chilean poet, for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her efforts proved successful when Mistral became the first Latin American author to receive the prestigious award in 1945. Mistral later acknowledged in various interviews that it was Adelaida Velasco who had originally proposed her nomination for the Nobel Prize.

Eugenio Moreno Heredia

Eugenio Moreno Heredia (Cuenca, 1926—1997) was a poet, fiction writer, nonfiction writer, literary critic, university professor, magistrate judge and member of the communist party. He belonged to the literary groups “La Madrugada,” “Elan,” and “Tzánticos.” He was the son of the poet Alfonso Moreno Mora. His poems have been translated into several languages and published in anthologies.

Fanny Caicedo

Emma Fanny Caicedo Mier, also known as Fanny Caicedo de Cobo (Yaguachi, 1932 – circa 2001), was an Ecuadorian poet and teaching professor. Her books include Perlas Azules and Cantares del Silencio. She was a councilor of the Tungurahua Province. She wrote for several newspapers in the city of Ambato, including La Crónica, Avance, El Heraldo and others.

Gustavo Egüez Villacreses

Gustavo Egüez Villacreses (Ambato, March 26, 1923 – Guayaquil, May 29, 1981) was a poet and writer. Egüez received several awards for his poetry: In 1952 he won First Prize of the newspaper Diario La Nación (Guayaquil) for his poem “Romancero de Navidad′′ and he was bestowed the Gilded Orchid in the floral games of the magazine Radial Vida Porteña.

Antonio Preciado

Antonio Preciado Bedoya is an Afro-Ecuadorian poet, university professor and diplomat. He was born in Esmeraldas on May 21, 1941. He was director of the Municipal Center of Culture of the city of Esmeraldas and President of the Esmeraldas chapter of the House of Ecuadorian Culture. For 23 years he was director of the Department of Culture of the Central Bank of Ecuador and rector of the University of Esmeraldas. He has been dubbed the “Poet of the Diaspora.” Together with Nelson Estupiñán Bass, Preciado is considered one of the greatest exponents of Esmeralda poetry. Siete veces la vida (1967) is widely regarded as his most famous collection of poems. Some of his work has been translated into English, French and Romanian.

Fernando Artieda

Fernando Artieda Miranda (Guayaquil, June 14, 1945 – April 15, 2010) was an Ecuadorian writer, poet and journalist. For 40 years he worked as a journalist for newspapers and magazines such as La Razón, Expreso, Meridiano and Hoy, as well as television media such as Ecuavisa and RTS. During the presidency of Abdalá Bucaram he was the secretary of communications.

Fernando Nieto Cadena

Fernando Nieto Cadena (Quito, March 29, 1947 – Villahermosa, Mexico, March of 2017) was an Ecuadorian poet. In the 1970s he founded the literary group Sicoseo, which consisted of writers such as Fernando Artieda, Jorge Velasco Mackenzie, Jorge Martillo and Raúl Vallejo. In 1978 he moved to Mexico, returning to Ecuador on only two occasions. In 1989 he was awarded the Jorge Carrera Andrade Prize for his poetry book “Los des(en)tierros del caminante.”