Poets - Ecuadorian Literature

César Dávila Andrade

César Dávila Andrade (Cuenca, Ecuador, October 5, 1918 – Caracas, Venezuela, May 2, 1967) was an Ecuadorian poet, writer and essayist, usually acclaimed as an outstanding member of the 1940 Madrugada Group. His interest in the strange and marvelous earned him the sobriquet,“el Fakir.” He is best known for his poetry, although he also wrote short novels, stories, essays and numerous newspaper articles. His works displayed elements of Neo-romanticism and surrealism. His best known poem, “Boletín y elegía de las mitas,” originally published in 1959, marked a milestone in Ecuadorian and Latin American literature. He spent much of his life in Caracas, Venezuela where he worked in the editorial staff of Zona Franca. For several years he served as cultural attaché at the Ecuadorian embassy. Death and transfiguration was a theme in his poems. In 1967, he committed suicide at the age of 48.

Carmen Váscones

Carmen Váscones is an Ecuadorian writer, poet, literary critic, columnist, essayist and a clinical psychologist. She was born in Samborondón in 1958. She earned a degree in Psychology in 1983 and in Clinical Psychologist in 1984. She won the Cesar Dávila Andrade Poetry Biennial Prize (Cuenca, 1993) for Memorial aun acantilado, top Mention at the Ismael Pérez Pazmiño Poetry Contest (El Universo, Guayaquil, 1996) for Aguaje. In 1998 she received an award from the Ministry of Education and Culture of Ecuador, in 2001 she received an award from the National Congress of Ecuador for “her practice of teaching and the cultivation of beautiful letters,” and in 2002 she received the Cultural Educational Merit (Ministry of Education and Culture of Ecuador). As a psychologist, Váscones works with abused children and their mothers. Her book ULTRAJE / OUTRAGE was translated into English by Alexis Levitin in 2018.

Rafael Pino Roca

Rafael Pino Roca (Guayaquil, October 24, 1878 – Guayaquil, 1963) was an Ecuadorian poet, playwright, and diplomat. Educated in Germany, he became fluent in multiple languages and developed a deep admiration for European culture. Pino Roca held key government roles, including Minister of War, Navy, and Aviation, where he helped establish Ecuador’s first aviation school. His literary works, notably the epic poem Canto a la Raza, gained wide acclaim. He also served as Ecuador’s Consul in Europe and was known for his controversial pro-German stance during the prelude to World War II.

Juan Benigno Vela

Juan Benigno Vela Hervas (Ambato, July 9, 1843 – Ambato, February 24, 1920) was an Ecuadorian politician, lawyer, journalist, and writer. A key figure in Ecuador’s liberal movement, he was known for his staunch opposition to the conservative regimes of Gabriel García Moreno and Ignacio de Veintemilla. Despite losing his sight and hearing later in life, Vela continued his fight for civil liberties through his work in journalism and politics, contributing to the drafting of Ecuador’s 1906 Constitution. He founded several influential newspapers, including El Combate and El Espectador, and remained a vocal advocate for education and democracy throughout his life.

Andrés Villalba

Andrés Villalba Becdach is a writer and poet. He was born in Quito in 1981. He studied Social Communication in Quito, journalism in Los Angeles and Latin American literature at Sapienza University of Rome. His books include: Cuaderno Zero (2010), Luigi Stornaiolo: el arte de la digresión (honorable mention in the José Peralta National Journalism Prize, 2010), Obscenidad del vencido (2010), Menos que cero (2011), Muñones (2011), De los acorralados es el reino (2014), Soterramiento (2014), No mueras joven, todavía queda a gente a quien decepcionar (winner of the Jorge Carrera Andrade National Poetry Prize, 2015), Una natural tendencia a la desintegración (fragment, 2017; complete edition, 2018). He also put together the anthology of Ecuadorian poetry Caballo sea la noche.

César Eduardo Galarza

César Eduardo Galarza (Guayaquil, Ecuador, 1981) is a poet, writer, cultural advisor, academic, radio presenter, and filmmaker. He was a member of the literary workshop of renowned Ecuadorian author Miguel Donoso Pareja from 1999 to 2007. Galarza debuted with Polvo fue su piel (2000), followed by contributions to Mensaje en una botella (2002) and Madera muerta (2008), which earned him recognition at the “Alfonso Carrasco Vintimilla” Ecuadorian Literature Meeting. In addition to his literary career, he has worked as a cultural advisor, and hosted a radio segment on cultural cinema.

Roy Sigüenza

Roy Sigüenza (Portovelo, El Oro Province, Ecuador, 1958) is an Ecuadorian poet known for his homoerotic themes and transforming ordinary life into settings for intimate encounters. While his poetry often favors brevity and simplicity, he occasionally incorporates stylized language and references to other gay writers from Europe and the U.S. Within Ecuador’s poetic scene, Sigüenza has pioneered a new lyric voice, openly writing about marginalized sexual experiences, influencing a generation of poets. His candid, confessional style has established him as a literary rebel in the country.

César Borja Lavayen

César Borja Lavayen (Quito, February 6, 1851 – Guayaquil, January 31, 1910) was a writer, poet, translator, physician, politician and professor. He was educated at the National University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru. He served as the Deputy of the National Congress of Ecuador, and mayor of Guayaquil (1903-1904). He was a member of the Ecuadorian Academy of Language (since 1901) and in the latter part of his life was the rector of the Central University of Ecuador (since 1908). For political reasons, he lived various years in exile in Costa Rica. On his return to Ecuador, Borja was appointed to various important posts by President Eloy Alfaro.

Octavio Cordero Palacios

Octavio Cordero Palacios (Santa Rosa, Azuay, May 3, 1870 – Cuenca, December 17, 1930) was an Ecuadorian writer, poet, playwright, mathematician, lawyer, professor, and inventor. Known for his early literary works such as Gazul (1890) and Los Hijos de Atahualpa (1891), he was also a prolific translator, famously rendering Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven into Spanish. A graduate of the Universidad de Cuenca, he practiced law and served as a judge while pursuing his intellectual passions, which included pioneering inventions like the Clave Poligráfica, a mechanical translation device. Today, the town where he was born bears his name.

Luis Cordero Crespo

Luis Benjamín Cordero Crespo (Cañar, April 6, 1833 – Cuenca, January 30, 1912) served as the 14th president of Ecuador between July 1, 1892 to April 16, 1895. Cordero began publishing poetry in Spanish and Quechua after his political and legal career, and in 1892 published the first Quicha-Spanish dictionary. In 1904 he wrote the Hymn of Azuay (also referred to as the Hymn of Cuenca) which is still in use today.

Juan Bautista de Aguirre

Father Juan Bautista de Aguirre y Carbo (Daule, Ecuador, April 11, 1725 – Tivoli, Italy, June 15, 1786) was a writer, poet, philisopher, theologian and Jesuit priest from colonial South America. Aguirre wrote poems of varying topics, including religious, moral, and love poems. Aguirre taught in Quito at the San Gregorio Magno University until the Jesuits were expelled from Spanish America in 1767. On August 20 of that year he left South America from Guayaquil bound for Faenza, Italy, where the Jesuits of Quito had taken refuge. Once in Italy, Aguirre was the superior of the Jesuit convent school in Ravenna and rector of the college in Ferrara. After the Order of the Jesuits was terminated by Pope Clement XIV in 1773, he settled in Rome under the papacy of Pope Pius VI. He was a friend of the bishop of Tivoli, Monsignor Gregorio Bamaba Chiaramonti, future Pope Pius VII.

Filoteo Samaniego

Filoteo Samaniego Salazar was an Ecuadorian poet, novelist, translator, historian and diplomat. He was born in Quito on July 11, 1928 and died in the same city on February 21, 2013. Since 1984 he was a member of the Ecuadorian Academy of Language, and was its secretary from 1996–2006. Samaniego’s diplomatic career began in 1949 as the chief of staff of Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served as Ecuador’s Ambassador to Germany, Egypt, Austria and Romania. Among his translations is Cronica, 1961, (originally Chronique, 1960), by the French Nobel laureate Saint-John Perse. Among Samaniegos’ most popular poetry books are Agraz (1956), Relente (1958) and Umiña (1960), and he is the author of the novel Sobre sismos y otros miedos (1991). In 2001 he was awarded Ecuador’s top literary prize, the Eugenio Espejo Award.

Humberto Vinueza

Humberto Vinueza Rodríguez was a writer and politician. He was born in Guayaquil in 1942 and died in Quito on March 15, 2017. During his lifetime, we published around 15 books, which earned him prestigious prizes such as the José Lezama Lima Prize (Cuba) and the Jorge Carrera Andrade Prize (Ecuador). He was part of the Tzantzismo literary movement of the 1960s Ecuador. In 1970 he published the book Un Gallinazo Cantor Bajo un sol de a perro. This book has been called a fundamental part of Ecuadorian poetry by writers such as Jorge Dávila Vázquez and Abdón Ubidia.

Sara Vanégas Coveña

Sara Vanégas Coveña (Cuenca, October 19, 1950) is an Ecuadorian poet, writer, and educator. She earned a Ph.D. in Germanistics from the Goethe Institute in Munich and has taught at the University of Munich, Bielefeld University, and currently at the Universidad del Azuay in Cuenca. A prolific author, she has published over 30 works, including poetry collections and essays. Vanégas has been honored as a Universal Ambassador of Peace and is a two-time winner of the Jorge Carrera Andrade National Poetry Prize, receiving the award in 2000 and 2004.

Magaly Vanégas Coveña

Magaly Vanégas Coveña (Cuenca, 1953) is an Ecuadorian poet, short story writer, journalist, philologist and teacher. Following her studies at the University of Cuenca, she received a scholarship to study at the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute in the former Soviet Union, as well as at the Faculty of History and Philology at Moscow University. She has taught Spanish at Moscow University and Russian at Cuenca’s Ecuadorian-Soviet Cultural Institute. She is currently a teacher at the Manuel J. Calle National School in Cuenca. She is a member of the Ibero-American Poetry Academy in Cuenca. Her poems are known for their short verses and themes of absence, loneliness, nostalgia, and simple things in nature, for example: “A bird / has hung its nest / in the shadow / of a balcony” (from Espejos de la imaginación, 2000).