Fiction by Female Ecuadorian Authors

Fiction by Female Ecuadorian Authors

There were notable female Ecuadorian poets and essayists going back to the 19th century. However, it took much longer in Ecuador for women to be honored for their efforts as authors of narrative fiction. Elysa Ayala, born in 1879, for example, wrote short stories about the poor who lived on the coast, and her work was published in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Cuba, and even the United States and Spain, but it was overlooked until many years after her passing.

Ironically, today Ecuador’s most recognized author, nationally, is Alicia Yáñez Cossío. With her 1971 novel, Bruna and Her Sisters in the Sleeping City, Yáñez Cossío, who along with Eugenia Viteri with her short stories, became one of the first Ecuadorian authors in the 1970s to challenge the sexism and hypocritical puritanism of Latin American and Roman Catholic culture. Other well-regarded women in this period include Carmen Acevedo Vega, Fabiola Solis de King, Violeta Luna, as well as Luz Argentina Chiriboga and Aminta Buenaño, both much-honored for their articulation of the Afro-Ecuadorian experience, and from a woman’s perspective. There are samples of there work below, as well as newer voices such as Gabriela Alemán and María del Carman Garcés.

Gabriela Alemán

The short story, “Spears,” translated by Dick Cluster. 

The short story, “An Amber Prison,” translated by Sarah Jane Foster.

The short story, “Red Lips,” translated by Juanita Coleman.

Aminta Buenaño

The short story, “The Strange Invasion that Rose from the Sea,” translated by Susan Brenner.

The short story, “The Woman Who Mislaid Her Body,” translated by Juanita Coleman.

Mónica Bravo

The short story, “Wings for Dominica,” translated by Susan Brenner.

Fanny Carrión

The short story, “The Idol.”

The short story, “Illustrious Paths.

Luz Argentina Chiriboga

The short story, “The Mansion,” translated by Juanita Coleman.

The first chapter from her novel, Drums Under My Skin.

The first chapter from her novel, The Devil’s Nose .

María del Carmen Garcés

The short story, “The Blue Handkerchief,” translated by Susan Brenner.

Nela Martinéz

The short story, “La Machorra,” translated by Susan Brenner.

Sonia Manzano

The short story, “Leda,” translated by Juanita Coleman.

Eugenia Viteri

The award-winning short story, “Shoes and Dreams,” from the anthology, A Taste of Ecuador.

The award-winning short story, “The Ring,” included in the anthology, Fire in the Andes.

Alicia Yáñez Cossío

The first chapter from her novel, Bruna and Her Sisters in the Sleeping City.

The short story, “The Mayor’s Wife.”

The short story, “The IWM 1000.”

Additional reading:

Fire from the Andes: Short Fiction by Women from Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru, edited by by Susan E. Benner  Kathy S. Leonard. University of New Mexico Press.

“Que cuenten las mujeres/Let the Women Speak: Translating Contemporary Female Ecuadorian Authors,” by Juanita Coleman, B.A., Ohio University, (PDF download).

“New voices: linguistic aspects of translation theory and application to the works of three Ecuadorian women writers,” by Susan Brenner, Phd, Iowa State University, (PDF download).

The Wikipedia list of women Ecuadorian writers.

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