According to the country’s publishers, the novel, poetry and stories are among the favorite genres of Ecuadorian writers

Very shyly but confidently, a 16-year-old young man approached the stand of Alectrión publishing house, during the last edition of the Guayaquil International Book Fair, to ask how he could send one of his books. Fast Camilo Larrea, creative director of the publishing house, gave him his business card so he could send his creation with confidence.

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Larrea is sure that it could be a novel, as he states that the majority of proposals that reach the publisher are of this genre. “For us, the novel is the most requested because of the very different ways in which the novel is structured and in terms of themes,” comments.

Among the themes most frequently discussed are social criticism, fantasy and LGBT perspectives. “We’ve had award-winning novels on LGBT themes, in historical fiction, in drama. So there is a diversity of topics, a diversity of styles, and of course the novel is the most complex thing you can do in terms of writing, of length,” he says.

The initiatives of young authors receive the greatest attention in this publishing house in Quito. In this way he identifies from this experience that he possessed it and the story is the least published here to date. “It may be that poetry is a very intimate, personal exercise and there is a certain reluctance to release the text.”

Veronica Mosquera, coordinator of the Metropolitan Network of Libraries, believes that Ecuador is above all a country of storytellers, but also agrees that the narrative genre is becoming increasingly popular among local authors, such as Miguel Molina and Ernesto Carrión. “I think we’re reaching a moment where we’re catching up, between the story and the novel. Yes, there are more novels coming out too,” he says.

It also looks at the historical novel, guided by recent publications by writers such as Óscar Vela, Carlos Arcos Cabrera, Diego Araujo and Íñigo Salvador. “This foray into the historical novel, which is sometimes not appreciated from a literary point of view, is interesting.” think.

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At publisher El Fakir, for which she is spokesperson, most publications are non-fiction. Among the genres that can be found are anthologies of chronicles and memoirs, historical research, short story anthologies, and graphic novels.

For his part, Steven Espinoza of La Madriguera, indicates that “the Ecuadorian author writes many novels, poems, stories and stories.”

According to a report from the Ecuadorian Book Room, shared in this newspaper, the most published topic in the country until June 2023 education with a number of 224 titles. The second most published topic is research with 145 books, and the third is the poetry with some 98 titles.

New Ecuadorian authors are among the bestsellers at the Guayaquil Book Fair; The classics were also well received.

These top 10 places children’s literature in position number five, with a total of 75 titles, to the storytelling in seventh place with 56 publications already Ecuadorian literature as the ninth most published with 53 songs.

The table contains other topics medicine (80), right (68), higher education (53) and anthropology and sociology (47).

According to this reportthe publication of titles on children’s literature has decreased. In 2022, 152 books will be published in this genre, compared to 75 this year.

Currently, many of the local authors publish with international publishers, with labels such as Planeta, Páginas de Espuma, Pre-Textos, inLimbo and Valparaíso, among others. (JO)