Almost a year ago, on March 8, 2021 exactly, a female voice took over the audio and video platforms to revive Red lipsone of the classic stories of Gabrielle German. During this month, the poet, translator and lexicographer Valeria Guzman and his team presented the first texts by Ecuadorian authors in a format of audio stories with sound. The project, which was born as women in earcontinued its course with more participations that add up to 25 published authors so far, consolidating little by little as a platform that gives life to the lyrics embodied by established and emerging writers.
‘Women in the ear’, the audio story project that brings texts by local writers to a new format
Their management allowed them to have a space at the Quito Intercultural Book Festival (FILQ) 2021, and they are preparing some other surprises for this year, which include alliances with institutions and face-to-face activities. “We are concretizing things on many different levels (…). I find it very exciting that you plant a seed, expect a tree, and suddenly you start to have a whole grove.”, expresses Guzmán, mentalizer of women in ear.
He mentions that, in addition to preparation, the platform has required an enormous love for culture. “It has been a matter of willpower and, I think, of a desire and a dream“, it states.
Universe of books: works that were published anonymously or under male pseudonyms to hide their female identity
The audios, which are housed in YouTube, SoundCloud and Spotify, So far they have two phases. The first consisted of eight stories from Marcela Ribadeneira, María Auxiliadora Balladares, Diana Zavala, Gabriela Ponce, Daniela Alcívar, Sandra Araya and Andrea Armijos. They also published 17 animated videos, with sound poems by Gabriela Vargas, María Auxiliadora Balladares, Camila Peña, Andrea Rojas, Yuliana Ortiz, Tamara Mejía, among others.
For a second phase, they plan to publish 31 poets.
selection of stories
Guzmán explains that the selection of the texts is carried out in two ways. The first is in charge of an editorial board, which is in charge of proposing a selection of authors. “This has to do with their career, with the fact that they have published books, with the fact that they are part of the national literary scene.”, he details.
But there are also the literary exponents who have written to them interested in being part of the project. “In most cases they have advanced a list that we already had contemplated”, he maintains.
Making memory
As it grows, women in ear it is becoming, in turn, a living archive that can be consumed repeatedly digitally and from anywhere in the world, allowing the work of several Ecuadorian writers to cross borders and break walls.
“I think this has to do with my scientific and linguistic work. Catalogs, historical/cultural repositories interest me a lot, that is, I am interested, in whatever way, in leaving things behind. It’s like a personal interest that runs through my life in general, and I’m very moved by all this fight we’re in (…). It is that, to make ourselves visible”Guzman says.
And with the latter coincides Diana Zavalaauthor of the story graduate handsa text that was originally published under a now defunct publishing label, and years later was sounded by women in ear. “That move to another format gave me some emotions; It was like listening to the cry of a newborn.confess.
It also highlights the experience that it gives you to do it from each platform. “Listening on Spotify, while washing the dishes, brought me closer to the idea of emotion from radio soap operas that I didn’t consume because it wasn’t my time. And on YouTube the experience was different, there was an invitation to see her read, to follow her with the subtitles, even to read her gestures”, he describes.
for the writer Karla Armas It has meant a meeting and discovery space. “For me it has been a universe that allows me to meet other women, with other writing, who at the same time have a lot of me, what we writers are at this time”says the author of Finalsound work in the Christmas special.
anniversary celebration
To celebrate this first year they have planned a special with the poets Violeta Luna, Sonia Manzano, Catalina Sojos, Maritza Cino, Carmen Váscones, Margarita Laso, Siomara España and Janeth Toledo. “The special will start on March 8 and we will publish each audio after a day,” he explains.
“When we conclude with the recordings for the special, we will have a catalog of 40 Ecuadorian female authors recordedGuzman adds.
The first face-to-face book presentation will be with Aleyda Quevedowith his work The other, the same as God. At the same time, Guzmán says, they are working on two anthologies that will have a printed version, one of stories and the other of poetry, which will be produced with the Publications Center of the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador and New York Poetry Press, and which will be distributed in the United States, Mexico and Ecuador.
Third phase
The third phase will start in June and will be dedicated to micro-stories, in which several authors will participate, such as Solange Rodriguez and Melanie Marquez Adams. “We are open to receiving short stories from other authors”, points out. This phase will also include face-to-face and online presentations and talks.
For the future they aspire to internationalization: “What we want is to expand to the international arena. It is likely that by the end of the year we are going to start recording some female authors from Latin America. (…) We are going to start with Mexico, we will choose about five authors, from different literary genres, and we will record them”. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
