VIOLETA LUNA: BIOGRAPHY AND PUBLISHED WORKS - LITERATURE - 2025

Violeta Luna (1943) is a Guayaquil poet, novelist, essayist and academic. ¹ His prolific pen awarded him prizes in contests of different literary genres. In addition, she is one of the most prominent female voices in Ecuadorian literature.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Literature and Spanish and then did a Doctorate in Educational Sciences. Besides writing, it has always been linked to education. ^{2 He} has taught both at the basic and university levels.

Violeta Luna By Pingulla, from Wikimedia Commons

Since the 1980s she has been an activist for the human rights of women. ³ And he has also participated in events such as the First World Summit of Poetry for Peace, held in Colombia in 2003. That same year he represented Ecuador at the XII International Festival of Medellín. ⁴

It has at least 18 works published between 1964 and the present. His collections of poems include University Poetry (1964), Possibly the air (1970), Memories of smoke (1987), The doors of grass (1994), Only once life (2000) and Board Poetry (2005). He has also written short stories like The Yellow Steps (1970), or essays like The Ecuadorian Lyric (1973). ⁵

She has been the winner of several literary competitions, such as the Award for the best short stories, in 1969, promoted by El Comercio; The "Ismael Pérez Pazmiño" National Poetry Prize, from the newspaper El Universo, in 1970; or the "Jorge Carrera Andrade" National Award, in 1994. ⁶

To this day, she remains a member of the House of Culture of Ecuador, a platform that led her to promote a lot of young literary talent in the country.

His mark in national history has been strongly marked, there is even a school that bears his name in the province of Guayas, in Guayaquil. ⁷

Biography

Early years

Morayma Violeta Luna was born on February 24, 1943 in Guayaquil. Her father was Sergio Luna, a teacher and one of the first to instill in the young Violeta a taste for literature. His mother was Matilde Carrera Vásquez. ⁸

When Luna was two years old, her family moved to San Gabriel where they stayed for a time for her father's work. In 1948 she began attending the Catalina Laboré school. Violeta Luna was the oldest of seven siblings.

At the age of eight he entered the José Julián Andrade school, where his father worked. Since then the teachers could notice her talent for writing and encouraged her to contribute regularly to various wall newspapers. ⁹

From the age of 11 he woke up his literary vocation, his parents who were lovers of reading tried to cultivate that habit in Luna. ¹⁰ He had been writing verses since he was 13 years old and won several competitions at that time.

Violeta Luna used to spend vacations at the house of her maternal uncle, Federico Carrera. There she admired the library with texts by Vallejo, Neruda or writers like Gabriela Mistral or Juana de Ibarbourou.

His appreciation for the feminine pen also had a close example, that of his great-aunt Luz María Carrera. Although she never published any of her poems, she was one of the greatest examples for Violeta Luna in her youth. ^eleven

Training

In 1962, at the age of 19, Violeta Luna moved to Quito to study journalism and got a scholarship from the Senate Chamber. However, he preferred to move to the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the Central University, where he studied Literature and Spanish.

Luna always balanced her vocation with study and work. The same year she arrived in Quito, she began working as a radio scriptwriter for the cultural program for women. She kept this job until 1965, but from 1963 she also began to work as a sixth grade teacher. ¹²

Since he entered the faculty, Professor Galo René Pérez discovered his love for letters and became his mentor. At that time, poetry was on the rise and the Central University of Ecuador decided to publish Violeta Luna's work in the Poesía Universitaria collection (1964). ¹³

In 1964 her family moved to Quito and Luna decided to leave the nuns' boarding school where she lived to settle with her parents and siblings.

Race

In 1967 Violeta Luna obtained her degree as a Bachelor of Literature and Spanish from the Central University of Ecuador. In addition, she published her third collection of poems And with the sun I cover myself.

That same year he entered the Casa de la Cultura where he was able to interact with other artists and writers with whom he struck up friendship and fruitful relationships. There she met the psychiatrist and poet Euler Granda, whom she married and had 4 daughters: Sigrid, Dioné, Tafnis and Mayarí. ¹⁴

Since then he has pursued a career that was as prolific as it was rewarding. She obtained important prizes such as first place in the 1973 National Poetry Contest promoted by Vistazo and Canal 8, and published several works. ^fifteen

However, in 1984 Luna rejected the invitation to be part of the international jury for the Casa de las Américas Award that would be held in Havana, as she was in divorce proceedings.

Violeta Luna joined the group "Women for Human Rights" in 1987. She and the rest of the writers published edition No. 84 of the Basic Collection of Writers of the House of Culture.

And in 1989 Luna represented the Ministry of Education and Culture at the V Plenary Meeting of Latin American Coeditors, held at the Andrés Bello Catholic University in Caracas, Venezuela. She was also in charge of the children's section of the newspaper El Comercio. ¹⁶

Present

Violeta Luna remained for many years actively participating in journalism from different media, collaborating with magazines, radio programs or newspapers in the area of ​​criticism or chronicle.

In 2003 he represented Ecuador in the XII International Festival of Medellín and in the I World Summit of Poetry for Peace. She also continued as a member of the House of Culture of Ecuador. ¹⁷

His daughters are assiduous readers. One of her granddaughters writes, a family passion. Dioné is a visual artist and Mayarí is a poet and musician. ¹⁸

He considers that his profession is not something expendable. He continues to work in literary activity because it is a passion that he cannot stop. Sometimes she works privately feeding her creative inspiration and others publicly in recitals or talks to which she is invited.

Works and artistic work

Violeta Luna herself considers that in each of her books a stage of her life is captured, she also says that there she tried to show situations of daily life. And think that books written in maturity are planted with greater security than those written in youth. ¹⁹

Poetry

His first publication was Poesía universitaria (Quito, 1964), which Hernán Rodríguez Castelo commented that he had "a fresh and naive feeling, the free, light verse." ^twenty

This publication by Violeta Luna was followed by El Ventanal del Agua (Quito, 1965), which was well received, and was even featured in Mexican magazines.

Later it was published And with the sun I cover myself (Quito, 1967). Later, possibly el aire (Quito, 1970), this collection of poems included "Songs of fear and blasphemy", with which he won the Third Prize in 1969 at the XI National Poetry Contest of the Ecuadorian medium El Universo.

When reviewing that work, Rodrigo Pesantez Rodas said of Violeta Luna that she was an "avant-garde poet and owner of a powerful imagination."

In 1973, Luna published Ayer called me primavera, this work was the one that earned him the first place in the National Poetry Contest organized by Vistazo and Channel 8. His next collection of poems was La ringija de la rain (Guayaquil, 1980).

About Corazón acróbata (Quito, 1983), Violeta Luna herself has expressed that it is a strong book. While her next title from 1987, Memories of smoke, seems calmer to her, for being a "biography of childhood in verse". ^twenty-one

In 1994 Luna published The Doors of the Grass, and six years later her collection of poems Solo una vez la vida (Quito, 2000) went on sale.

Prose

Violeta Luna has also published story books. Among them, the first was The Yellow Steps (Quito, 1970).

Then came El pañolón de la abuela (2006), in which he adopts a somewhat traditional style, describing the province and Ecuadorian landscapes, narrated from his childhood memories. ²²

The Ecuadorian lyric (Guayaquil, 1973), is an essay by Violeta Luna that served as her doctoral thesis. In this she selected poems by David Ledesma Vásquez, Ileana Espinel Cedeño, Carlos Eduardo Jaramillo, Fernando Cazón Vera, Euler Granda, Ana María Iza and Martha Lizarzaburu for literary criticism.

Anthologies

- Contemporary Ecuadorian lyric (Bogotá, 1979).

- Ten Ecuadorian writers and their stories (Guayaquil, 1982).

- Living poetry of Ecuador (Quito, 1990).

- Anthology of Ecuadorian female narrators (Quito, 1997).

- Erotic poetry of women: Anthology of Ecuador (Quito, 2001). ^{2. 3}

Awards

- Prize «To the best stories», 1969.

- "Ismael Pérez Pazmiño" National Poetry Prize, Diario El Universo, Guayaquil, 1970.

- National Poetry Contest, Vistazo y Canal 8, Ecuador, 1973.

- "Jorge Carrera Andrade" National Award, Municipality of the Metropolitan District of Quito, 1994.

References

1. En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Violet Moon. Available at: en.wikipedia.org.
2. Benjamín Carrion House of Culture. (2018). Poetic Anthology Violeta Luna. Available at: casadelacultura.gob.ec.
3. Pérez Pimentel, R. (2018). Violeta Luna Carrera. Biographical Dictionary of Ecuador. Available at:biograficoecuador.com dictionary.
4. Benjamín Carrion House of Culture. (2018). Poetic Anthology Violeta Luna. Available at: casadelacultura.gob.ec.
5. Festivaldepoesiademedellin.org. (2018). Violeta Luna (Ecuador, 1943). Available at: festivaldepoesiademedellin.org.
6. En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Violet Moon. Available at: en.wikipedia.org.
7. Ecuador schools (2018). UNIDAD EDUCATIVA FISCAL VIOLETA LUNA CARRERA in GUAYAQUIL. Available at: infoescuelas.com.
8. Pérez Pimentel, R. (2018). Violeta Luna Carrera. Biographical Dictionary of Ecuador. Available at:biograficoecuador.com dictionary.
9. Pérez Pimentel, R. (2018). Violeta Luna Carrera. Biographical Dictionary of Ecuador. Available at:biograficoecuador.com dictionary.
10. Transiendohuellas.com. (2018). Violeta Luna - Transiting Footprints. Available at: transiendohuellas.com.
11. Pérez Pimentel, R. (2018). Violeta Luna Carrera. Biographical Dictionary of Ecuador. Available at:biograficoecuador.com dictionary.
12. Pérez Pimentel, R. (2018). Violeta Luna Carrera. Biographical Dictionary of Ecuador. Available at:biograficoecuador.com dictionary.
13. Transiendohuellas.com. (2018). Violeta Luna - Transiting Footprints. Available at: transiendohuellas.com.
14. Pérez Pimentel, R. (2018). Violeta Luna Carrera. Biographical Dictionary of Ecuador. Available at:biograficoecuador.com dictionary.
15. Pérez Pimentel, R. (2018). Violeta Luna Carrera. Biographical Dictionary of Ecuador. Available at:biograficoecuador.com dictionary.
16. Benjamín Carrion House of Culture. (2018). Poetic Anthology Violeta Luna. Available at: casadelacultura.gob.ec.
17. Benjamín Carrion House of Culture. (2018). Poetic Anthology Violeta Luna. Available at: casadelacultura.gob.ec.
18. Transiendohuellas.com. (2018). Violeta Luna - Transiting Footprints. Available at: transiendohuellas.com.
19. Transiendohuellas.com. (2018). Violeta Luna - Transiting Footprints. Available at: transiendohuellas.com.
20. Pérez Pimentel, R. (2018). Violeta Luna Carrera. Biographical Dictionary of Ecuador. Available at:biograficoecuador.com dictionary.
21. Transiendohuellas.com. (2018). Violeta Luna - Transiting Footprints. Available at: transiendohuellas.com.
22. Luna, V. (2006). Grandma's shawl. Eskeletra Editorial. Quito, Ecuador.
23. Festivaldepoesiademedellin.org. (2018). Violeta Luna (Ecuador, 1943). Available at: festivaldepoesiademedellin.org.