New writings in Latin America and the work of Miguel de Cervantes

Quito, jueves 29 abril 2021
Commemoration of International Book Day
Commemoration of International Book Day

 

To commemorate International Book Day, which is celebrated every April 23rd, the date on which three prominent authors died: Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare and Garcilaso de la Vega, the university held the conference "Palabra errante: porque no hay día sin libro", organized by the Reading and Writing Center in our branch campus in Quito.

During three days, more than a hundred students, teachers and readers connected through institutional networks to learn about new writings in Latin America, the work of Miguel de Cervantes and experiences of graduates of the Communication undergraduate program who currently work in publishing.

The meetings were led by professor José Luis Galván. The following graduates were the speakers on the first day: Edison Paucar, writer and social communicator; Giselle Jukka, social communicator and manager of literary projects; Kevin Villacís, poet, journalist and producer of literary arts; Pablo Usiña, writer, poet, broadcaster and social communicator.

On the second day, Pedro Artieda, writer, literary critic and researcher at Universidad Central del Ecuador, and Celiner Ascanio, research and professor at Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, discussed the new Latin American writings, literatures that characterize the life and customs of people, highlighting cultural aspects, as well as political and social issues.

On the last day, Carlos Ignacio Man Ging, SJ., Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador and José Juncosa, anthropologist, former vice president of our branch campus in Quito and director of the Humanities and Social Sciences and Human Behavior Area at UPS, talked about Cervantes's work "Don Quijote de la Mancha".

Juncosa said that "stories are not only born from the authors but from a good listener because it records what people say; reading enables us to have a conversation, it provides stories to nourish conversations. We are, before readers, great speakers and if we read it is because someone has talked to us ".

He stated that reading can start with short stories with great narrative. "Literary creativity works with our history and memory, its uses, meanings find new ways to generate stories."