About Us
Printed and Digital Books
El Fakir Publishing House was created as the result of the convergence of two long-held wishes of its founders: 1. The admiration and enthusiasm we feel for the narrative oeuvre (above all, but also for his poetry) of who we consider the most important Ecuadorian writer of the 20th century: César Dávila Andrade and 2. The constant search for a significant revitalization and rethinking of Ecuadorian literature, especially in this contemporary transition into the digital age.
We believe that the proposal of any new radical postulation on literature never ceases to be traditional and it is in this sense, then, and in that spirit, that we raise the need to see the advancement of Ecuadorian literature through the gesture of looking back at the legacy of our literature and identify a model in said legacy. That model is César Dávila Andrade. We believe that the current situation of our literature – the exhaustion of a recognizable literary discourse, the bankruptcy of cultural institutions, the failing of literary consumption circuits, the aging of the cultural reproduction media and the absence of a critical project – is very similar to the literary production and representation crisis of the mid-twentieth century; we see in César Dávila Andrade’s oeuvre not only a model of writing but also a host of narrative solutions to the great challenges of our time.
We are convinced of the need to explore the expressive potential of the new electronic and digital environment vis-à-vis Ecuadorian literature, and of the importance of identifying and looking for audiences for XXI century Ecuadorian literature. We believe that this endeavor should involve an urgent search for new writers eager to converse with our literary past and, in particular, with the Davilian legacy.
El Fakir (the mandatory title that his friends used when addressing the great writer from Cuenca) Publishing House therefore aspires to become a link for critical and literary production that will enable us to think and write about the present, from a promontory that equally considers the titanic figure of César Dávila Andrade and the sidereal climate of cyberspace.
Who are we?
César Salazar
Lover of books, art, theater, wine and soccer team Deportivo Quito. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Literature from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador and holds a Diploma in Ecuadorian Art Studies from the Universidad Central del Ecuador.
Alvaro Alemán
Contracted the literary virus during childhood. He traveled to India with Kipling, to Africa with Soyinka, to Greece with Bulfinch, to Mars with Weinbaum, to Alaska with London, to Acroceraunia and Acuarimántima with Carrera Andrade, to Anarres and Ekumen with Ursula Le Guin, to Ecuador with el Fakir. He is preparing the first Spanish translation of Living Poor by Moritz Thomson and has published the annotated edition of the Complete Works of Jorge Carrera Andrade in three volumes with El Fakir.
Carlos Villarreal Kwasek
Digital artist focused on video games and post-production. His work has been exhibited around the world at various animation and film festivals; his work in videogames is known globally. Among his most prominent titles are: Need for Speed: Rivals, Battlefield 4, GoldenEye 007, Syndicate and Dead Space Extraction. www.carlosvk.info
Gabriela Alemán
Gabriela Alemán has been recognized as one of the most accomplished authors of her generation; in 2006 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship and in 2007 was selected by the Hay Festival to be included in the Bogotá39 list as one of the most important storytellers under 39 years of age in Latin America. Her novels include Body time (2003), Poso Wells (2007) and Humo (2017); and, among her short story books, we should mention: Fuga permanente (2001), Álbum de familia (2010), La muerte silba un blues (2014) and Fuga permanente y otros cuentos (2020). On two separate occasions she received the Joaquín Gallegos Lara Award, from the Municipality of Quito; the Ciespal Non fiction Award and the César Dávila Andrade Award from the Ministry of Culture. The San Francisco-based City Lights publishing house released the translation of Poso Wells in 2018 and will present a collection of her stories in 2021.