Eugenia Viteri

Blanca Eugenia Viteri Segura (4 July 1928 – 21 September 2023) was an Ecuadorian writer, anthologist, women's rights activist, and teacher. She has been described as "a grand dame of Ecuadorian literature."

Early life Eugenia Viteri was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in 1928. Her father was Ignacio Viteri Urquiza, an accountant, and her mother was María Tomasa Segura Leó, who worked in a button factory. She showed an interest in poetry at an early age, cutting out and saving poems from the newspaper. Three years later, she returned to Guayaquil to work for the transit commission.

In 1962, she won fourth prize in a theater competition organized by the National Union of Journalists with her play "El Mar trajo la flor," based on her prior story "El anillo." She was also designated a member of the Casa de la Cultura that year. The couple moved to Cuba on Castro's invitation in 1965.

After the military regime fell in 1966, the new president Clemente Yerovi invited the couple to return to their homeland.

Viteri published over a dozen books including novels, short story collections, and anthologies. Her work has been translated into English, Russian, and Bulgarian.