Jorge Icaza

Jorge Icaza Coronel was born in Quito on July 10, 1906. Witnessing the brutal realities of the hacienda system on his uncle's estate in the highlands, Icaza began his creative career writing social realist plays before turning to the novel.

In 1934, he published Huasipungo, portraying the tragic eviction of indigenous families from their plots by ruthless landowners and foreign oil syndicates. Written with explosive lexical authenticity blending Quichua idioms with Spanish, the novel was translated into over twenty languages, establishing Icaza as the paramount voice of Andean social protest.