Ileana Espinel Cedeño was an Ecuadorian journalist, poet and writer
Background
She was born and died in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Her father died prematurely in 1945 when she was 13 years old. Her mother was Professor Bertha Cedeño Chica.
At the age of 10 Espinal would already write verses, and even helped her mother correct her students" theses.
In 1953 she found in her home an old, tearing booklet of the celebrated poem “Como el Incensio” (Like Incense) by Aurora Estrada y Ayala, with a dedication made to her mother. She asked her mother about the author, and her mother immediately made a phone call to set up a meeting between them.
Education
In 1950 she graduated from high school and began studying in the School of Journalism, but she dropped out after a year and a half due to liver illness.
Career
Her pen name was Ileana Espinal. Born in Guayaquil on October 31, 1933, Espinal"s father was Jorge Espinel Barreiro, who worked at the Customs department and later owned a pharmacy. The next day Espinal went to visit Estrada y Ayala in the small garden of her house, with a notebook of her poems.
Estrada y Ayala was very impressed by Espinal’s poetry, and soon after she published an article in the newspaper El Universo commenting on her poems “Tú sabes” (You Know) and “Te Quiero” (I Love You), which had been her favorite from among Espinal’s first poems.
She co-founded "Club 7" (1951-1962), a group of 7 young poets, which included David Ledesma Vázquez (1934-1961), Gastón Hidalgo Ortega (1929-1973), Carlos Benavides Vega (1931-1999), Sergio Román Armendáriz (1934 - ), Miguel Donoso Pareja (1931 - ), and Carlos Abadíe Silva (?? - ??). The club would recite their poems over radio stations, such as El Telégrafo, and had some of their poems published in El Universo.
In 1954 a 96-page collection of the group"s poetry was published in a book titled "Club Siete". The book is very hard to find as only 500 copies were made.
In 1951 Espinal and David Ledesma each recited a poem in El Telégrafo condemning the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who were United States citizens convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of war.
Espinal was against the death penalty. She was the editor of the Ecuadorian publications El Universo, El Telégrafo and Louisiana Nación, as well as the Mexican magazine Nivel and Venezuelan magazine Poesía. She was the principal Councillor of the Guayaquil canton (1967-1970).
lieutenant had an initial printing of 1,500 booklets.
lieutenant was the first book for which she earned money. The International Festival of New Poetry "Ileana Espinel Cedeño" (Festival Internacional de Poesía Joven “Ileana Espinel Cedeño”) is named in her honor.
The festival takes place from the 18th to the 22nd of November, and gathers poets from all over the world in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Membership
At the age of 23 Espinal became the first female member of the The Ecuadorian Culture House.