The country has a long literary tradition that has several prominent world famous authors. Colombian literature has excelled in the Hispanic world since the XIX century and nowadays is still a reference in terms of work excellence and writer recognition.
Colombia’s Country Brand (Marca Colombia) asked the Facebook community to name the country’s most representative authors. This was their answer:
1. Gabriel García Márquez
“A writer can write whatever he wants so long as he makes you believe in it”.
The list of recommended Colombian writers is headed by the Colombian Nobel laureate whose books include One Hundred Years of Solitude, No One Writes to the Colonel, Litter, Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Love in the Time of Cholera.
“Gabo”, as he is known by Colombians, is the country’s most important writer and one of the most important in Latin America in the XX century. He is also a reference in journalism and he is the founder of the Latin American New Journalism Foundation.
2. Candelario Obeso
“I’m a black male?
Well I’m glad of it!”.
Popular Songs of my Land is the most representative work of this precursor of Afro-American poetry, born in Mompox. He was a polyglot, and translated works by Shakespeare, Victor Hugo and Tennyson into Spanish. Some of his prominent works were Secundino the Shoemaker, The Pygmalion Family, Reading for You and Struggle of Life.
3. Rafael Pombo
“It was one of those nights
Nights of my country,
That could well be daytime
Where there are no nights like those.”
(Fragment of Bambuco)
He is one of the famous Colombian poets, a fabulist and Colombian diplomat of the XIX century, he devoted his life to writing children’s books and poetry. We can mention works like Rinrin Tadpole, Mirringa Mirronga and Simon the Fool which are an important part of Colombian literary education. His most distinguished poem was The Hour of Darkness.
4. José Eustasio Rivera
“She, who yesterday held her alliance with the winds,
knows that every flight only finds emptiness;
and sick on horizons, sad on power,
seeks in peace the last dream of fortune.”
(Fragment of Land of Promise)
Born in Rivera (Huila), this Colombian lawyer and writer was the precursor of one of the most acclaimed works of the Spanish language: The Vortex. The novel is considered a great epic, set in the South American jungle environment, and can well be considered a historical document of the time. In 1921 he wrote his book of poems Land of Promise.
5. Jorge Isaacs
“Go, thought,
Go free and fly.”
(Fragment of Go Thought)
Born in Cali (Valle del Cauca), Mary was this writer’s greatest literary consecration. It is one of the most important works of the XIX century in Latin America, and its remarkable narrative shows both the society of Valle del Cauca and the social structure of Colombia at the time. The work has been translated into more than thirty languages and is a classic of Colombian literature. His work also extends to poetry and journalism.
The ten Colombian writers most voted by Colombians also included Fernando Vallejo, William Ospina, Tomás Carrasquilla, José Asunción Silva and Alvaro Mutis respectively.
The great tradition of Colombian authors makes Colombia a country full of magical and fantastic stories. In terms of literature, the answer is Colombia.
