Fernando Chaves Reyes (February 13, 1902 – 1999) was a novelist, essayist, and journalist. He was the first Ecuadorian writer to depict an

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

theme in his writings. Chaves was Ecuador's ambassador to El Salvador, Ecuador and Nicaragua. Chaves' novel ''Plata y bronce'' (Silver and Bronze) (1927) was the first indigenist novel in Ecuador. Chaves was influenced by the Bolivian novelist

Alcides Arguedas Alcides Arguedas Díaz (July 15, 1879 in La Paz – May 6, 1946 in Chulumani) was a Bolivian writer and historian. His literary work, which had a profound influence on the Bolivian social thought in the first half of the twentieth century, ...

, who in 1919 wrote the indigenist novel ''Raza de bronze'' (Race of Bronze). Chávez' novel influenced other future Chaves was born in Otavalo. He was married to Magdalena Marie Ribreau, who died of a stroke in 1982. In 1991 he received the National Grand Cross of the Order of Merit. Chaves died in 1999 in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

Works

Novels * La embrujada (1923) * Plata y bronce (1927) * Escombros (Quito, 1958) Non fiction * Crónica de mi viaje a México (Quito, 1992) * El hombre ecuatoriano y su cultura (Quito, 1990)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaves, Fernando 1902 births 1999 deaths Ecuadorian male writers People from Otavalo (city) Ambassadors of Ecuador to El Salvador Ambassadors of Ecuador to Mexico Ambassadors of Ecuador to Nicaragua