Fernando Cazón Vera

Fernando Cazón Vera is an Ecuadorian poet and journalist. He was born in Quito in 1935 but moved as a child to Guayaquil upon the early death of his father in 1941. He was the only child born to German Jan Andries Jolles, a communist activist also known in exile since 1933 as ‘Manuel Enrique Cazón Arribar’, and Ecuadorian Leonor Vera. His father was a son of Nazi Party member André Jolles and his mother a daughter of Alfredo R. Vera Benavides, Chief Public Prosecutor of Guayaquil. He grew-up surrounded by his maternal family, including uncles Pedro Jorge Vera and Alfredo Vera Vera and his cousin, ballet dancer Noralma Vera Arrata.

In Guayaquil he studied at the Colegio Vicente Rocafuerte and then the University of Guayaquil.

Fernando Cazón Vera

He worked for several Ecuadorian newspapers and magazines, among them La Hora; he was lately a columnist for the Guayaquil newspapers Expreso and Extra. He was also a university professor for fifteen years. He published numerous poetry collections during his career. He was associated with the literary group Madrugada which also included figures such as Efraín Jara Idrovo, Jorge Enrique Adoum, Hugo Salazar Tamariz, etc.

He received awards from the Municipality of Guayaquil and the Guayaquil Journalists Association. The Ecuadorian House of Culture published an extensive anthology of his poetic work (1958-2000) in the Poesía Junta collection.[1][2]

In 2018, he received the Premio Eugenio Espejo, the country's most important literary award.