Gastón Suárez

Who was Gastón Suárez?

Gastón Suárez was a Bolivian novelist and dramatist. Suárez was born in the town of Tupiza in the southern part of Potosí, Bolivia.

A self-taught writer, Suárez performed diverse activities: railroader, rural teacher, miner, bank employee, truck driver, journalist, etc. He had the opportunity to live and feel the Bolivian life in its diverse social layers. This is reflected with a particular vision in the subjects he writes most about: urban life, the country and the mines.

His first work was a story book titled Vigilia para el último viaje, from which "Iluminado" was extracted to be included in several anthologies of Latin American writers, as a remarkable example of brief narration.

Amongst his works also stands out El Gesto another book of short stories from which "El forastero y el candelabro de plata" and "El diario de Mafalda" are the most outstanding.

In 1967, Suárez published his first piece for theatre, Vértigo, a drama of social and philosophical depth that depicts the life of a man being freed after twenty years in prison and his efforts to gather his seven children who have all taken different paths in life.