Gilda Holst Molestina (June 3, 1952 – October 22, 2024) was an Ecuadorian writer and academic. Her narrative made use of humor and irony, in addition to the treatment of themes related to gender inequality.
She began her literary career in the 1980s. In 1985, she entered the literary workshops of writer Miguel Donoso Pareja.[2] Her first book of short stories, Más sin nombre que nunca, was published in 1989, and included the short story "Reunión", the plot of which follows a woman who is rejected by her husband and friends because of her body odor. This received great critical interest for her exploration of the feminine perspective in masculine environments.[1]
She also dedicated herself to teaching, working for several years as a professor of literature at the Universidad Católica, where she eventually directed the School of Letters.[1]
Regarding her writing, the Venezuelan writer José Balza [es] observes:
(...) she has an airy and suggestive language; she handles description and brief dialogue as style incisions; she operates on the magnetism of the city, the river and beaches. Humor and tenderness are replaced in her stories. And yet the density of her perceptions converts her stories into a new stratum of literary sensibility. Gil Holst writes that which none of us has thought of yet.[3]
Her Complete Works were published by Editorial Cadáver Exquisito in 2021.
Holst died on October 22, 2024, at the age of 72.[4]
