Entertainment · Books & Arts · 31 mins ago
Yuliana Ortiz Ruano discusses language and music in her novel
Ecuadorian writer Yuliana Ortiz Ruano discussed her novel Fiebre de carnaval during a visit to Mexico City.
First published in Ecuador in 2022, the novel was released in Mexico this October.
Its main character is a girl named Ainhoa, and the book has won several literary awards.
Ortiz Ruano said she chose language that moves away from formal speech because everyday language changes with people and their surroundings.
The novel draws on the Afro-descendant roots and Caribbean connections of Ecuador's Pacific coast, including influences heard in music and food.
She also links the novel's language and sound to Ecuador's shift from its own currency to the US dollar in 1999.
She uses local speech to resist making different ways of speaking seem the same, while still allowing people to connect across their differences.
Yuliana Ortiz Ruano discussed the language and creative process behind her novel, Fiebre de carnaval, in an interview with Infobae México.
The novel follows a girl named Ainhoa and uses language shaped by its setting and community.
Ortiz Ruano said the novel’s language reflects Ecuador’s shift to the US dollar in 1999 and the changes that crisis brought to speech and sound.
She also connected the language of the Pacific coast to Afro-descendant roots and Caribbean and African diasporic histories.
First published in Ecuador in 2022, the novel was published in Mexico in October and has received several literary awards.
- Who
- Yuliana Ortiz Ruano, author of Fiebre de carnaval.
- What
- She discussed the novel’s language, music and creative process.
- When
- The interview was published on November 15, 2026.
- Where
- She spoke with Infobae México after visiting Mexico City to present the novel.
- Why
- She said she wanted to reflect the language and history of her community and resist the assimilation of local speech.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Fiebre de carnaval was first published in Ecuador.
The novel received the Joaquín Gallegos Lara award in the novel category.
The novel was published in Mexico.
Infobae published its interview with Ortiz Ruano.
- Author
- Yuliana Ortiz Ruano
- Novel
- Fiebre de carnaval
- Protagonist
- A girl named Ainhoa
- First publication
- Ecuador, 2022
- Award
- Joaquín Gallegos Lara, 2023, novel category
- Interview outlet
- Infobae México
What people are saying
The language is alive and, because it is alive, we feed it depending on the situations that happen to us and also on the environment where we are.
Crises always bring change, in some cases much more evident, in others imperceptible, but there is always a congestion operating there in language, in what we are doing with language.
I wanted to show that disputing the language of a particular neighborhood is also a stand against the assimilation of language.