Gastón Suárez

A self-taught writer, Suárez abandoned elementary school in third grade, following a traumatizing event in which his teacher suffered an epilepsy attack while reading to him.

[1] He performed a wide range of professional roles throughout his life, including work as a railroader, rural teacher, miner, bank employee, truck driver, and journalist.

"[2] His first work was a storybook entitled "A vigil for the last trip" (Vigilia para el último viaje), from which "Illuminated" (Iluminado) was extracted to be included in several anthologies of Latin American writers, as a remarkable example of brief narration.

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, as well as his efforts to gather his seven estranged children.

In 1981, he published Beyond the Winter (Despues del Invierno), a drama portraying the dilemma of two brothers (Melitón and Benjamin) facing the decision of staying and caring for their ailing father or carrying on with their own lives.

Gastón Suárez pictured in La Paz in 1976
Gastón Suárez pictured in La Paz in 1976