Guillermo Blest Gana (28 April 1829 – 7 November 1904) was a Chilean writer, usually considered one of his country's leading exponents of Romantic literature.

[1][2] Guillermo Blest Gana was born in Santiago in 1829, the son of Chilean aristocrat María de la Luz Gana López and Anglo-Irish doctor William Cunningham Blest, one of the pioneers of the modernization of medicine in Chile in the first half of the 19th century.

[2] Carlos Orrego Luco described Guillermo as follows: He was tall, slender, very white, with broad forehead raised in shining inspiration, crowned with long, blond, wavy hair in the romantic manner; large luminous eyes the color of sky, dreamy look that, according to the chronicles, captivated all female hearts...[1]Blest Gana studied at the National Institute and accepted a professorship at the University of Chile.

[2] He returned to Chile in 1863 and entered service as a diplomat to Ecuador, Argentina, and Brazil.

[2] Guillermo's younger brother Alberto Blest Gana also dedicated himself to writing, and is considered the greatest Chilean novelist of the era.