Venezuelan writer Kristel Guirado dies at 57

Kristel Guirado, a prominent Venezuelan novelist, poet, playwright and linguist, died at age 57 on 30 July in Los Teques, where she had lived. Family sources said her death resulted from health problems.

Guirado, born in Villa de Cura, Aragua in 1968, began publishing in the early 1990s and earned multiple literary awards, including first prize at the I Festival de Monólogos Armando Urbina and the Gilberto Pinto prize for her play Amapola duerme de día. She authored several poetry collections, short‑story books and essays, and contributed to regional publications. As an academic, she held a licence in Letters and a master’s in Linguistics from the Universidad Central de Venezuela, and a doctorate in Hispanic Linguistics from the Universidad de Zaragoza, teaching at the Instituto de Filología Andrés Bello and the Unearte.

The cultural community expressed deep mourning; Minister of Culture Raúl Cazal called her “always smiling, poet and essayist” and praised her lasting influence. Tributes came from the Festival de Teatro de Los Teques, the Festival de Monólogos Oswaldo González and the Casa Nacional de las Letras Andrés Bello. A public viewing was scheduled for 31 July at the Municipal Funeral Home in Los Teques.