Local authors

Many want to read local literature when they are travelling or living abroad to learn and understand more about the place they are visiting. Here follows an overview of nicaraguan authors, I hope this makes it easier for you to pick your preferred book and author while travelling in Nicaragua. 

(This list is under constant work, so it is not complete yet)

Aguilar, Rosario
Rosario Aguilar is as local as you can get it, as she is born and lives still in León. This year (2014) she is celebrating 50 years since she published her first novel Primavera Sonámbula. She has received several awards for her writings, and this year they are also doing a theatre play in Madrid, Spain, based on her novel La niña blanca y los pajaros sin pies. We offer a variety of her books, both used and new, including her most recent novel Miraflores from 2012.

Her writings are mostly dramatic, painful and desperate stories from the nicaraguan everyday life, with sudden and open endings. Some would claim her writings are feminist, although she doesn´t consider herself a feminist. Her books have been translated in to several languages, but we only offer her books in spanish.

Belli, Gioconda
Belli is our bestselling author here in Búho Books, and probably in the whole Nicaragua. She is a well-know writer, poet, feminist, politician and activist. Currently she is living in Managua and just published a new novel, "El intenso calor de la luna", which we hope to offer in the shop soon. 

She published her first novel "La mujer habitada" in 1988, and has since published 7 novels, including an autobiography about her involvement in the nicaraguan revolution, "El pais bajo mi piel". She has also written several poetry collections and a children-book called "El taller de las Mariposas". Her books always have a strong female protagonist, and several of them are about the time of revolution in Nicaragua. 

Belli´s books have been translated to several languages. We offer several of her books in english, including her biography "The country under my skin". In spanish we offer the majority of her novels, poetry and the children-book. 

Cabezas, Omar
Cabezas was born in León and was the first Sandinista guerrilla to publish a memoir from the revolution with his book "La montaña es algo mas que una estapa verde". It soon became a bestseller in Nicaragua, and the book is also known as the first major book written in nicaraguan spanish, rather than formal spanish. This can make it challenging to read for foreigners who know spanish from other countries, but there is a vocabulary in the back to make it easier for you to follow the nicaraguan slang he uses.

Currently we only offer this book in spanish, or nicaraguan spanish I better say.

Cardenal, Ernesto
Cardenal is a catholic priest, more famously known a liberation theologist and the founder of the community of Solentiname. He is a poet, priest & politician. He used to belong to the Sandinista party, but has since switched to the more intellectual party Sandinista Renovation Movement. 


Cardenal has for a long time been a polemical figure in Nicaragua´s literature and cultural history. He has been described as "the most important poet right now in Latin America".

His list of publications is long, and here in Búho Books we offer a variety of his books in spanish. 

Darío, Rubén
Known as the father of modernism in Latin America, and without a doubt one of the biggest writers of all time in the continent. No need to say he is of great pride to the nicaraguan people, and all children have to recite him in school.

He used to live in our street, which is now called Calle Rubén Darío. There is now a museum where he used to live, and he is also partly the reason why our hostal is called Hostal Calle de los Poetas (street of the poets).

It goes without saying that a bookstore in León has to have a good selection of Rubén Darío, and we do. Including some bilingual books with english translations of his poems and short stories.

Ramirez, Sergio
Ramirez was the vise President under Ortega in the 80´s, but later he distanced himself from the FSLN party. He has written several books about the revolution and other historical fiction books. His books are kind of hard to get, but we have a few of his books in spanish and english. 

Sirias, Silvio
We had the honor of meeting Silvio Sirias when we did a literary event with him in february 2014. He is nicaraguan, but has lived outside Nicaragua most of his life. But still several of his books, that are historical fiction, are set in Nicaragua. He writes in english, so we only have his books in english.  

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