Five Giants of Venezuelan Literature: Gallegos to Torres

1. Rómulo Gallegos (1884–1969) – Novelist, president (1948). Doña Bárbara (1929), Cantaclaro (1934). Social realism, llanos setting.
2. Arturo Uslar Pietri (1906–2001) – Polymath: novelist, essayist, politician. Las lanzas coloradas (1931), El laberinto de fortuna (1948). Magical realism precursor.
3. Miguel Otero Silva (1908–1985) – Journalist, novelist. Fiebre (1939), Casas muertas (1955). Oil-boom social critique.
4. Mariano Picón Salas (1901–1965) – Critic, historian, diplomat. Región y Literatura de Venezuela (1940). Cultural essayist.
5. Ana Teresa Torres (b. 1945) – Contemporary novelist, journalist. Doña Inés contra el olvido (1985), La canción de las moscas (2002). Memory, gender, dictatorship.

Together they span Venezuela's 20th-century literary evolution.