José María Egas (Manta, 1896 - 1982) was an Ecuadorian poet. Many of his poems were turned into the lyrics of "pasillos". Egas studied law at the University of Guayaquil graduated in 1927. He was then active as a lawyer and journalist, but became best ko wn for his poetry, being appointed national poet laureate in 1976. He served as a professor at the University of Guayaquil. He was the brother of the poet Hugo Mayo. Biography Born in Manta (Manabí province), he was the son of don Carlos Egas Rodriguez and doña Rosalia Miranda Alarcón. He grows in a very well educated family present in Ecuador since the century XVII for his father part. Works Poesía: Unción (1923) Unción y otros poemas (1941) El milagro (1941); Unción El milagro y Otros poemas (1954) Canto a Guayaquil (1960) Poesías completas (Guayaquil, 1982. 2da. Ed) In anthologies: Indice de la poesía ecuatoriana contemporánea (Santiago de Chile, 1937) Otros modernistas (Guayaquil, s.f.) Poesía viva del Ecuador (Quito, 1990) La palabra perdurable (Quito, 1991) Poesía modernista ecuatoriana (Quito, 1991). References Ecuadorian male poets 1896 births 1982 deaths 20th-century Ecuadorian poets 20th-century male writers University of Guayaquil alumni