From the 11th to the 13th of July, the university's branch campus in Guayaquil held the 10th International Poetry Festival titled "Ileana Espinel Cedeño" 2017. This event has been commemorated as an emblematic festival by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, in this edition there were poets from Japan, China, Wales, Kurdistan, Spain, France, USA, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina and Chile. 

"This festival is a unique opportunity to hear the voices that are emerging around the world" said Augusto Rodriguez, organizer of the event and professor at UPS's branch campus in Guayaquil. 

In the tenth edition of the festival, there were conversations, talks and recitals which took place in different places of the city, such as Casa de la Cultura Núcleo del Guayas, Centro Ecuatoriano Norteamericano, Cementerio de Guayaquil, Alianza Francesa de Guayaquil, Colegio Sudamericano, Centro Cultural Simón Bolívar (MAAC) and Universidad Politécnica Salesiana.

"This Festival was created to honor and remember the poetic legacy of the great poet from Guayaquil Ileana Espinel Cedeño," Rodríguez said.

The Festival, based on the World Poetry Movement, presented an award for the best book to Kristel Freire, co-director of Estudio N, an area of independent cultural management, for her work "La benignidad de las penas, cómo volver infame a un criminal".