Mariasun Landa Etxebeste (Errenteria, 1949)

Mariasun Landa was born in Rentería (Guipúzcoa province) in 1949. She obtained a Philosophy degree in Paris in 1973 and worked as a Primary School teacher for several years, and also in the Basque Language for Teachers Service (IRALE/Basque Government). At present, she is a lecturer in Literature Teaching at the Teachers’ University of San Sebastián (University of the Basque Country).

She has collaborated with a large number of Basque Country newspapers and magazines, but her creative work has focused primarily on youth literature in the Basque language. She has written around thirty children’s books and much of her work has been translated into Spanish, Catalan, Galician and other foreign languages including English, French, German, Greek, Arabic, Korean and Albanian.

Her literary awards include the most traditional of all the Basque literature prizes, the “Lizardi Prize for Basque Children’s Literature”, which she won with the short story Txan Fantasma in 1982, and the Euskadi Prize for Children’s and Young People’s Literature in 1991 with the work Alex.

 In 2002 Tolosa City Council awarded her the "Premio Antonio Mª Labaien" prize for Krokodiloa ohe azpian.

In 2003, her work “Un cocodrilo bajo la cama”, originally written in Basque (Krokodiloa ohe azpian. Pub. Alberdania) won her the Spanish Ministry of Culture National Award for Children’s and Young People’s Literature.

She is Member Elect of Jakiunde, Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in the Basque Country.

 In 2004 the Basque Publishers Association awarded her the "Premio Bustintza" Prize for best distinguished book in the XII Feria de Libro Vasco de Durango (Durango Basque Book Fair).

Her book Iholdi was on the IBBY’s list of honour in 1992, as was “Un cocodrilo bajo la cama” in 2006.

 Elefante corazón de pájaro was chosen for the 2001 White Raven list drawn up by the prestigious International Youth Library of Munich.

In 2004, she received the Commendable Citizen's Medal awarded by the City Council of San Sebastián and the City of Errenteria's Medal.

 She has recently published the autobiographical novel <em>La fiesta en la "La fiesta en la habitación de al lado", 2007.

The OEPLI (Spanish Organisation for Youth Literature) has presented her as a candidate for the 2008 Andersen International Prize, awarded by the IBBY.

Las asociaciones en lengua vasca de Editores, Escritores y Traductores, Correctores e Intérpretes y la Asociación Profesional Ilustradores de Euskadi, así como la Asociación de Literatura Infantil y Juvenil Vasca, le han otorgado en 2011 el Premio Dabilen Elea 2011, en reconocimiento a su fructífera trayectoria en las letras vascas.