Bernardo Atxaga (real name José Irazu Garmendia) was born in Aesteasu, in the Basque region of Spain, on 27 July 1951. He graduated in Economics, Philosophy and Literature at the University of Barcelona. His first book of poems was published in 1976 under the pseudonym of Bernardo Atxaga and his first novel in 1985. He has also written scripts for radio and television programmes as well as song lyrics in Basque, a traditional type of music which he has always admired. He is considered one of the main representatives of contemporary Basque literature and has recently published some novels in Spanish. Over the past 20 years, Bernardo Atxaga has been the author of more than 20 children's books and was awarded with the Premio Nacional de Literatura in 1989.