Bernardo Atxaga (Jose Irazu Garmendia) was born in Asteau, Guipúzcoa, Basque Autonomous Community in Spain, in 1951. He writes novels, short stories, poetry, essays, and children's books, and began publishing in his native language of Euskara in the 1970s. Atxaga's first recognition arrived with his book Obabakoak, which was awarded the Spanish National Literature Prize in 1989, and has since been translated into twenty-five languages. His most recent novel, The Accordionist's Son, appeared in Basque in 2003 and was published by Graywolf Press in 2008. It has received the Grinzane Cavour Prize and the Mondello Prize.