Joxantonio Ormazabal


Joxantonio Ormazabal was a Spanish author of children's literature who sometimes published under the pen name Joxean.

Early life

Joxantonio Ormazabal, also known as José Antonio Ormazabal Berasategi, was born on 21 July 1948 in Zegama, Spain. At the age of 12, he joined a seminary in Saturrarán, and later studied at a seminary in San Sebastián. He left the seminary to become a teacher. In an interview with Argia magazine in 2009, he stated, "I do not remember reading tales. My mother told me stories. I remember the characters of Peru and María, but I did not grow up among books."

Career

At the age of 23, Ormazabal became a teacher at a private school in Ikastola Salbatore Mitxelena in Zarautz. He worked with authors such as Anjel Lertxundi, Mariasun Landa, and Juan Martin Elexpuru. His first book was published under the pen name Joxean. While working as a teacher, Ormazabal composed the lyrics of songs by Imanol Urbia, such as Astoa, Fair, and Tximeleta mountain.
Ormazabal later taught at Alkartasuna High School in Beasain.
Ormazabal left teaching and became an editor at Elkarlanean Publishing House in 1981, where he worked in the field of children's and young people's literary collections as well as textbooks. He published his first work, Fernando Smezketarra. He was responsible for the children and youth departments at Elkar Publishing House until his supposed retirement in 2009. He continued his work in children's literature by editing and occasionally translating important works.
Ormazabal's prose work focused on humor and fantasy. However, he also published works tackling topics such as freedom, poverty, and discrimination, relations between grandparents and grandchildren, and ecology.
Poetry played a prominent role in Ormazabal's body of work. He was a finalist in the Euskadi Literary Prize for Children and Youth Literature in 2008 for the poem Ilunorduak eta Argilaurdenak.
Ormazabal's titles include Kaskarintxo, Margolin, Pernando Amezketarra, and Kittano.

Death

Ormazabal died on 2 May 2010, in Zegama, Spain, after falling into a well. His body was found at the vent of the Oazurza tunnel on the Madrid-Irún railway line.

Books

Translations