Edna Iturralde facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Edna Iturralde
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| Born | 10 May 1948 Quito, Ecuador |
| Genre | Children's and young adult fiction Multicultural short stories and novels magic realism historical fiction picture books ecological novels mythical fantasy |
| Spouse | Bruce Kernan |
| Children | six children |
Edna Iturralde (born in 1948) is a famous author from Ecuador. She has written many books, with 57 of them published in countries like Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Spain. In 2014, she was a finalist for the International Latino Book Awards. Edna has six children and nine grandchildren. She lives in Quito, Ecuador, in the Tumbaco Valley with her husband and four dogs. She often visits schools to meet the children who read her books.
Contents
Meet Edna Iturralde: A Top Ecuadorian Author
Edna's Big Impact on Books
Edna Iturralde has written 59 books over 35 years. Her collection of short stories, Green Was My Forest, was chosen as one of the top ten children's books from Latin America in the 20th century. Her influence goes beyond Ecuador. In the United States, four of her books were picked for school programs in Los Angeles and Houston. The Texas Library Association recommended two of her bilingual books in 2016-17.
Two of her books are on Scholastic Books' list of recommended summer reading. She has won the Skipping Stones International Book Prize three times. Five of her books have won the International Latino Book Award. In Mexico, three of her books were chosen by the SEP (the Mexican Ministry of Public Education) for all school libraries. Her book Verde fue mi selva (Green was my Forest) was named one of the ten "essential" books in Latin American children's literature of the 20th century. These are huge achievements for a writer from a smaller country.
Edna's Childhood and Early Life
Edna Iturralde's early years helped her become a writer. Her father, an aviator, died in a plane crash when she was only one. She grew up as an only child. Her grandfather told her stories, and her mother read to her. Without siblings, she used her imagination, telling stories to her dolls and dogs. She also loved to daydream on garden swings.
In fifth grade, her class needed a play for a school event. When they couldn't find one, Edna went home and wrote it herself. Her teacher loved it, and the play was performed. Edna realized how much she loved writing. From then on, her dream was to become a writer. Her classmates often asked her to write stories for them about things important in their lives. She also wrote for the school newspaper and was part of the Oratory Club.
In 1967, she became the first girl to win Ecuador's Presidential National Award for Oratory. She also won the oratory prize from the Municipality of Quito. Going to university was not an option for her, but she still dreamed of writing. She needed to work, so she became a tour guide. Tourists loved her stories so much that they voted her the best tour guide in South America for IntravTravel Group. She also opened Quito's first boutique, called Carnaby Street, where she sold clothes and jewelry she designed. At 22, she married Diederick van Maasdijk and became a full-time mother to four children.
Starting Her Writing Journey
Being a mother actually helped her writing career. Her children loved her bedtime stories and insisted she tell them the exact same way every time. So, she started writing them down. When a newspaper in Quito, El Comercio, asked for children's stories, she sent one of hers. They not only chose her story but asked her to provide a new one every week!
After writing for Panorama for a year (1980–1981), Edna started La Cometa (The Kite) in 1982. Sadly, that same year, her husband died in a plane crash. Edna kept writing La Cometa, which was Ecuador's first weekly children's magazine. For the next eleven years (1982–1993), she produced La Cometa every week. She had help from only a secretary, an artist, and a pet squirrel. She filled its 16 pages with her own stories, serial novels, comics, and games. She used different pen names to make people think the magazine had a bigger team. La Cometa was given out for free with the newspaper Diario Hoy. This greatly increased its reach, getting to about 210,000 children weekly. Many of these children couldn't afford books but learned to love reading from La Cometa. This magazine became a model for other free children's magazines in South America.
In 1985, she married Bruce Kernan and had two more children.
Growing as an Author and Communicator
In 1993, UNICEF and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Education asked Edna to write about important values for children. She wrote 60 fun stories in three books called To Be and To Share, for different age groups. She also worked as a consultant for PLAN International, writing a helpful and funny book about social relationships.
From 1996 to 1998, she represented the Educational Development Center (EDC) in Ecuador. She created and tested 15 free radio programs called "Let’s Play Theatre." These programs helped preschool teachers guide young children in developing emotional intelligence and solving problems through imagination. Many daycare centers in Ecuador have used them successfully.
In 1996, Edna started the Union of Writers of Literature for Children (UDELI). Her goal was to help children's and young adult writers get their books published. At that time, international publishers in Ecuador mostly sold books by foreign writers or translated books. UDELI published a collection of Christmas stories, which helped new writers and illustrators get noticed. This also boosted children's literature in Ecuador.
In 1998, major international publishing houses in Ecuador, Editorial Santillana and Editorial Norma, started publishing Edna's books. Before this, foreign books completely dominated children's literature in Ecuador. Most writers had to publish their own work. The success of Edna's books Verde fue mi Selva and Y su corazón escapó para convertirse en pájaro encouraged these publishers to look for more Ecuadorian children's authors. Since then, Edna Iturralde has continued to publish with Santillana, Norma, Editorial SM, and Penguin Random House, Colombia. She has published 59 books, including picture books, novels, and short story collections, in Colombia, Mexico, Spain, and the United States.
From 2000 to 2002, Iturralde taught a course on Creative Writing at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito. In early 2016, she began writing a weekly column for Family Magazine, a part of El Comercio newspaper.
Edna's Influence on Literature
In 2006, Edna founded and became the first president of the Ecuadorian branch of the Latin-American Academy of Children and Young Adults Literature. She led it until 2012. The literary events she organized in Ecuador helped bring international attention to Ecuadorian children's and young adult literature.
Edna has strongly helped promote reading and appreciation for children's and young adult literature in Ecuador. The Hoy en la Educación Foundation named its yearly literary contest after her. She asked them to give the award to new, unpublished authors to encourage them. She has shared her literature in hundreds of school visits and dozens of interviews on radio, TV, and in newspapers and magazines. Her books are now part of the Children's Literature studies at several Ecuadorian universities. Her books have also inspired plays and ballets. The National Symphony Orchestra even created a musical piece based on one of her books, Los hijos de la Guacamaya.
Her many awards have greatly increased awareness in Ecuador about how important literature is for children and young adults. Some of her awards include:
- 2013 Woman of the Year for Literature
- 2014 Manuela Saenz Libertadora del Libertador Gold Medal
- 2010 Silver Rose Award for the Woman of the Year
- 2007 Essential Women in Ecuador
Dr. Jaime García Padrino, a professor of Children's and Young Adult Literature, has praised Edna's work. He said her contribution is one of the most outstanding in Ecuador and Latin America. He noted her many works and varied themes. Her historical and biographical books are known for being well-researched and accurate. He also highlighted her beautiful writing style. He believes Edna Iturralde has made a significant contribution to Spanish-American children's literature. She has brought attention to Ecuador's culture through her stories. Because she understands the world through children's eyes, her books help create a new generation of readers who are kind and understanding.
In 2025, she was nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. This award recognizes her works and their lasting contribution to children's literature. She is the first Ecuadorian woman to be nominated for this important prize.
Edna's Amazing Books
Edna Iturralde's books often explore different cultures, ethnic groups, and social topics. In a time when local histories can be forgotten, her stories are special. She combines fictional tales with serious research. This helps document and share knowledge from different ethnic groups. Edna reveals hidden or forgotten identities and shares them with the world.
She is seen as one of the most important and active writers of children's and young adult literature in Ecuador. As a mother of six, she has dedicated much of her life to writing for young readers. Her books are published in Colombia, Mexico, and Spain, and are sold in the United States, Peru, and Bolivia.
Edna was the founder and director of the children's magazine La Cometa ("The Kite"). For fifteen years, it was published with the newspaper Hoy in Ecuador. She has published 58 books on many different topics. In recent years, she has focused on stories based on ethnicity. She is a pioneer in this type of children's literature in Ecuador. She has also given talks on creative writing at the University of San Francisco de Quito.
She has won many awards and nominations both in Ecuador and other countries. Some of her most important awards include:
- Ecuador National Prize for Children's Literature Dario Guevara Mavorga in Ecuador (2001)
- Skipping Stones Award in the United States (2002 and 2005)
- Mention of Honor of the Municipality of Quito (2003 and 2004)
She was nominated twice, in 2012 and 2013, for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA). Her work was chosen by the SEP in Mexico in 2003 and 2005. In 2005, two of her books were nominated for the Ecuadorian Honor List of IBBY (International Board of Books for the Young). She is the president of the Ecuadorian Academy of Children and Juvenile Literature, which is connected to the Latin American Academy of Children and Juvenile Literature.
Images for kids
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Edna Iturralde with her dogs.
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Edna Iturralde
See also
In Spanish: Edna Iturralde para niños
