Bernardo Atxaga (Jose Irazu , Asteasu, Gipuzkoa, 1951) belongs to the young group of Basque writers that began publishing in his mother language, Euskera, in the Seventies. Graduated in economics ffrom Bilbao University, he later studied philosophy at the University of Barcelona.

His first short story, "Ziutateaz" was published in 1976 and his first book of poetry, Etiopía, in 1978. Both works received the National Critics Prize for the best works in the Basque language.

He cultivates most genres: poetry, short stories, novels, lyrics, etc. His national, and soon after, international recognition arrived with Obabakoak which, among other prizes, was awarded with the Spanish National Literature Prize in 1989 and has been translated into more than twenty-five languages. It was publishedin English by Hutchinson in hardcover and by Vintage in paperback( U.K. ) and in the United States by Pantheon (1992)  and by Vintage (1994).

The lone man, The lone woman & Two brothers are the titles of some of his novels translated into English ( Harvill Press, London, 1996, 1999 & 2001). His last novel ( The Accordionist´s son ) has been published by Harvill Secker (2007), and it will be published in USA by Graywolf (2009).

Many of his poems & short stories have been translated into other languages and published in several countries, such as France, Finland, Italy. It is also possible to find them insuch   prestigious magazines as Vuelta, ( México,1990), Jahbuch der Lyrik ( Germany 1993), Die horen, ( Germany, 1995), Lichtungen, ( Ausrtria 1997, 2004), Lyrikklubbss bibliotek, (Sweden, 1993 ), Linea d'ombra, (Italy, 1992), Tabacaria ( Portugal, 2004 ) Modern Poetry in Translation ( UK, 2004 ), Poetry London (UK, 2005),  Revue Labyrint ( Czech Republic, 2005), Metamorphosis (USA, 200 ), Paris Review (USA, 2005),  The Threepenny Review USA, 2005) and others. 

He writes and is published in Basque. He usually translates himself the texts that are also published in Spanish .

Margaret Jull Costa has translated many Portuguese, Spanish and Latin American writers. amongst them José Saramago, Mário de Sá-Carneiro, José Régio, Bernardo Atxaga, Ramón del Valle-Inclán, Carmen Martín Gaite and Luisa Valenzuela.

She was joint-winner of the Portuguese Translation Prize in 1992 for her version of The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa and was shortlisted for the 1996 prize for The Relic by Eça de Queiroz. With Javier Marías, she won the 1997 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for A Heart So White, and her translation of his novel All Souls was runner-up in the first Premio Valle-Inclán.