Jon Juaristi Linacero (Bilbao, 1951) holds a degree in Romance Philology from the University of Seville and a PhD from the University of Deusto. He has been Professor of Spanish Philology at the University of the Basque Country, Alcalá, and King Juan Carlos I Chair at New York University. He directed the National Library, and later, the Cervantes Institute. He combines his literary work with translation from or into Basque. Among other prizes, he won the National Essay Prize in 1998 and the Azorín Novel Prize in 2007. He is the author of poems, essays and novels.