Elena Odriozola: Illustrator–Spain

Elena Odriozola was born in San Sebastián in 1967 and went on to study Art and Decoration. After working in an advertising agency for eight years, in 1997 she began working as a full-time illustrator. Since then, she has illustrated over a hundred books (as well as posters and covers, among other things)—mainly published in Spain but also in France, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Taiwan.

Odriozola's books have been published in Basque, Spanish, Galician, Catalan, English, French, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, and Turkish, and her work has been recognized with numerous awards. Her book Atxiki sekretua (Keep the Secret) was included in the IBBY Honour List in 2016, and she received the Second Prize for Best Children's and Young Adults' Illustrations from the Ministry of Culture in 2006 for her work in the book La princesa que bostezaba a todas horas (The Princess Who Yawned at All Hours). Elena was selected at the Biennial of Illustration Bratislava in 2003, 2013, and 2015, and she has won the Basque Award for Illustration twice—once in 2009 for her work in the book Aplastamiento de las gotas (The Smashing of the Raindrops) by Julio Cortázar and again in 2013 for Tropecista (Tumbler) by Jorge Gonzalvo. She was selected for the Bologna Book Fair exhibition in 2010 and in the same year won the CJ Picture Book Award in the New Publications category for the book Oda a una estrella (Ode to a Star) by Pablo Neruda. She was also invited to the 28th International Fair of Illustrations for Children "Le immagini della fantasia" (The Images of Fantasy) in Sarmede, Italy, to which she returned in 2012 for its 30th edition. Elena Odriozola won the Junceda International Award 2014 for her original work in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which also earned her the BIB Golden Apple Award in 2015. In the same year, she won the National Award for Illustration in acknowledgement of her capacity for renewal while following a unique and coherent line as well as for the narrative potential of her work.

Elena Odriozola's illustrations offer a personal interpretation of each literary work. With delicate, intimate lines, her drawing is efficient both technically and conceptually, resolving a sequence of situations in which subtlety and refinement stand out as the dominant traits of this excellent artistic talent.