Marilar Aleixandre

María Pilar Jiménez Aleixandre (born in Madrid in 1947) is a Galician writer, translator and biologist. Marilar Aleixandre lives in Amaía, Galicia, Spain. In her own words:

I use the Galician Language as a literary language because I have a forked tongue, however not all the creatures with a forked tongue are bad. I think that all stories and poems are messages written in ink, spittle or blood, that we throw into space wishing that somebody receives them.

Biography

Her grandparents were from Andalucia, Valencia and Madrid, and she was born in Madrid in 1947. She loves the places where she lived: Ceuta, Doña Mencía (Córdoba) and Madrid, but since 1973 she lives in Galicia, where she adopt the Galician language as her literary language, and she became one of the most famous Galician writers. In her own words:

I remember some things of every city where I lived: Ceuta (the lemon tree that we had in our courtyard); Doña Mencía (eating figs at the crack of dawn with my father); Madrid (the cinema club of Areneros, where I saw "Freaks" for the first time); Vigo (the mimosas in blossom); Santiago de Compostela...and other cities where I never lived or where I only lived for a few time: Donostia, Perugia, Boston. And I have a special relation with Toba, Cée and with a Costa da Morte.

She is Doctor in Biology and she teaches in the University of Santiago de Compostela, where she teaches Didactic of Sciences and Environmental Education, since 1988. The first story that she wrote,Un Conto Sobre Vampiros, is the precedent of Agardando polos morcegos. After, she wrote A formiga coxa, her first children's book, and A expedición do Pacífico (Premio da Crítica Galega 1995). She excels at juvenile and children’s books, and she also writes to adults. She was finalist of Premio Xerais de Novela in 1992, with Tránsito dos Gramáticos. In 1996 she published the book of stories Lobos nas illas about the difficulty of the family's relations, in 1988 the novel A Compañía Clandestina de Contrapublicidade (Premio Álvaro Cunqueiro 1988), and in 2001 Teoría do Caos (Premio Xerais 2001). The majority of her works are translated to Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan and Vasco. She has translate from English to Galician the collection of poems Muller ceiba (1996) of Sandra Cisneros, A Caza do Carbairán (1997) of Lewis Carrol and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) of J.K. Rowling. Moreover she has written the screenplay of 14 episodes of Os escachapedras.

Like poet she has taken part in some collective publications and in the activities of the Batallón Literario da Costa da Morte. In 1998 she won the Award Esquío with the collection of poems Catálogo de velenos. She is contributor in some magazins about culture and literature: Nó, Luzes de Galicia, CLIJ, Festa da Palabra Silenciada, Dorna and El Signo del Gorrión. Furthermore she is authoress of works about the Sciences’ teach.

She says that: Write allow us to invite the people into the worlds that we have imagined.

Work

Literary

• A formiga coxa, Edicións Xerais, 1989 (Fran Jaraba Illustration)
• O rescate do peneireiro, Edicións Xerais, 1990 (Fran Jaraba Illustration)
• Tránsito dos gramáticos, Edicións Xerais, 1993
• A expedición do Pacífico, Edicións Xerais,1994
• Nogard, 1994
• O trasno de Alqueidón, Edicións Xerais, 1996 (Miguelanxo Prado Illustration)
• Lobos nas illas, Edicións Xerais, 1996
• A compañía clandestina de contrapublicidade, Galaxia, 1998
• Catálogo de velenos, Esquío, 1999
• A banda sen futuro, Edicións Xerais, 1999
• Lapadoiras, Sacaúntos e Cocón, 1999
• Teoría do caos, Edicións Xerais, 2001
• O Rato de Biblioteca e a Gaiteira de Marín, included in Contos para levar no peto, Edicións Xerais, 2001
• Unha presa de terra, Ir Indo Edicións, 2001 (Miguelanxo Prado Illustrations)
• Paxaros de papel, Edicións Xerais, 2001
• El-Rei Artur e a abominable dama, Ir Indo Edicións, 2001
• Basilisa, a princesa sapiño, 2002
• O monstro da chuvia, SM, 2003 (Pablo Amargo Illustrations)
• Desmentindo a primavera, Edicións Xerais, 2003
• Rúa Carbón, Xerais, 2005
• A vaca de Fisterra e a trabe de alcatrán, Tambre, 2005
• Mudanzas, 2007
• A Cabeza da Medusa, Edicións Xerais, 2008.

Academic

• Traballando coas ciencias da Terra, University of Santiago, 1995 (like co-editor)
• Dubidar para aprender, Edicións Xerais, 1996
• Enseñar Ciencias, Graó, 2003 (like coordinator)

Awards

Marilar Aleixandre won a loto f awards:

• Premio Merlín of Children’s Books 1994 with A Expedición do Pacífico.
• Premio da Crítica to the literary creation in Galician Language, 1995.
• Premio Rañolas for the best Young/Children’s book in Galician Language 1996 with O Trasno de Alqueidón
• Premio Manuel Murguía of Short Story 1997 with Desaforados Muños.
• Premio Álvaro Cunqueiro of Narrative 1997 with A Compañía clandestina de contrapublicidade.
• Honour List IBBY 1997 with A caza do Carbairán (tradution of The Hunting of the Snark) of Lewis Carroll.
• Premio Esquío of Poetry in Galician Language 1998 with Catálogo de velenos.
• Premio Lazarillo 2001 with A Banda Sen Futuro
• Lecturas Galix 2001 with A Banda Sen Futuro
• Premio La Voz de Galicia 2001 with Unha Presa de Terra
• Premio de Poesía Caixanova in 2006 with Mudanzas.
• Premio Fundación Caixa Galicia of young literature in 2008 with A cabeza da medusa.

External links

• Marilar Aleixandre Personal Page (English, Spanish and Galician)
• Marilar Aleixandre in Galician Language
• Biography of Marilar Aleixandre in the Galician Virtual Library

Persondata
Name	Aleixandre, Marilar
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Date of birth	1947
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