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Biography

2019 Events:
  • Participates in the International Book Fair (FIL) Guadalajara, Stand Editorial Santillana, México
  • Participates in the Sixth Reading Marathon of Books and Art, Cuenca, Ecuador
  • Drakko Planet Saga (12 books) distributed by the newspaper El Comercio (Quito) through an agreement with Penguin Random House
  • 1st Ecuadorian and first person to receive the award Women for Liberty the Bolivian Academy of America, Bogota, Colombia
  • Twelfth Conference for the Young and the Arts organized to honor Iturralde   organized by La Asuncion School, Cuenca, Ecuador
  • Delivers lecture Importance of Children’s Literature in Basic Education, University of Azuay, Cuenca, Ecuador
  • Her eleventh Grandson, Robert Henry Kernan, is born in Golden, Colorado
  • El puente de los coyotes, Santillana Loqueleo, presented at the University of Azuay, Cuenca, Ecuador
  • Participates in the 13th Reading Marathon, Quito, Ecuador
Publications:
  • Dos superheroes volvánicos
  • Editorial SM-Barco de Vapor
  • El puente de los coyotes -Editorial Santillana Loqueleo
  • De todo como en botica (45 articles) – Revista Familia, El Comercio
2018 Events:
  • Delivers talk at the Latin American Conference Eco Festival, The Rights of Children in a Green World Through Children’s Literature
  • Talks to children about her literature in schools in Colorado, United States
  • Inaugurates the children’s literature Edna Iturralde Library in the Asuncion School, Cuenca, Ecuador
  • Participates in the Twelfth Marathon of Stories and Reading, Quito
  • Nominated by the Organization of American States, Quito Office, for the Ibero-American Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature
  • 10th grandchild born (Oliver Bruce Kernan Da Silva)
Publications:
  • El pirata Barbaloca – Santillana Loqueleo
  • Green Was My Forest (English translation) – Mandel-Vilar Press
  • El pequeño Bun – Girándula, Asociación Ecuatoriana del Libro Infantil y Juvenil.
Ministerio de Cultura y Patrimonio, Plan Nacional del Libro y la Lectura
  • La casa que el bosque se tragó
  • Las islas donde nace la Luna
  • María Manglar
  • Aventura en los Llanganates
  • Te acompañará el viento – Santillana Loqueleo
  • De todo como en botica (52 articles) – Revista Familia, El Comercio
2017 Events:
  • Receives an award for her literary career: Escritora cinco estrellas-Tus obras dejan huella, from Santillana, Honduras
  • Deliveries lecture: Roots – Multicultural Themes in Children’s Literature, Club Árabe Hondureño, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
  • Delivers lecture: Reading as a Resource for Developing Emotional Intelligence in Children, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
  • Nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award by IBBY Ecuador
  • Participates in the 11th Marathon of Stories and Reading, Quito, Ecuador
Publications
  • El domador de cerdos – Editorial Santillana Loqueleo, México
  • Conoce a Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz” – Editorial Santillana Loqueleo, United States
  • La leyenda del Arupo y otros relatos mágicos y míticos – Editorial Don Bosco, Quito, Ecuador
  • De todo como en botica (52 articles) – Revista Familia, El Comercio
2016 Events:
  • Receives the Award for National Cultural Merit Matilde Hidalgo de Procel during the Tenth National Women’s Conference, Manta, Ecuador
  • Starts writing De todo como en botica , a weekly column Revista Familia , El Comercio newspaper, Quito, Ecuador
  • Participates in the television program Babau, te puedo pregunta (La Oreja Del Pez & Ecuadorian Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion, RTV Ecuador TV).
Publications
  • The Islands Where the Moon is Born (English translation)
United States: WPR Books; Latino Insight
  • De todo como en botica (52 articles)
Revista Familia, El Comercio 2015 Events:
  • Los pájaros no tienen fronteras selected by the Mexican Secretariat for Public Education among 11,953 entries
  • Awarded »Diploma de Honor destacados de Girándula/IBBY Ecuador 2014/15»’ for »Los hermanos que cosechaban cuentos de hadas»’, Santillana Ecuador
  • The Ecuadorian Ministry of Education finances films of ‘¿De dónde vienen los bebés de las hadas?; El Pirata Barbaloca’and El misterio de las bolitas de colores’
  • Gives speech at the Americas Latino Eco Festival, Denver, Colorado, United States on Ecology in Children’s Literature
  • Gives a talk at the conference Entre libros y lectores: Encuentro de formadores’, SM, Bogotá Colombia on The Power of Reading: My Personal Route
  • Gives a talk at the International Center for Integral Formation, México, D.F. Reading as a Door to Emotional Intelligence
  • Gives a talk at the International Book Fair, Guayaquil, on the topic The World of Dragons and Books of Fantasy
  • Gives a talk at the Book Conference of Cuenca on Ethnohistory in Children’s and Young Adult Literature
Publications
  • Y surgió en el vuelo de las mariposas
Barco de Vapor Rojo, SM Colombia
  • Drakko Planet Saga
Penguin Random House Colombia 2014 Events:
  • Awarded the prize Honorable Mention Darío Guevara Mayorga for Children’s and Young Adult Literature by the Municipality of Quito for ¡Viva el fútbol!  Santillana Alfaguara Ecuador
  • Awarded the Condecoración Manuela Sáenz Libertadora del Libertador en el Grado Internacional de Primera Clase 2014 by the Bolivian Academy of America, Quito Chapter
  • Gives a talk at the meeting of the California Association for Bilingual Education on Biliteracy and Educational Equity for All, San Diego, California, United States
  • Five books selected for the A+ Common Core Spanish Literacy school districts of 17 states of the United States (Conoce a Simón Bolívar; Conoce a Miguel de Cervantes; Un días más y otras historias; Caminantes del Sol; Verde fue mi selva)
  • Barnes and Noble, United States selects Conoce a Miguel de Cervantes as its lead book for Spanish Heritance Month
  • 9th grandchild born (Jay Pon van Maasdijk)
Publiations
  • Y surgió en el vuelo de las mariposas
Barco de Vapor Rojo, SM Colombia
  • The Islands Where the Moon is Born
WPR Books, United States
  • ¡Viva el fútbol!
Santillana Ecuador
  • La casa que el bosque se tragó’
Grupo Editorial Norma Ecuador
  • Drakko Planet Saga: #1 Los 12 de fuego / #2 Jaune en Kru-urk»’
#3 Rav y los elfos de las praderas /#4 Kohaku y los nómadas del desierto de Kiir; #5 Yantar y los duendes / #6 Gimber y los Atlantis»’ Santillana Ecuador 2013 Events:
  • Awarded the Skipping Stones prize for international multicultural books for Los pájaros no tienen fronteras-leyendas y mitos de Latinoamérica  Santillana Colombia
  • The Ecuadorian National Symphony commissions and performs premier of La joven y la culebra, orígenes del pueblo cañar  composed by Eduardo Florencia based on Los hijos de la Guacamaya, Santillana Ecuador
  • Participates in the Second Ibero-American Conference on Children’s and Young Adult Literature, Bogotá, Colombia
  • Nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award by IBBY Ecuador
  • Selected as the Woman of the Year for Literature, Revista Hogar, Guayaquil, Ecuador
  • Awarded First Prize in three categories at the International Latino Book Awards for: When the Guns Fell Silent; The Day of Yesterday; Conoce a Simón Bolívar and Second Prize for Conoce a Miguel de Cervantes
  • Identified as a landmark writer of Latin American children’s and Young Adult Literature in the book Hitos de la de la literatura infantil y juvenil iberoamericana , Fundación SM Madrid
  • Barnes and Noble, United States selects Conoce a Miguel de Cervantes as the lead book in its Spanish Inheritance Month
  • 8th grandchild born (Amalia Lucia van Maasdijk Bauer)
Publications:
  • Los hermanos que cosechaban cuentos de hadas
Editorial Santillana
  • Los pájaros no tienen fronteras-leyendas y mitos de Latinoamérica
Santillana Ecuador 2012 Events:
  • Nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award by IBBY Ecuador
  • Honorable Mention, Latin American Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, Lima
  • Awarded Merit Diploma for the Career of a Latin American Author by the Chilean Academy for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, Santiago de Chile
  • Lágrimas de ángeles breaks the record for number of a book sold in Ecuador by Santillana (64,000)
  • Gives the magistral talk Bridges Between Children’s Literature and the Arts at the International Seminar on Esthetic Culture and Education in the Arts, University of Cuenca, Ecuador
  • Gives Magistral Talk The Challenge of Writing on Multicultural Themes en Children’s and Young Adult Literature, First Conference of Teachers, Universidad de las Americas, Ecuador
  • Give Magistral talk Ort Ancestors, the First Navigators of the Pacific at the Seminar on Anthropology of American Peoples, at the Faculty of Ethnology and Social Anthropology, National University of Mexico
  • Lágrimas de ángeles breaks sales records for a book published in Ecuador (46,000)
  • Her beloved mother and best friend, Edna De Howitt, dies
  • 7th grandchild born (Leonie Henriette van Maasdijk Valle)
Publications
  • Los pájaros no tienen fronteras – Leyendas y Mitos Latinoamericanos
Santillana Colombia
»’
  • Las muchachas de la lluvia
Santillana, Ecuador
  • Conoce a Miguel de Cervantes
  • Conoce a Simón Bolívar
Santillana, United States
  • El sueño de Manuela
Mantra Editores Ecuador
  • María Manglar
Norma Ecuador
  • Cuando callaron las armas
  • Gente Joven, Cuba
  • When the Guns Fell Silent
  • The Day of Yesterday
WPR; Latino Insight Publishers. 2011 Events:
  • Simón era su nombre, Verde fue mi selva and Caminantes del Sol selected by the Book Bank of Venezuela
  • Samay School, Tumbaco, Ecuador establishes the Edna Iturralde Library
  • Simón era su nombre and Cuentos del Yasuní»’awarded Honor Diplomas by Girandula/IBBY Ecuador
  • Awarded Quito Diploma of Honor by the Radio Station Multimedios, Digitl Newspaper Al Dia, Ecuador
  • Nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award by IBBY Ecuador
  • Gives talk the Amazon Forest: Oxygen for the World and for Stories, International Book Fair, Bogotá, Colombia
  • Presentation of Verde fue mi selva, Santillana Colombia
  • Participates in the Book and Cultural Fair of Medellin, Colombia
  • Participates in the Sixth Story and Reading Marathon, Girandola/IBBY Ecuador
  • Participates in the International Conference of Writers of Children’s and Young Adult Literature, Ecuador
  • Participates in the Third Marathon of Stories, Cuenca, Ecuador
  • Instituto Tecnológico Superior Cordillera de la Universidad Metropolitana de Quito presents a theatrical work based on Te acompañará el viento
  • Selected as the Woman of the Year by Revista Vanidades
  • Opens the Book Fair of Cuba with presentation of Simón era su nombre, Editorial Gente Nueva, Cuba
  • 6th grandchild born (Wolter Diederick Pon van Maasdijk)
Publications
  • Llevo tres mil años pintando- Biografía de Oswaldo Guayasamín
  • Sueños con sabor a chocolate
  • Martina las estrellas y un cachito de luna
  • Micky Risotto y el perro chihuahua
Santillana Ecuador 2010 Events:
  • Awarded National Award Dario Guevara Mayorga for Children and Young Adults Literature for Simón era su nombre
  • Awarded Silver Rose to the Woman of the Year for her literary work
  • Receives Honor Awards from IBBY Ecuador, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Culture and Convenio Andres Bello for Verde fue mi selva being selected as one of the ten best Latin American Children’s and Young Adult books of the 20th century
  • Gave talk in the Thirty-Second IBBY World Congress on The Strength of Minorities, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
  • Participated in the Second Congress of the Word, organized by the State Cultural Institution, León, Salamanca, Guanajuato, México.
Publications
  • Cuentos de Yasuni
  • Simón era su nombre
Editorial Alfaguara, Grupo Santillana.
  • Simón era su nombre
Editorial Gente Nueva 2009 Events:
  • Verde fue mi Selva selected as one of the ten best books published in the twentieth century by SM Publishers, CLIJ Literary Magazine for Children and Young Adults Literature (Spain)
  • As President of the Ecuadorian Academy of Children and Young Adults, organizes with Girándula/IBBY Ecuador the Reading Marathon, Quito, Ecuador Thomas Diederick van Maasdijkh gran
  • 5th grandchild born (Thomas Diederick van Maasdijk Bauer)
Publications:
  • Pecas y las cucarachas
  • La leyenda del Arupo y otros relatos míticos y mágicos
Editorial Alfaguara Grupo Santillana.
  • Lagarto no come lagarto
Girándula/UNICEF
  • Johnny Tallarín en: ¿quién grita desde tan lejos?”
  • unto al cielo-cuentos sobre Quito
Editorial Norma
  • Imágenes del Bicentenario\
  • Altea, Grupo Santillana
2008 Events:
  • Awarded Great Collar Aurelio Espinosa Polit for Literature (awarded for the first time to a writer of Children’s and Young Adult literature)
  • Honor Award Municipality of Quito for ¿De dónde vienen los bebés de las hadas?
  • As president of the Ecuadorian Academy of Children and Young Adults, participates in the organization with Girándula/Ibby Ecuador of the Reading Marathonn, Quito, Ecuador
  • Lágrimas de ángeles surpasses the sales in Colombia of the commemorative edition of A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Marquez
  • Selected as a Women of the Year of Ecuador ????
Publications
  • El perro, el farolero y una historia de libertad
  • El caballo, la rosa y una historia de rebelión
  • El cóndor, el héroe y una historia de independencia
  • Olivia y el unicornio azul
Editorial Alfaguara, Grupo Santillana.
  • Te acompañará el viento
  • ¿De dónde vienen los bebés de las hadas?
Editorial Norma. 2007 Events:
  • The Ecuadorian National Ballet presents de premier of Pecas based on five of Iturralde’s short stories
  • As president of the Ecuadorian Academy of Children and Young Adults, participates in the organization with Girándula/Ibby Ecuador of the  Reading Marathon, Quito, Ecuador
  • Selected as one of Twelve Outstanding Women in Ecuador by Hogar Magazine, Ecuador
  • Selected for the IBBY Ecuador Honor List for Cuando callaron las armas and ¿De donde vienen los bebés de las hadas?
  • Presentation of Las islas donde nace la Luna at the New York Book/Expo
  • Selected as one of the Fifty Personalities that Marked the Year 2000 by Vistazo Magazine
  • Colegio Politécnico y el Grupo de Arte produces the premier of a play based on Lágrimas de ángeles
  • 4th grandchild born (Adriaan Diederik van Maasdijk Bauer)
Publications
  • El día de ayer
  • Los hijos de la Guacamaya
Editorial Alfaguara Grupo Santillana.
  • Las islas donde nace la Luna
  • The Islands Where the Moon is Born
Editorial Norma.
  • Cuando callaron las armas
Editorial Norma Internacional.
  • Un país llamado Ecuador
ISCOD-País Valenciano 2006 Events:
  • First contest  Edna Iturralde Award for Children and Young Adults Literature, established by  Fundación  Hoy en la Educación.
  • Nominated to the IBBY/ Ecuador Honor list for Lágrimas de ángeles and J.R. Machete
  • Founds and becomes president of the Ecuadorian Literary Academy for Children and Young Adults
Publications:
  • Cuando callaron las armas
Alfaguara Grupo Santillana.
  • Los sapísmos detectives
Revista Elé for Children 2005
  • Verde fue mi selva selected for the second time by the  Mexico’s Ministry of Education, for inclusion in school libraries
  • Nominated for the Iberoamerican Contest for Children and Young Adults Literature
  • Awarded Skipping Stones Award for es Un día más y otras historias-cuentos de animales en peligro de extinción
Publications:
  • Miteé y el cantar de las ballenas
  • Lágrimas de ángeles
Alfaguara Grupo Santillana 2004 Events:
  • Awarded National Award to the Arts Quitsa-To for Children and Young Adults Literature
  • Presented her books at the Lectorum Book Store and the Ecuadorian Consulate in New York
  • Universidad Técnica del Norte presents a play based on Entre cóndor y león
Publications: Entre cóndor y león Un día más y otras historias Alfaguara Grupo Santillana Los grandes irán y los chiquitos quedarán Patronato Provincial de Pichincha. 2003 Events:
  • …..Y su corazón escapó para convertirse en pájaro selected the Mexican Ministry of Education for inclusión in all school libraries
  • Honor Award, Municipality of Quito for J.R. Machete
  • First Ecuadorian writer to publish with Editorial Norma: Aventura en los LLanganates, El Pirata Barbaloca y El gran secreto, y El misterio de las bolitas de colores
  • Visiting professor, summer conference: Children’s Literature with Latin-American Identity
  • Scholastic Books recommends Verde fue mi selva, Caminates del Sol ,and …Y su corazón escapó para convertirse en pájaro
  • 3rd grandchild born (Kilian Lefant van Maasdijk)
Publications
  • J. R. Machete
Editorial Alfaguara Grupo Santillana
  • Aventura en los Llanganates
  • El Pirata Barbaloca y El gran secreto
  • El misterio de las bolitas de colores
Editorial Norma 2002 Events:
  • Skipping Stones Award for Verde fue mi selva, United States
  • Honor Award from Municipality of Quito for Caminantes del Sol
  • Honor Awards from Provincial Council of Pichincha for Los grandes se irán y los chiquitos se quedarán
  • Visiting professor at summer conference on Children’s Literature and Racism in Latin-America, Dartmouth College, United States
Publications
  • Caminantes del Sol
  • Torbellino
Editorial Alfaguara Grupo Santillana. 2001 Events:
  • Nacional Award Darío Guevara Mayorga for category of Children and Young Adult Literature for. .Y su corazón escapó para convertirse en pájaro,
  • Visiting professor summer conference: Negritude in the Andean Countries and the creation of Children’s Literature
  • 2nd grandchild born (Taceo Lenfant van Maasdijk)
Publications
  • Y su corazón escapó para convertirse en pájaro
Editorial Alfaguara Grupo Santillana 2000 Events:
  • Becomes Professor of Creative Writing, Universidad San Francisco, Quito, Ecuador
1999 1st grandchild born (Chaz Lenfant van Maasdijk) 1998 Events:
  • Cornell University, Creative Writing course
  • Moves for one year to Ithaca, New York with husband and youngest children
  • Becomes the first Ecuadorian writer of Children’s and Young Adult Literature to be published in Ecuador by Editorial Alfaguara, Grupo Santillana
Publications:
  • Verde fue mi selva
Editorial Alfaguara Grupo Santillana.
  • Ser y compartir (60 stories to teach values)
Editorial Libresa/UNICEF 1997 Publications:
  • Un día más y otras historias,
UNICEF Ecuador. 1996 Events:
  • Writes, produces and directs Juguemos al teatro to promote, conflict resolution, increase emotional intelligence and promote reading by poor pre-school children for Educational Development Center, United States
  • Organizes writing and publication of an anthology of Christmas stories by Ecuadorian authors for children and young adults
  • Founds the Unión de Escritores y Escritoras de Literatura Infantil (UDELI to promote writers and the publishing of children’s and young adult literature
Publications:
  • Ser y compartir
Editorial UNICEF/Ministry of Education, Ecuador 1995
  • Based on collection of original field qualitative data identifies lack of self-esteem and national identity to be key theme for children’s and young adult literature in Ecuador
1994 Events:
  • As a consultant with PLAN International Working Boy Program prepares an Ecological Magazine for the Young: Es tú mundo  y tú decides
Publications: Manual de relaciones públicas Plan International, Ecuador 1993 Events:
  • Resigns as director of La Cometa Ecological Magazine
  • Prepares report for World Bank on reading and education
Publications:
  • Importance of Reading at an Early Age
World Bank, Ecuador
  • Aventura en los Llanganates
Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Ecuador 1991 Events:
  • Works as a travel agent at Kleintours, in Quito (3 years)
Publications:
  • Verde fue mi selva
UNICEF Ecuador 1990 Publications:
  • Junto al cielo-cuentos sobre Quito
Cosmos Editores 1989 Publications:
  • Los Sapísimos detectives
La Cometa, Quito 1988 Events:
  • 6th child born (Nicholas Devereux Kernan)
Pubications:
  • Los Ecochicos
La Cometa 1986 Events:
  • Reformulates La Cometa as an ecological magazine
Publications:
  • Desde el jardín de las arañas doradas
Casa de la Cultura, Ecuador
  • La patrulla del páramo
Editorial Arcoiris 1985 Events:
  • 5th child born (Henry Edward Kernan)
Publications
  • ¡Oh!,  la historia tralalá ….!
La Cometa 1984 Events:
  • Remarries (Bruce Kernan)
1982 Events:
  • Founds and directs the first Ecuadorian chidren’s magazine La Cometa which is distributed free with the newspaper Diario Hoy & reaches approximately 210,000 children per week
  • Husband dies in airplane accident.
1981
  • Works at VIP Publicity as creative director of educational campaigns to generate environmental awareness
1980 Events:
  • 4th child born (Carolina van Maasijk)
  • 1st story published in El Comercio newspaper in Section Tales of Ecuador
Publications:
  • Panchita, la hipopótamo
El Comercio, Quito 1977 Events:
  • Moves to Quito, Ecuador
1976 Events:
  • 3rd child born (Willem van Maasdijk)
  • Begins writing children stories and reads them to her children
1975
  • Moves to Guayaquil, Ecuador
  • Organizes reading at the Guayaquil Play Group
1973 Events:
  • Organizes an experimental reading group for children 1 to 3 years
1972 Events:
  • 2nd child born (Eric van Maasdijk)
  • Moves with her husband to Lima, Peru
1971 Events:
  • Born 1st child (Diana van Maasdijk)
  • Closes boutique
1970
  • Married to Diederick van Maasdijk
1969 Events:
  • Opens the first boutique in Ecuador, Carnaby Street, in what was formerly the greenhouse of an old residence
  • Designs clothes and jewelry in silver and copper
1968 Events:
  • Awarded Best South America Travel Guide by Intrav Travel
1967 Events:
  • Works as a tourist guide for Metropolitan Touring, Ecuador
  • Works for two months as secretary in the cultural department of the United States Embassy, Quito
1967 Events:
  • Graduates from the American School of Quito with degrees in Science, Baccalaureate and Bilingual Secretary
  • First woman to win inter-school oratorical contests: First Prize Gold Medal President Otto Arosemena Gomez and Gold Medal from the Municipality of Quito
1965 Events:
  • Writes for School Views, Colegio Americano newspaper
1959 Events:
  • Begins writing “made to order” short stories for her classmates at Colegio Americano.
1958 Events:
  • Attends Colegio Americano de Quito
1957 Events:
  • Attends Colegio de América.
1955 Events:
  • Returns to Ecuador & lives with grandparents
  • Attends Santo Domingo de Guzman School.
1954 Events:
  • Goes to school at Oakland Public School.
  • Her mother and stepfather take her to live in Oakland, California.
  • Her mother, Edna De Howitt, marries again
1949 Events:
  • Father (Enrique Iturralde), an officer in the Ecuadorian Air Force, dies in an airplane accident when 28
1948 Events:
  • Born, May 10 in Quito, Ecuador