Born in Donostia / San Sebastián in 1947. She has a BA in History and has been a journalist in the print media and on radio and television.
She began writing poetry, but her core work has been in the narrative genre.
In 1979, she published the novel Zergatik Panpox, translated into Spanish as ¿Por qué, Panpox? (Ediciones del Mall, 1986) and English as Why Little Darling? (Center for Basque Studies, University of Nevada, Reno, 2019). Her later novels are Saturno, translated into Spanish by Alfaguara in 1989; Koaderno gorria, translated into Spanish as El cuaderno rojo (Pamiela 2013), as well as into Italian, German, Russian, Bulgarian and English (The Red Notebook, Center for Basque Sudies, University of Nevada, Reno, 2008); Zuri-beltzeko argazkiak (Black and White Photographs, Pamiela, 2014), translated into Spanish and also published by Pamiela, Bidean ikasia (Life Lessons, Pamiela, 2016), translated into Spanish as Lecciones del camino (Pamiela, 2018). This book won the 2017 Euskadi Prize in the essay category. Her latest publication is Azken Etxea (Pamiela, 2022) Euskadi Prize for best narrative work, translated and published by Consonni in 2024.
