Asun Balzola
Asunción Balzola Elorza (18 July 1942 in Bilbao – 22 June 2006 in Madrid), better known as Asun Balzola, was a Spanish autodidact illustrator, writer and translator. After partially recovering from a severe car crash, she studied painting and graphic arts at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. Balzola worked in advertising and graphic design, in addition to her work in the fine arts.
Asun Balzola
Ana Maria Balzola · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Name
- Asun Balzola
- Birth Name
- Asunción Balzola Elorza
- Born
- 18 July 1942
- Birthplace
- Bilbao (Biscay), Spain
- Died
- 22 June 2006
- Place of death
- Madrid, Spain
- Education
- Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
- Awards
- Lazarillo Prize National Illustration Prize
- Nationality
- Spain
- Occupation
- illustrator · writer
- Honours
- Lazarillo Award · Premio Nacional de Ilustración
- Languages
- Spanish · Basque
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Documentary summary
Asunción Balzola Elorza (18 July 1942 in Bilbao – 22 June 2006 in Madrid), better known as Asun Balzola, was a Spanish autodidact illustrator, writer and translator. After partially recovering from a severe car crash, she studied painting and graphic arts at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. Balzola worked in advertising and graphic design, in addition to her work in the fine arts.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q2462537 · wikipedia · Asun Balzola
In this article
Biography
Biography
Among other awards, she received the Lazarillo Prize for her illustrations and has twice earned the Spanish National Illustration Prize. Illustration style is best known for the use of color blotches and thick lines (frequently painting using a watercolour technique). Her files and library were donated, posthumously, to the Centro de Documentación Infantil of the Central Library at San Sebastián.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Asun Balzola • Birth Name — Asunción Balzola Elorza • Born — 18 July 1942 • Birthplace — Bilbao (Biscay), Spain • Died — 22 June 2006 • Place of death — Madrid, Spain • Language — Basque, Spanish • Education — Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando • Genre — illustrator, writer, translator • Awards — Lazarillo Prize National Illustration Prize
Works for adult readers
Works for adult readers
• Txoriburu. Cabeza de chorlito, memoirs.
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The following is established of the heading itself.
Works and production
Works and production
The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. Balzola died on 22 June 2006. Institutional cataloguing adds that asun Balzola was born on 18 July 1942. It is also recorded that asun Balzola is recorded with the occupation illustrator. Institutional cataloguing adds that asun Balzola is recorded with the occupation children's writer. Recorded with the occupation writer. Recorded as a citizen of Spain. It is also recorded that asun Balzola is recorded with the gender female.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Bilbao.
Birth place
Madrid.
Death place
Some works illustrated by Asun Balzola
Some works illustrated by Asun Balzola
• Las noches del gato verde, by Elizabeth Mulder. Anaya. 1962. • Cancionero infantil universal, by Bonifacio Gil. Aguilar. 1965. Lazarillo Prize. • La niña sin nombre, by J. L. García Sánchez and M. A. Pacheco. Altea. 1978. (Girl with no name. Methuen, 1979.) • El niño y el robot, by J. L. García Sánchez and M. A. Pacheco. Altea. 1978. (Boy and his robot. Methuen, 1979.) • Platero y yo, by Juan Ramón Jiménez. Bruguera. 1980. • Zuecos y naranjas, by Montserrat del Amo. La Galera. 1981. • La bruja doña Paz, by Antoniorrobles. Miñón. 1981. • Txitoen istorioa, by Bernardo Atxaga. Golden Award, Bratislava Biennale. 1985. • La cacería, by Bernardo Atxaga. Altea. 1986. • Celia en la revolución, by Elena Fortún. Aguilar. 1987. • Un montón de Unicornios, by Ana Maria Machado. SM. 1990. • Papá ya no vive con nosotros, by Manuel Alonso. SM. 1992. • Poemas para la pupila, by Juan Cruz Iguerabide. Hiperión. 1995. • El primer gigante, by Teresa Durán. La Galera. 1995. • Cuando los gatos se sienten tan solos, by Mariasun Landa. Anaya. 1997.
Some works written and illustrated by Asun Balzola
Some works written and illustrated by Asun Balzola
• Historia de un erizo. Miñón. 1978. Spanish National Illustration Prize. • Munia y la luna (Apel·les Mestres Prize 1980). Los zapatos de Munia. Munia y el cocodrilo naranja. Munia y la señora Piltronera (Spanish National Illustration Prize 1985). Munia y los hallazgos. Destino. 1980–1988. (Munia and the moon. Munia and the red shoes. Munia and the orange crocodile. Munia and the day things went wrong, Cambridge University Press, 1988–1989.) • Santino el pastelero. Destino. 1986. • Ala de mosca. Pirene. 1989. • La cazadora de Indiana Jones. SM. 1989. • El niño dibuja la noche. Nada como los disfraces. Buscar a María. Scott Foresman. 1999.
Primary material
Documents and archives
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q2462537: Asun Balzola
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Asun Balzola”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
Institutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q2462537: Asun BalzolaWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
This entry is compiled from 6 catalogued sources across 5 independent registers. The registers consulted are Crossref registry, Wikimedia Foundation, DOAJ, Internet Archive and Wikipedia. Every statement above is held against the register that stated it; where the registers are silent, the entry is silent.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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