Biography
Iria Misa is a prize-winning author of young people’s literature in Galician. Her novel I’m Not Here Anymore received the Jules Verne Award in 2016, a book about belonging written in the voices of multiple characters, and was followed by Secrets in the Sunset, which is available in English. Her most emblematic book for children is Mother, I Want to Be Ziggy Stardust, which looks at gender identity and reflects the author’s admiration for David Bowie. Her children’s book The City of the Atom about children living in the abandoned city of Pripyat in Ukraine received the Agustín Fernández Paz Award for Equality in 2020. Iria Misa studied English at the University of Vigo and works as a secondary school teacher in Galicia.
Synopsis
Mother, I Want to Be Ziggy Stardust (224 pages) is a children’s book by prize-winning author Iria Misa about gender identity. The text is divided into seventeen chapters and is accompanied in the Galician edition by seventeen colour illustrations by Alba Barreiro.
Sample
Aine loves to play at singing and dancing. They think it’s the most fun thing to do in the world, the Galaxy and the entire Universe!
When they sing and dance, they have this pleasant sensation; they feel, on moving their arms, legs and hips, that their brain is happy and filled with joy. You may not believe it, but there is a logical explanation for this. It has to do with the brain’s cells. It would seem there’s this strange connection between them. As a result of this connection, whenever the cells hear something they like, they start communicating with each other and infecting each other with their moods. Infecting in a positive sense, obviously, not like when you people catch the flu. Those infections, from what I’ve seen, are pretty annoying. Your temperature goes up, you feel unwell, you keep on sneezing, and your noses start producing snot like a tap’s been turned on. I’m just glad I don’t catch those strange illnesses of yours.
Portico of Galician Literature 