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Hello, I'm Irene Vasco, a writer and educator for readers and writers. My life revolves around books. I've been a bookseller, librarian, and author.

I spend my years traveling and conducting literature workshops for children and young people, awakening their desire to read and encouraging everyone to write their own texts. What I love most is traveling to remote places—by bus, boat, motorcycle, jeep, even horseback—to meet with teachers, community leaders, librarians, parents, leaders, and, of course, children and young people.

I was born in Colombia and live here, but I feel like I'm from many places. If I go to Brazil, I think I'm Brazilian because my mother was from there. If I go to Venezuela, I also feel like I'm from that country, because it's where my daughter María del Sol was born and where my two oldest sons, Rafael and Santiago, grew up. If I travel around Antioquia, Colombia, I say hello here and there, believing they're all my cousins, because my paternal family is part of the region's history. If I were ever to go to Russia or Slovakia, I would look for my grandparents' birthplaces.

Nominated by the International Book Association for Young People (IBBY) for the

Hans Christian Andersen Prize 2026

Awards and recognitions

2021 Lifetime Achievement Award

Ministry of Education

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2024 IBBI iRead

Outstanding Reading

Promoter Award

2024 Ibero-American Award

SM Children's and Young Adult Literature

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Writer for
children and young people

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- Biblioteca -
La Alegría

A meeting place that transforms communities.

Member of the National Library Network of Colombia.

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© 2024 Irene Vasco. All rights reserved.

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