Joan Mari Irigoien was a Basque writer born in Altza (Donostia) on September 30, 1948. He worked as a translator, teacher, and language corrector for Euskal Telebista. He was a prolific author, known for novels like Oilarraren promesa (1976), Babilonia (1989), and Lur bat haratago (2000).
In 2012, he was diagnosed with primary lateral sclerosis, which affected his mobility and speech, but he continued writing. His last poetry collection, Sorgin-argien ehizan, was published in 2022. He passed away in Donostia on May 17, 2023, at the age of 74.