Ledicia Costas Álvarez (born September 19, 1979 in Vigo) is a Spanish lawyer and writer who writes in Galician. In 2022, she was the first and only writer to receive the Spanish Lazarillo Award three times (in 2015, 2017 and 2022).
Ledicia Costas Álvarez (born September 19, 1979 in Vigo) is a Spanish lawyer and writer who writes in Galician. In 2022, she was the first and only writer to receive the Spanish Lazarillo Award three times (in 2015, 2017 and 2022).
Even as a child, Costas wanted to become a writer. After graduating from high school, she studied law at the University of Vigo and worked as a lawyer for three years after earning her degree. At the same time, she was active as a writer of children’s and young adult books. In 2000, at the age of 21, she published her first work, Unha estrela no vento (in English, A Star in the Wind). After achieving success with additional works, she gave up her law practice to devote herself entirely to writing.
Costas was married to children’s and young adult author Miguel Ángel López González. He died in November 2023 at the age of 47 following a sudden heart attack. The couple had several daughters. Ledicia Costas lives in Vigo.
Ledicia Costas is the author of numerous books. In 2015, she won the National Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature for her work “Escarlatina, a cociñeira defunta” (in English: Scarlatina, the Deceased Cook). According to the jury, it is a humorous and groundbreaking work in the context of contemporary children’s and young adult literature, distinguished by its accessibility, its biting humor, and its ability to demystify the world of death. [3] The book has been translated into numerous languages, including Spanish, Catalan, English, Korean, Bulgarian, Italian, Romanian, Portuguese, and Persian.
Since 2015, Ledicia Costas has also been writing books for adults.
Since 2008, numerous children’s and young adult books have been published in various languages.
She has also written several young adult novels which have been published in English:
Special mention should also be made of her three book series (published so far in Galician and Castilian):
In 2024, she published a book titled Siete dientes de León (Spanish) or Sete dentes de león (Galician) in collaboration with illustrator David Sierra.
Together with the Catalan author Pere Tobarula Martínez, Ledicia Costas wrote the following children’s books under the pen name Pereledi, all of which were illustrated by Andrés Meixide: