Jesus Maria Saez

Jesús María Sáez, also known as "Txusmi Sáez" (Vitoria-Gasteiz, April 14, 1966), is a multifaceted figure in the cultural world of Vitoria; a writer, columnist, radio host, and Basque author specializing in noir, crime novels, and action thrillers (though he also works in humor and children's literature). In 2016, he began contributing a weekly column to the Diario de noticias de Álava on Sundays, a collaboration that lasted three years. Since then, he has participated in various opinion media and directed and hosted the cultural program on books and literature "Peligro: escritores sueltos" on Radio Siberia FM every Tuesday in 2020 and 2021. This local Vitoria station, together with Begoña Arnillas, gave voice mainly to self-published authors or those outside the scope of major publishers. Since 2021, he has coordinated the Noir and Crime Novel Reading Club at the CC Iparralde for the Vitoria City Council. He is a member of Krelia, Creadores Literarios de Álava, the Association of Writers of Euskadi, CEDRO, and has been a committed member of Greenpeace, Amnesty International, and Doctors Without Borders for more than 25 years. In 2023, he founded and has since directed the International Noir and Crime Novel Festival of Vitoria: "Vitoria-NeGrasteiz," a benchmark in the Basque Country and throughout Spain within the noir, crime, and thriller genres. His extensive literary work includes "The East Trilogy" comprising "Siberia" (a book that became the best-selling book on Amazon Spain globally), "Kazakhstan" (a work selected by the Jury of the Euskadi Literature Awards 2021), and "Moscow." "Women Hold Up Half the Sky" is a thriller full of violence, sex, and fine irony. Among his noir and crime novels, notable successes include "Poniente," "Pandora," and the recent "The Value of the Lady" (the latter two forming the series about the Ertzaintza investigator Maialen Guevara). Other published titles are "Misión Jaqueca," "Candied Jokes," "How to Publish a Book Without Dying in the Attempt," "Bus Stories," "39 Jumps in the Puddle," and "Vitoria-Gasteiz, a City to Tell" (both anthologies of stories with various authors). "Siberia" has been translated into English, and four of his most recent novels have been turned into audiobooks by Sonolibro and Saga Egmont, the digital publisher from the Nordic countries and part of the Danish Lindhardt & Ringhof.