María José Ferrada (Temuco, Chile, 1977) is a journalist and writer. Her books have been translated into some twenty languages. She has received numerous literary awards, including the Ibero-American Cervantes Chico Prize, the Ibero-American SM Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, the City of Orihuela Poetry Prize, the Hispano-American Poetry Prize for Children, the New Horizons Prize at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the Academia Prize, the Santiago Municipal Prize (2014 and 2018), the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s Best Works Award (2014, 2017, 2018), and the Chilean Circle of Art Critics Award (2017, 2022, 2023). Ferrada has also been on the shortlist of the Astrid Lindgren Award three times. Kramp (2017), her debut novel for adults has bee translated in over a dozen languages. Her second adult novel is El hombre del cartel (2021), published in ten countries.

After twenty years of work dedicated to literature, critics have highlighted her ability to move between different genres and connect with readers of all ages. They also praise the wide variety of themes addressed in her work, ranging from the celebration of everyday life and the natural landscape to the impact that political violence has had on childhood.
She lives in Villarrica, in southern Chile.