Maria Jesús Bolta (Meliana, 1958) is a philologist, teacher, writer, and translator.

Born in Meliana, in the Horta Nord region in 1958, she moved to France with her family before she was a month old and lived there until the age of sixteen. On her return to Valencia, she began her university studies and graduated in Romance Philology in 1982. She combines her work as a secondary school language and literature teacher with writing and translation.

As a writer, she specialises in literature for children and young people. In 1987, she published her first story, El sol sense son, which was followed by a series of publications, notable amongst which are Pell-roja, rostre pàl·lid (1995), Vull jugar! (1995), El meu regne per un llit (1998), Animals! (2002), El cel és blau (2019), and her most recent book, El balsam (2023). She has also translated such famous adventure novels as Treasure Island (L'Illa del tresor, 2013) and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Vint mil llegües de viatge submarí, 2013). Moreover, she is a columnist for the daily Levante-EMV.

Among other awards, she received, in 1995, the Vaixell de Vapor and Samaruc prizes; in 2001, the Folch i Torres for Animals!; and the 2019 Carmesina de la Safor Prize and the 2020 Valencian Critics' Prize for El cel és blau.

She is a member of the Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana (AELC – Association of Catalan Language Writers).

Web page: Bet Ajenjo for AELC.
Documentation and photograph: Author's personal files.
Translation: Julie Wark.