Basque writers at the Brussels Book Fair
Euskara. Kultura. Mundura.
The 2019 Foire du Livre de Bruxelles (Brussels Book Fair) will celebrate its 50th anniversary from February 14th to 17th. Two Basque writers and a translator have been invited to this year’s event, Karmele Jaio, Mikel Santiago and Edurne Alegria. The three of them will participate in several activities as part of the official programme.
The 2019 Foire du Livre de Bruxelles (Brussels Book Fair) will celebrate its 50th anniversary from February 14th to 17th. Two Basque writers and a translator have been invited to this year’s event, Karmele Jaio, Mikel Santiago and Edurne Alegria. The three of them will participate in several activities as part of the official programme.
On the first day of the fair, Thursday, 14th February, a roundtable discussion will take place at 5 p.m. Under the title Unifier les variations: l’exemple du basque (Uniting variations: the example of Basque), the discussion will focus on what the unification of the Basque language has meant for the progress of the translation industry. The programme description says that the Basque language “contains a great deal of variations depending on the region, the valley and even the village”, and “paradoxically, the unification of the language has done a lot for the publishing industry”. The roundtable will be moderated by translator Anne Casterman.
At the end of the event, there will be a book signing by Karmele Jaio at Place de l’Europe. The activities are organized by the Brussels Book Fair along with TraduQtiv and the Etxepare Basque Institute.
La Foire du Livre de Bruxelles was created in 1969 to foster, above all, French literature. All kinds of industry professionals from France, Switzerland, Luxemburg and Quebec come together each year in the EU capital to take part in a range of activities. The fair also embraces other languages from around the world. Each year, the fair draws more than 70,000 people to Brussels; over 1,100 authors and 500 publishing houses are invited to participate; and around 300 activities are organised as part of the event.
