Harkaitz Cano on writing in a minority language -among other issues- in Ireland

The writer Harkaitz Cano spoke last Friday, October 17, on the advantages and disadvantages of writing in a minority language in the UCC University College Cork, along with the Galician poet Marta Dacosta. They discussed how authors and writers on minority languages must often worry about sociolinguistics, whether they like it or not. Dacosta spoke on the weight of the oral tradition and on the role of women, whose function as a weaver is often insufficient, so she claimed that "like Ulysses, Penelope wants to travel, and does travel." Cano then focused on the risks of self-translation, on the need to respond to the lack of a written tradition with the invention of a tradition and on the importance of humour. Then they gave a poetry reading at the public library in Cork (in the picture) along with the translator and writer Isaac Xubin.

In Dublin, John Banvill  inaugurated the Festival ISLA, held at the Instituto Cervantes. The guests of this edition were, among others, the Chilean Diamela Eltit and José Ovejero. On Saturday Harkaitz Cano participated in the round table  “Cuéntamelo otra vez”("Tell me again") together with the Irish Claire Keegan and Mary O´Malley. Among other topics, they talked about the first stories heard during childhood, the reasons that these stories remain or expire, and to the necessary point of evil that every good storyteller must have. They also relativized the truth of the events: "We also change those truthful anecdotes that we tell again and again, depending on the degree of acceptance of the listener." That is, the search for the round history can sometimes become the downfall of the writer.

The three-day Irish journey culminated on Sunday in Belfast. The young poet Joseph Nathaniel McAuley read Cano’s poems in English, along with Deirdre Cartmill and Mary McManus.  Right after, the four of them chatted with the audience, and between a question and another they talked about the difficulty of translating poetry "it is like listening to the acoustic version of a previously recorded studio album," said Cano. Cartmill and McManus, who know the project done in Euskal Herria by Albaola association, also expressed their admiration for the bertsolaritza (poetry improvisation).

Cano has made this journey with the support of the Etxepare Basque Institute.

The writer Harkaitz Cano spoke last Friday, October 17, on the advantages and disadvantages of writing in a minority language in the UCC University College Cork, along with the Galician poet Marta Dacosta. They discussed how authors and writers on minority languages must often worry about sociolinguistics, whether they like it or not. Dacosta spoke on the weight of the oral tradition and on the role of women, whose function as a weaver is often insufficient, so she claimed that "like Ulysses, Penelope wants to travel, and does travel." Cano then focused on the risks of self-translation, on the need to respond to the lack of a written tradition with the invention of a tradition and on the importance of humour. Then they gave a poetry reading at the public library in Cork (in the picture) along with the translator and writer Isaac Xubin.

In Dublin, John Banvill  inaugurated the Festival ISLA, held at the Instituto Cervantes. The guests of this edition were, among others, the Chilean Diamela Eltit and José Ovejero. On Saturday Harkaitz Cano participated in the round table  “Cuéntamelo otra vez”("Tell me again") together with the Irish Claire Keegan and Mary O´Malley. Among other topics, they talked about the first stories heard during childhood, the reasons that these stories remain or expire, and to the necessary point of evil that every good storyteller must have. They also relativized the truth of the events: "We also change those truthful anecdotes that we tell again and again, depending on the degree of acceptance of the listener." That is, the search for the round history can sometimes become the downfall of the writer.

The three-day Irish journey culminated on Sunday in Belfast. The young poet Joseph Nathaniel McAuley read Cano’s poems in English, along with Deirdre Cartmill and Mary McManus.  Right after, the four of them chatted with the audience, and between a question and another they talked about the difficulty of translating poetry "it is like listening to the acoustic version of a previously recorded studio album," said Cano. Cartmill and McManus, who know the project done in Euskal Herria by Albaola association, also expressed their admiration for the bertsolaritza (poetry improvisation).

Cano has made this journey with the support of the Etxepare Basque Institute.