Kirmen Uribe gives voice to Basque literature at the Guadalajara Book Fair

Basque literature will have a voice again this year at the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), the most important book event in Latin America, which brings together thousands of booksellers, publishers and authors. To shine a spotlight on Basque literature, the Etxepare Basque Institute took the initiative to send Kirmen Uribe (Ondarroa, 1970) to this year’s fair. The event will run from 26 November to 3 December in Guadalajara, Mexico, and will feature some of the most relevant names in literature today.

Basque literature will have a voice again this year at the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), the most important book event in Latin America, which brings together thousands of booksellers, publishers and authors. To shine a spotlight on Basque literature, the Etxepare Basque Institute took the initiative to send Kirmen Uribe (Ondarroa, 1970) to this year’s fair. The event will run from 26 November to 3 December in Guadalajara, Mexico, and will feature some of the most relevant names in literature today.

This will be the seventh year in a row for Basque literature to be represented at FIL. Uribe, author of Bilbao-New York-Bilbao (2009), will follow in the footsteps of Iban Zaldua, Arantxa Urretabizkaia, Bernardo Atxaga, Karmele Jaio, Harkaitz Cano, Mikel Ayerbe and Anjel Lertxundi, all of them promoted by the Etxepare Basque Institute. Euskal Editoreen Elkartea (Basque Publishers´ Association) and the Publishers’ Guild of Euskadi will have a stand where a dozen publishers will show their wares. The Basque Vice-minister for Culture, Joxean Muñoz, will round out the Basque contingent at this year’s FIL.

In Guadalajara Uribe will present his latest novel, La hora de despertarnos juntos (The Hour of Waking Together) (2016), and take part in several activities on the official programme. He will also have a busy of media events planned by Etxepare aimed at attracting the greatest possible attention to Basque literature.

On 27 November Uribe will join a panel discussion as part of a section called ‘The Pleasure of Reading’. Here, authors and readers come together to talk about the pleasures of reading, the books that have left a lasting impression, their reading habits and their literary likes and dislikes. Uribe will share the panel with Mexican scholar Concepción Company, Mexican poet Myriam Moscona, Brazilian journalist and author Bernardo Carvalho and Chilean author Álvaro Bisama.

On 28 November, as part of the ‘Readers Present’ section, an anonymous reader who has carefully read Uribe’s third novel, La hora de despertarnos juntos, will start up a dialogue between the author and the audience.

Finally, on 29 November, as part of the ‘Echoes of FIL’ section, Uribe will attend the Atotonilco region preparatory school, where he will meet with students from the school.

After his time in Guadalajara, the author will travel to Mexico City on 30 November to take part in a discussion with the Basque community at the Mexico City Euskal Etxea. He will then attend a literary gathering with students from the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) organized by the reader of Basque language and culture at the UNAM.