Iñaki Zabaleta, lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Philosophy and Anthropology at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), will offer a series of talks at the University of Leipzig from January 13 to 17, based on the work by linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt on Basque studies.

Over the course of 2019, Basque writer Iban Zaldua and Scottish writer James Robertson took part in Chejov vs Shakespeare, a project promoted by the Etxepare Basque Institute as part of the Scotland Goes Basque programme. The two authors had a months-long epistolary conversation, their letters eventually gathered in a book now available either in paper or on our website in PDF.

The end of the year is approaching and, as always, it is time to take stock of the past 12 months. 2019 has been a year full of progress and special initiatives that have led to many changes in the day-to-day of the Etxepare Basque Institute (EBI). We spoke with the Institute’s director, Irene Larraza, about the work carried out and the results obtained.

The Etxepare Basque Institute received the BIKAIN gold certificate yesterday at an event held at the Kursaal in San Sebastián. This certificate accredits a certain level of standardization in the presence, use and management of Basque language by an entity in the socio-economic field.

The EUNIC network Board of Directors will meet on December 11 at the Basque Government delegation in Brussels. It will be the second time in history for the Basque delegation to host this regular meeting of representatives of the National Institutes for Culture of the European Union.

At the Edinburgh International Book Festival held last August, Bertsolari and writer Uxue Alberdi participated in an event entitled ´Throwing Voices´, together with Scottish poet Ciara Maclaverty and Gaelic harpist Rachel Newton. The event was meant to highlight the richness of minority languages through musical poetry.

The Guadalajara International Book Fair, commonly known as FIL Guadalajara, opened its doors on November 30, and once again the presence of Basque literature is guaranteed. This year Eider Rodríguez (Errenteria, 1977) will be at Latin America´s largest book event, which brings together thousands of authors, professionals and publishers every year.

Today, the Etxepare Basque Institute and the Aurten Bai Foundation have signed a collaboration agreement to promote the teaching of Basque abroad.

The rock band has just clinched the silver medal at Suns Europe, the music festival held in Friuli, Italy, that rewards European minority languages. The event was held on the last day of the festival, November 30, with artists from all over Europe.

Following the dynamic of previous years, on December 3, International Day of the Basque Language, our language will be echoed around Europe and America with cultural programmes organized within the international readership network of the Etxepare Basque Institute.