William Douglass Chair: Kirmen Uribe

As part of the Etxepare Basque Institute’s international network of Basque Studies, the William A. Douglass Chair in Basque Cultural Studies will welcome writer and poet Kirmen Uribe as its guest on 28 and 29 October at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The Chair is based within Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan Studies at UMass Amherst, part of the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and works in collaboration with the Etxepare Basque Institute to promote knowledge of Basque language, literature and culture, as well as international academic exchange.

Kirmen Uribe at UMass Amherst

Based in New York, Kirmen Uribe is an internationally recognised writer. His work explores themes including migration, exile, identity and memory, and has been translated into more than 25 languages.

28 October: screening of Karmele

16:00 · South College E470

Screening of Karmele (2025), directed by Asier Altuna and based on Kirmen Uribe’s novel Elkarrekin esnatzeko ordua (2016).

29 October: session on contemporary writing

14:30 · Herter 117

“Writing in the Twenty-First Century: Archive, Form, and Fiction”

In a session for the SPAN 321 course, Kirmen Uribe will discuss contemporary writing, the archive, form and fiction.

29 October: “Basque and Me: Language, Memory, and Literature”

17:00 · Herter 301

In this public lecture, Uribe will reflect on the relationships between the Basque language, memory and literature.

The activities are organised with the support of the Etxepare Basque Institute, in collaboration with several programmes and departments at UMass Amherst, and will be open to both the university community and the wider public.