Université Laval: Besteen ahotsa-La voix des autres

Registration is now open for ´Besteen ahotsa / La Voix des Autres´, a conference on multilingualism and literature to take place on 13 and 14 October. Organised within the framework of the Saison Québec-Pays Basque cultural exchange project, the theme of the conference is ´Multilingualism and literature: Basque Country and Quebec´, focusing on literature and linguistic diversity in non-hegemonic languages. Speakers will include Elizabete Manterola, Xabi Paya and Amets Arzallus, among others. Laval University, the Etxepare Basque Institute, the Quebec PEN Club and the Basque PEN Club are the promoters of the initiative.

The event can be followed online by first registering via the following link: https://www.euskalpen.eus/besteenahotsalavoixdesautres.

There will be presentations and round table discussions at the end of each lecture. The talks will identify the features shared by multilingual environments with minority languages, and discuss topics including Franco-Québécois literature, literature of cultural minorities, and literary production in the Basque Country, Quebec and North America.

The aim of the conference is to promote a comparative study of ‘literature from the periphery’ to study literature writing created in languages that do not have priority literary markets in their own countries. The conference will also examine the realities of the Basque Country and Québec from a literary perspective.