Euskadi prizes for literature 2021: Lizarralde, Lertxundi, Elosegi, Gururtxaga, Rodríguez, De Isusi and Reparaz

The winners of the Euskadi Literature Awards 2021 have been announced at a press conference. The winners in the categories of Literature in Basque, Children´s and Young People´s Literature in Basque and Literary Translation into Basque, Essay in Basque, Literature in Spanish, Illustration of literary work and Essay in Spanish are, respectively,  Pello Lizarralde, Anjel Lertxundi, Joxan Elosegi, Alex Gurrutxaga, Txani Rodríguez, Javier de Isusi and Mikel Reparaz. The Basque Government´s Minister of Culture and Language Policy, Bingen Zupiria, presented the prizes.

The jury highlighted Pello Lizarralde’s book ´Argiantza´ for its characters in constant transit, and for completely captivating the reader with the atmosphere he creates around the characters. “The author’s skilful technique of vocal narrative and descriptions of great lyrical force come together in ‘Argiantza’ to offer readers a masterfully constructed story,” added the jury.

In the jury’s opinion, Anjel Lertxundi’s book ‘Haltzaren muinoa’ is “a work of great literary quality, composed of short sentences and chapters, rich in references to tradition and young people’s literature, and is narrated in an agile, poetic and careful manner.”

In third place, the members of the jury for the category Literary Translation into Basque highlighted ´Nik kantatu eta dantza egiten du mendiak´ by Irene Solá for "the stylistic richness of the translation by Joxan Elosegi, who managed to render into Basque the equally intense and magical flow of the original.” The jury also pointed out the imagination and creative capacity demonstrated by the translator when responding to the challenges posed by the style and tone of Solà´s text.

The jury of the award in the Essay in Euskera modality has highlighted that ‘Aberriaren poeta kantariak’ “tells a lot about the poet Xabier Lete and his work. It allows us to meet one of our great poets, makes his ideas public, and also relates his songs and concerts with the atmosphere and thought of that time”.

In the case of Txani Rodríguez, they argued ‘Los últimos románticos’ is “incisive, attentive to detail and endowed with an excellent narrative rhythm. She has a fresh, original and her own voice, which is the feature that has most attracted the attention of the jury”.

About the work ‘Tranparentes. Historias del exilio colombiano´ by Javier de Isusi, the jury believes that "it is a comic with emotional weight but at the same time an agile and round book in its structure, with very good narrative and graphic technique that manages to close the story in an outstanding way" .

For its part, the jury for the award in the Essay in Spanish modality has underlined that the trip through the United States proposed by Mikel Reparaz in ´Las grietas de América´ is “a trip, also, excellently written, in which the interest and the topicality of the subject, as well as the coherence in its treatment”.