"Excellence in Basque StudiesV": three days of training and homenage

After three intense days, the fifth edition of the summer course "Excellence in Basque Studies" has come to an end, organized by the Etxepare Basque Institute and the Summer Courses of the UPV-EHU –this year, the course has honored the writer of youth and children literature Mariasun  Landa-. With the aim of offering and receiving training for the teaching of Euskera and Basque culture in universities abroad, about 50 people have gathered at the Miramar Palace of San Sebastian.

The course started on July 8, with the conference of Olga Anhokina, linguist and researcher at the Institut des Textes et Manuscrits Modernes in Paris. Her research work focuses on the genesis of the works of multilingual writers, and on the first presentation of the day she talked about the impact of multilingualism on literary creativity, and the strategies of multilingual writers.

And from multilingualism, we turned to non-fiction with the National Culture Award 2015 Xavier Pla. He talked about the rise of non-fiction in contemporary Catalan culture (1925-2015) and the importance of this movement to understand the current Catalan literature.

Finally, Gemma Lluch, professor and researcher at the University of Valencia, offered the last conference of the day on the reading habits of the new digital generations, as well as on new platforms and how to promote reading.

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See you next year!

After three intense days, the fifth edition of the summer course "Excellence in Basque Studies" has come to an end, organized by the Etxepare Basque Institute and the Summer Courses of the UPV-EHU –this year, the course has honored the writer of youth and children literature Mariasun  Landa-. With the aim of offering and receiving training for the teaching of Euskera and Basque culture in universities abroad, about 50 people have gathered at the Miramar Palace of San Sebastian.

The course started on July 8, with the conference of Olga Anhokina, linguist and researcher at the Institut des Textes et Manuscrits Modernes in Paris. Her research work focuses on the genesis of the works of multilingual writers, and on the first presentation of the day she talked about the impact of multilingualism on literary creativity, and the strategies of multilingual writers.

And from multilingualism, we turned to non-fiction with the National Culture Award 2015 Xavier Pla. He talked about the rise of non-fiction in contemporary Catalan culture (1925-2015) and the importance of this movement to understand the current Catalan literature.

Finally, Gemma Lluch, professor and researcher at the University of Valencia, offered the last conference of the day on the reading habits of the new digital generations, as well as on new platforms and how to promote reading.

July 9 brought the most intense day of the program: after the conferences in the morning, in the afternoon the Aquarium of Donostia hosted a  tribute to Mariasun Landa. The speakers  also discussed different aspects of the work of the writer: Gema Lasarte, journalist and professor at the UPV spoke on "Iholdi, Partxela: the female universe of Landa"; Nerea Arruti (University of Aberdeen) offered the talk "Mariasun Landa: a way of teaching literature") and Mikel Ayerbe, professor of the UPV,  talked about the adventure stories Mariasun Landa. In the afternoon, literature, illustration and music gathered at the Aquarium to offer  a well-deserved tribute to the writer.

To conclude the course, on July 10, it was the turn of our readers: Miren Ibarluzea (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris), Gorka Mercero (University of Liverpool) and Aitor Arruza (University of Varsoviako) told us their experiences and methodologies to teach Basque language and culture in foreign universities.

See you next year!