A talk with Basque writer Kirmen Uribe

Location
Strathcona Building - Lecture Theatre 4 (R18 on campus map)
Dates
Thursday 15 October 2015 (15:30)
Photograph of Kirmen Uribe
Photograph of Kirmen Uribe
  • Presented by the Etxepare Basque Institute / Etxepare Euskal Institutua and the Cervantes Institute/Instituto Cervantes

Award winning Basque writer Kirmen Uribe has written a variety of successful works that have been translated to up to fifteen languages, some of which have been designated finalists as best volume of poetry translated into English. But what is it like to have your own work translated? To what extent does a work still feel "yours" after being translated? What is the process? Does it keep the identity and personality of the work? Is that achievable?

All these and many other questions you may have will be discussed with the writer itself. Come along and discover what being translated is like.

Kirmen Uribe (Ondarroa, Basque Country, 1970) holds a degree in Basque Philology and pursued postgraduate studies in Comparative Literature in Trent. In 2001, he published his volume of poetry Bitartean heldu eskutik (Susa, 2001;Mientras tanto dame la mano, Visor, 2003; Meanwhile Take My Hand, Graywolf Press, 2007), which won the National Critics’ Award and was designated a finalist for the best volume of poetry translated into English in 2007 in the United States by the PEN American Center. The year 2008 saw the publication of his first novel, Bilbao-New York-Bilbao (Elkar, 2008; Bilbao-New York-Bilbao, Seix Barral, 2009), a highly successful book that won the National Literary prize and has been translated into 15 different languages to date. His second novel, Mussche [What Makes the World Go Around – Mussche] (Susa, 2012; Lo que mueve el mundo, Seix Barral, 2013) has been long awaited.