Eusko Ikaskuntza - Laboral Kutxa Prize of Humanities, Culture, Arts and Social Sciences
2023. Kirmen Uribe
Kirmen Uribe (Ondarroa, Bizkaia, 1970) has a degree in Basque Philology and a Master's in Advanced Studies in Literature and Literary Sciences at the UPV/EHU, and is pursuing postgraduate studies in Comparative Literature in Trento (Italy).
He is considered one of the main innovators of Basque literature in the 21st century and a great internationalizer of Basque (it has been translated into 20 languages). He lives in New York where since 2020 he has taught as an adjunct professor at New York University. Other stays in foreign centers have been: Columbia University (2018-2020), New York Public Library Cullman Center Fellowship (2018-2019), University of Iowa International Writers Program (2017), Washington University in Saint Louis (2017), OMI International Writers Residency, New York (2015), and Headlands International Arts Residency, Sausalito (2013). He has published in international magazines such as The New Yorker (being the first time that the Basque language appears in said publication), Poetry International, Poets and Writers, Pen America, Harvard Review and others.
National Critics Award in 2002 for the collection of poems Bitartean heldu eskutik / Meanwhile c geme la mano , which in 2007 was a finalist in the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. In 2008 he published the novel Bilbao-New York-Bilbao with which he won the National Critics Award in Basque the following year and the National Literature Award (fiction). With Elkarrekin esnatzeko ordua / La hora de despertarnos juntos, he won his third National Critics Award plus the Academy Award 111 from Basque readers for the best book of the year, both in 2016. In 2019 he published the second collection of poems 17 and in 2021 the novel Izurdeen aurreko bizitza / The former life of dolphins (Cullman Grant from the New York Public Library).
In addition to being a writer of novels and poetry, children's and youth literature books, scriptwriter and translator, he has collaborated in the theater, in the musical field (with the Euskadi Orchestra, Wim Mertens, Quique González, Juan Carlos Pérez or Mikel Urdangarin), and has made an effort to "take poetry out to the streets".
His commitment to the Basque language and to the Basque Country are evidenced by his involvement in writing (to publicize the country abroad he wrote the book: Abangoardia maite duen antzinako herria / An ancestral people who love the vanguard ), as well as his collaboration with institutions (member of the Basque Government's International and Euskera commissions), as well as the promotion of creativity among the new generations (Marabilli Festival).
(Automatic translation via Google Translation)