In the presentation that has been made at the San Telmo Museum of Donostia, the winners of the categories Literature in Spanish, Literary Translation to the Basque Country and Essay in Euskera have been announced. The jury has decided not to award the Essay Award in Spanish, granted by the jury.
Jon Gerediaga, Harkaitz Cano and David de las Heras, among others, have been in charge of making known the names of the first three winners of the 2014 Euskadi Literature Awards. The remaining three winners have already been made known by the media. Julia Otxoa has been awarded the Spanish Literature Award by Bajo los astros de la repetition by Aiora Jaka, by Literature in Euskera with the book Independeren eguzkiak (Ahmadou Kourouma) and Jon Urzelai with the work Euskaraz Essay with the work Su Festak. The six awards will be given on 21 November at the gala to be held at the Artium Museum in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Julia Otxoa's book of poems has been the winner of the Spanish Literature Award. The jury has pointed out that it has been on a road that has lasted several decades. Under the stars of repetition it is divided into two parts. In the first section, with a committed voice, “poems of global denunciation against the world and the meaningless history in cruelty and destruction” stand out. In the second part, poems are much shorter and more sensitive and show “that beauty that still lives in a ruined world.”
Aiora Jaka has been awarded the prize of the modality of Literary Translation for the Basque Country with the translation of the history of Ahmadou Kourouma. The ruling has explained that Jaka, in his work Soles of the Independents, has brought history to the Basque country “great”, “with skin, with style and with tone”, and has underlined the ability to bring the Basque reader to West Africa.
The jury members highlighted Jon Urzelai’s Su Festak work in this week’s Euskaraz Essay section. They point out that the sociological study of musical festivals has been extended to other areas: “It has rationally linked the different types of musical singing with the different social eras, the different models of society and the different social processes.” However, the Spanish Trial Award in the same section has not yet been delivered. From the papers presented, the jury explained that none of them met the criteria of excellence required for the Euskadi Prize.