Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

"Books in Basque deserve a longer journey and digital format allows"

  • On Saturday, October 28, Booktegi will hold a festival in Usurbil, with the aim of celebrating its sixth anniversary and confirming that it maintains its foundational objectives: to foster a passion for reading and writing in Basque. ARGIA spoke to Aritz Branton. It reports on its economic precariousness.
Aritz Branton, Booktegi-ko kidea, 2022ko jaialdiaren atarian egindako elkarrizketa batean. (Argazkia: Noaua)

09 October 2023 - 07:00
Last updated: 08:44

Booktegi turns six years by putting books on the net, with a sleek and free frequency.

This year we have published less than last year for funding problems. We are receiving far fewer subsidies, and of course we cannot spend all day on Booktegi. It has become night work. We used to publish a book every week and less now.

What happened to subsidies?

On the one hand, it's good news, because there are more and more projects in Basque. The cake is distributed and less and less for everyone. On the other hand, we must also mention what the subsidies require. We have to justify the whole budget, and I think it is right and proper, but the reality is that we put half of the budget in our pocket. A lot is being done in Basque, and for Booktegi there is less and less left. We cannot do it for a long time, we cannot pay for the privilege of working. It is not feasible.

The march you had so far was the weekly publication of a book. At the request of publishers or how do they work?

Sometimes we have asked publishers, but we usually publish new books at the authors' request or on our behalf to the authors.

In recent weeks, with the arrival of the festival, we have published new stories created by the writers for the meeting. These writings will serve as the basis for the two tertulias and the writers who have written the stories will take the floor. The round table on energy will include Nerea Ibarzabal, Eneko Bidegain and Arrate Egaña, and Ugaitz Agirre, Maitane Pérez and Miren Gorrotxategi.

On Saturday, 28 October, Booktegi will hold a festival in Usurbil commemorating its sixth anniversary. Tell us, because it looks good.

The morning will be very literary. In addition to the two tertulias mentioned, there will be a poetry reading open to the public. The morning program will be developed at the Zumarte music school and the afternoon at the Sutegi House of Culture, which we hope will be for a wider audience. The 20netoak literary work will be projected in Sutegi, involving the musician Beñat Barandiaran, the writer Harkaitz Cano and the musician, interpreter and creator Maite Larburu, and later the Storytellers of the pupils of the ikastola of Usurbil. At night, at 19:00, we will enjoy the concert of Petti. The songs you play will be in general discographic Manipulation Strategies and with a photograph of each song you will see a photographic exhibition on the walls of the house of culture.

He told us that Booktegi's usual activity has decreased slightly due to funding problems. Have the objectives changed?

No, of course not. Booktegi's goal was and will be to foster a passion for reading and writing in Basque. To do so, six years ago we saw that it was possible to expand the e-book. The use of digital books in Euskal Herria is very scarce, and at the same time it seemed to us that many good books do not go far. That is, they do not have a second edition, there are many exhausted and they cannot be bought. We believe that many Basque books deserve a longer trajectory and digital format offers this possibility. Another reason is that many new books are not published because of the costs that come out and sometimes very few copies leave.

Booktegi was created to address these shortcomings, and we will continue to do so as far as we can.


You are interested in the channel: Euskal literatura
How to Read Students
Do you read - and you understand what you read - children and young people? What about adults? What space is devoted to reading and literature in school? How is the list of books offered to students prepared and what libraries do the centers have if they have a library? A... [+]

2024-06-19 | Itxaro Borda
Silence

A woman accuses a deceased Basque writer and poet of having committed abuse during school-age teenagers. The excitement of Erbia is right Gorka Bereziartua. If it had been anyone else, the matter would not have been kept quiet, including the feminists and I, because they would... [+]


The festival is a hammer of poetry
Literature isn't dangerous at all, right?
The Azpiarra reading group has organized a poetry festival at the Gaztetxe in Vitoria-Gasteiz. In the workshops, talks, recitals and exhibitions, the topics discussed in the sessions held during the course have been exposed. “For a literature that hits the time” have... [+]

Lower Band created
A place to start from the bottom in literature
Does a young writer have space to train and develop skills? Can the writings circulate to prevent the drowsiness? Is it inevitable that the writer does the road alone? What literary circuits do we want? In the shadow of these questions, five young writers have created the Lower... [+]

2024-05-27 | ARGIA
Literature celebrates a weekend of Basque letters in Zarautz
From Friday to Sunday the Literaturia festival was held in Zarautz (Gipuzkoa) (B)egia. The organization pays tribute to the Booktegi website. They have released three shows, all created specifically for Literature.

2024-05-20 | Estitxu Eizagirre
These are Ziburu's 5. Books to be presented at the Basque Book and Record Fair
On 1 June the trade fair will take place in Basque organized jointly by the Baltsan and ARGIA association, and the fifth edition is very complete. This year there will be 41 of the oldest publishers in history, and in the program there will be an event to enjoy music and... [+]

2024-05-07 | Estitxu Eizagirre
The Ziburu Book and Record Fair honours Daniel Landart this year
The Baltsan de Ziburu association has presented the 5th edition of the book and album fair in Basque. There will be 41 publishers (most of the old ones), they will occupy 120 meters of exhibitors among all (most of the old ones) with reading and music in Basque and for half an... [+]

Josu Martínez: “The interesting thing is to enjoy Mirande, without having to agree with him”
This Thursday afternoon Mirande will offer in Ziburu, Baltsan, at 18:30 hours a draft documentary to make a film. The talk will be attended by the director Josu Martínez. Within the programme of the Ziburu Fair, cultural events will be held this year for the first time in the... [+]

2024-04-30 | ARGIA
Eneko Bidegain's novel 'Bichta éder' receives Academy Award 111
Compete in the final with the Capital Love of Karmele Jai. The political thriller of Bidegain’s “many curves” has been declared “the preferred book” of 2023 by the Academy 111 writers.

The most borrowed book last year in Basque, 'Bar Gloria' by Nerea Ibarzabal
In the libraries of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, 2.7 million loans were made in 2023, about 100,000 more than in 2018.

The wolf comes!

Human beings are so many narrative stories that the narrative capacity that you can say is one of the characteristics that makes us human. We need stories to build ourselves and reality, with special emphasis on the function of classic stories, or on the particular but timeless... [+]


Uxue Alberdi. Writing two decades (I)
From chair to chair, fly and Jenisjoplin, from throat opposite to store
On this occasion we will focus on the work of Uxue Alberdi. In this first article we will take into account stories, novels, essays and chronicles for adults. We will talk about anecdotes, stories, philosophy books and written verses illustrated in a second article.

2024-02-12 | Jakoba Errekondo
Castaño Indi Wars
Being in the hole is not the worst,” Manu said, “the worst is not knowing when it is going to leave us, or even if it is going to leave us. In the novel The Small War of Lander Garro, which narrates the plight of the refugees of a war, among their characters, Anna Frank.

Eguneraketa berriak daude