Buenos Aires, Argentina. Without a doubt the news of Ekin Publisher’s revival was received happily by specialists in Basque studies, as well as by the community as a whole. The importance of the entity created in 1942, by Ixaka Lopez de Mendizabal and Andres Maria de Irujo y Ollo, is indisputable. Conceived as “a publisher to give clarity and tribune to all expressions of culture and the reality of the experiences of the Basque Country in such fateful moments (dictator general Franco was rulling Spain and persecuting the Basque language, culture and people), presented through their political and cultural references.”
Published titles and its beginning
In hopes of providing the deserved continuity of the great work that was begun in the middle of the last century, the process of revival and the search for collaborators began at the heart of the Publisher. In this way, the present director of Ekin, Maria Elena Etcheverry, widow of Andres Maria de Irujo y Ollo, worked with Xabier Irujo Amezaga and Mariana Fernandez Castelli, “whose support of the project I want to stress,” Etcheverry tells EuskalKultura.com.
“In exchanges with them ideas came out and also contacts and the possibility of new publications,” Etcheverry said. “The titles published at the end of 2015 were Contraviaje. De Nueva York a Gernika pasando por Berlín, by Arantxa Ametzaga, that will be presented next month in Euskal Herria; Martín Ugalde. Cartografías de un Discurso, by Larraitz Ariznabarreta, a Ph.D. thesis that was defended at the University of Mondragon that puts a value to the work and personal memory of Martin Ugalde, author and Ekin collaborator with his last work Unamuno y el vascuence; and History de Radio Euskadi, by Leyre Arrieta at the University of Deusto that talks about an issue linked to the communication of the Basque problem since the time of exile to today.” The above titles are available on Amazon.
Looking at 2016, they are in the process of publishing La Odisea de Xabiertxo. El Último Paquebote, by Koldo Ordozgoiti. “This work, and editorial treasure, gathers the history of the relationship between Basque on both sides of the ocean, Euskal Herria and Argentina, in one of the most dramatic moments in history of the life of the Basque people. The author points out that the text “demonstrates the continuity in Argentina of the cultural renaissance known as “Euskal Pizkundea” that was aborted by the war in Euskadi, through cultural institutions like Ekin itself (…) with the work that resulted to be indispensable to understand the evolution of the Basque culture in the 20th century.
In the words of Etcheverry, “With the publication of this work, Ekin feels honored to again “cherish” Xabiertxo.”
A little history
In seventy years, the trajectory of activity at Ekin hasn’t always been the same. Nevertheless, and as a way to fulfill the principal foundations of the publisher, hard work was done to have a presence in cultural spaces like in the Basque clubs, the Durango Book Fair, and the Buenos Aires International Book Fair. “As an example of this presence and continuity,” the director says, “the works published in the 90s, including Cristiano Bueno, by Horacio Aramburu, and Oro Velado. Interpretación de Relatos Mitológicos, by Luis María Etcheverry. Additionally the tribute paid to the published by the Durango Book Fair in 2001 was an important stimulus and networking opportunity that took place, among other things, with publishers that work with Txalaparta Publishing in 2005 and 2006.”
“It is important to remember, that even if over the last several years the publications were, for different and important contingencies, discontinues, we always hoped to publish and give Ekin presence. The life of the publisher has been linked form the beginning to the life of its managers and the cultural work in the life of Basque institutions. However, these contingencies that were not only economic, also affected its vitality. Ekin never was considered as a regular publishing business. That is why, in order to understand its organization one must clarify from the beginning that the work was done by creators and those who followed them to generate its own resources by gathering subscriptions.”
Over the 74 years of the publisher’s life, it has been very successful in its early stages, “not just because of the capacity of its founders, but because it responded to the necessity to transcend the limitations imposed by the situation and the happenings it he Basque Country after the war.” Then adverse situations made it impossible for the publisher to maintain constant activity. “Nevertheless, the quantity of titles and the quality of the authors still generate interest today and are requested,” Etcheverry explains. “In fact, the majority of its contents remain in force. All of this and the self-importance of the existence of Ekin, along with worked performed commits us to its continuity,” she concludes.
Except for its latest titles that can now be purchased on Amazon Ekin’s complete catalogue is available at the publisher’s headquarters located at Lizarraenea, México 1880, Buenos Aires. More information is also available on its blog.
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