The Festival stave of honour will be awarded to 2 Basque and international literature creation references in 2023, namely, Anjel Lertxundi and Cristina Rivera Garza. In addition to the honorific distinction, the award acts as carte blanche for their participation and involvement in the programme of next year’s edition, where they will be guests of honour and the hosts of other authors, discourses and programmes.

Cristina Rivera Garza

Novelist, poet, storyteller and essayist, Cristina Rivera Garza is one of the most relevant voices in contemporary Mexican literature and the only author who has twice received the International Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Award. Founder of the Spanish Creative Writing Doctorate at Houston University, her works include titles such as “La cresta de Ilión” (Editorial Tránsito, 2020), a disturbing story that shows how violence impacts on bodies, questioning the limits of what is real and gender markers. Her latest book, “El invencible verano de Liliana” (Random House, 2021), has won the 2021 José Donoso Iberoamerican Literature Award in Chile and the Xavier Villaurrutia Award in Mexico. The book tells us the story of Liliana Rivera Garza, a victim of femicide, murdered by her partner at the age of 20. Narrated through her sister’s voice, this book recalls memories and seeks justice for her and all female victims.

Anjel Lertxundi

Anjel Lertxundi, author of over 50 works which include novels, essays and children and young adult literary works, is a reference in Basque literature. He is a writer, literary critic, journalist and scriptwriter among whose works stand out the novel “Otto Pette” (Las últimas sombras) (Alberdania, 1994), which was finalist in the 1994 narrative category of the National Literature Award.
He was granted the 2010 National Essay Award for his work “Eskarmentuaren paperak” – (Life and Other Questions, 2010), and is twice winner of the Basque Literature Award, namely for “Hamaseigarrenean aidanez” (1983) in 1983 and “Argizariaren egunak” (Days of Wax, 1998) in 2001. He also received the National Critics’ Award in 1983 and 1991, and won the Basque Children’s Literature Award for his novel “Haltzaren muinoa” (Elkarlanean – Elkarargitaletxea, 2020) in 2021. In recognition of his literary career he was granted the Rosalía de Castro Award. His most recent publications are “Itzuliz usu begiak” (Sombras en el espejo, 2019) and “Desertuan Behatxuloa” (Alberdania, 2022).