argia.eus
INPRIMATU
Eider Rodríguez's 'Bihotz handiegia' wins the Euskadi Prize
  • The book of stories Bihotz handiegia, by Eider Rodriguez, has been the winner of the Euskadi Prize awarded by the Basque Government. The jury chaired by Asier Serrano has highlighted the way in which the book analyzes "the character of the common and complex characters and their inner world".
Gorka Bereziartua Mitxelena @gorka_bm 2018ko urriaren 01
Eider Rodriguezek irabazi du Euskadi Saria (argazkia: Batiste Ezeiza).

This award is the second that Bihotz Handiegia won, since before, on Book Day, Rodríguez had already obtained the Euskadi Silver Prize awarded by the Library Association of Gipuzkoa.

The book, composed of six stories, was published at the end of 2017 by the editorial Susa (one of the last books edited by Gorka Arrese in that editorial) and attracted readers' attention because the situations presented in Rodríguez's stories can be as unknown as uncomfortable for many.

"I don't think the characters in the book are unusual, they're as rare and simple as everyone else. But maybe I caught them at a bad time or at a bad time," he explained to Lander Arretxe in an interview with ARGIA about the book.

In Donostia, Hendaia, Orereta... the stories of Bihotz handiegia occur in real places and that has also been a conscious decision of the writer: "It seems to me that there has been a tendency to flee from Basque literature: from people with names and surnames like ours, from people where people like us live... Alicia de Vancouver, Jack from where we do not know where... I wanted to make known people who have problems like ours with our names, in our villages. This realism attracts me a lot: this possibility of turning our misery into something else gives me pleasure."

Santos Zunzunegi and Yolanda Mosquera have also been awarded

In addition to the Basque literature prize, the Euskadi Awards have other categories. During these Monday, the winners of two of them have been known: in the Spanish essay section, by the book Under the Sign of Melancholy. Zunzunegui is known for her texts on film and her theme is the one she loves the most. The writer Bilbaina has analyzed how the concept of melancholy is manifested in the cinematographic manifestations of several countries of the world.

Yolanda Roque has been awarded the Euskadi Enlightenment Award for her illustrations in support of a Spanish-language edition of the book Roque txikia by the French writer Guy de Maupassant.