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Read Awkward Silence by Pello Lizarralde

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Pello Lizarralde

His is a minimalist prose that plays with silence, that knows how to create a truly strange atmosphere. And in the recently published novel Larrepetit (2002) we find the characters fleeing in endless comings and goings. The reader will soon note that few things happen in Lizarralde's stories and that he inevitably draws the attention of the narrator to gestures, smells, colors and ordinary motions of almost epiphanic meaning. Making use of descriptions of great lyrical force, raising the objectives of different methods of storytelling to new pinnacles, the atmosphere, the internal life is dominant in Lizarralde's narrative. The same talent for creating moods that he showed in his book Sargori (1994, Sultry Weather) is present in this work as well.'

M.J. Olaziregi in An Anthology of Basque Short Stories, Center for Basque Studies, Reno, 2004.
I was born in Zumarraga in 1956. Most of the people there had just recently abandoned their scythes and hoes. Our father became a truck driver. I've spent many hours on the highway and on trains. I've had some crazy dreams, but never that I would be a "professional writer.

The magazines Zeruko Argia and Argia gave me the opportunity to write and learn, and the magazine Ustela gave me the opportunity to publish. I have since published six books - Sargori (Heat Wave) in 1994 and Un ange passe: Isilaldietan (An Angel Passes: In Moments of Silence) in 1998 -- and I don't know what to say about what I've written. My life would be lessened if I were forced to give up writing, but it would be unbearable if I had to give up reading.

I have come across some very kind people among Basque writers and lovers of literature, but I have few kindred spirits among them.

Hearing people say that I'm a writer embarrasses me less than it used to do. I want to continue writing, but I'm not in any hurry.

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