Josu Zabaleta wins the Euskadi Prize in Translation

2008 November 4
Josu Zabaleta wins the Euskadi Prize in Translation

EIZIE member Josu Zabaleta (Legazpi, 1948) was awarded the Euskadi Prize in Translation for his translation into Basque of Italian writer Gesualdo Bufalino's novel, Le menzogne della notte (Night’s Lies; Basque title, Gaueko gezurrak, published by Alberdania-Elkar in 2007).

This is not the first time Zabaleta has won the prize: he also won in 2001 for his translation of French writer Guy de Maupassant's collection of short stories, Contes fantastiques (Tales of Fantasy; Fantasiazko ipuinak).

Having studied philosophy at Louvain and Rome, Josu Zabaleta came early to translation and literature.

He was among the founders of the publishing house Hordago, in 1977. Later, from 1980 to 1991, he was on the faculty of the Martutene School of Translation. He is a founding member of EIZIE and the journal Senez, and was a member of the Council of the International Federation of Translators (FIT).

He worked as an editor of the Lur Encyclopedic Dictionary from 1991 to 2000.

He currently works for Rosetta Text Services.

His translations include the French writer Alphonse Daudet's Tartarin de Tarascon (Tartarin of Tarascon; Taraskoneko Tartarin, Lur, 1981), Italian writer Leonardo Sciascia's Il mare colore del vino (The Wine-Dark Sea; Itsaso ardo kolorea, Erein,1991), and Italian writer Pier Paolo Pasolini's Il sogno di una cosa (A Dream of Something; Gauza baten ametsa, Alberdania, 1998).

In addition to Zabaleta’s translation of Gesualdo Bufalino’s novel, Gaueko gezurrak, the following of his translations have been published as part of EIZIE’s Global Literature collection

• Guy de Maupassant’s Fantasiazko ipuinak (2000)

• Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Pilote de guerre (War Pilot; Gerrako pilotu, 2003)

• Luigi Pirandello's Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore (Six Characters in Search of an Author; Sei pertsonaia autore bila, 2003)

• Pio Baroja’s El árbol de la ciencia (The Tree of Knowledge; Jakintzaren arbola, 2006)

Josu Zabaleta is currently translating Brazilian writer Machado de Assis' novel, Dom Casmurro.