Harkaitz Cano
(Spain, 1975)   
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Harkaitz Cano

Harkaitz Cano (Lasarte, 1975) studied law at the University of the Basque Country. He debuted at age 19 with the collection Kea behelainopean bezala (Like smoke in low-hanging mist). A former member of the poetry collective ‘Lubaki Banda’ he belongs to the first generation of Basque writers for whom writing in Basque isn’t a political statement but a matter of course.

Cano’s extensive oeuvre is characterized by exceptional versatility. As well as the poetry collections, Norbait dabil sute-eskaileran (Someone’s on the fire escape, 2001), Compro oro (I buy gold, 2011) and Malgu da gaua / Flexible is the night (2014), he has also written stories, essays and a number of successful novels (Beluna jazz, 1996; Pasaia blues, 1999; Belarraren Ahoa, 2006; Twist, 2011).
He is also known for his columns on Basque radio, and he has written television scripts, children’s books and, more recently, graphic novels (Black is beltza, 2014). He often works with other artists. He has also translated books by Hanif Kureishi, Paul Auster and Allen Ginsberg into Basque.

As a poet, Cano is a very precise, empathetic reporter of reality, with much attention paid to small things and the fragility of mankind. He is keen to point out the harshness and cruelty of everyday human actions, but packages this with a tender, redeeming irony so that it never becomes preachy.

Cano’s regards things through all kinds of cultural filters, and there are plenty of references to both the art world and pop culture. This is evident in poem titles such as ‘Mayakovsky’s staircase’ and ‘Sylvia Plath’s cousin’ in Norbait dabil sute-eskaileran (Someone’s on the fire escape), or ‘Germanio, anno zero’ and ‘Tsjechov vs. Yahoo’ in Compro oro (I buy gold). And in his most recent collection Malgu da gaua (Flexible is the night), a collaboration with pianist Arkaitz Mendoza, Cano is inspired by Chopin’s Nocturnes. Cano’s poems have been translated into English and Dutch (Iemand loopt op de brandtrap, 2013).

© Luk Van Mensel (Translated by Michele Hutchison)

Bibliography

Poetry
Kea behelainopean bezala (Like smoke in low-hanging mist), Susa, Zarautz, 1994
Norbait dabil sute-eskaileran (Someone’s on the fire escape), Susa, Zarautz, 2001
Alguien anda en la escalera de incendios (Spanish edition of the above), El Gaviero, Almería, 2008
Compro oro (I buy gold), Huacanamo, Barcelona, 2011
Iemand loopt op de brandtrap / Norbait dabil sute-eskaileran (bilingual Dutch-Basque edition), Zirimiri, Amsterdam, 2013
Malgu da gaua / Flexible is the night (bilingual Basque-English edition), Etxepare Institutua, San Sebastián, 2014

 




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