Bitter and Sweet

Patxi Zubizarreta

Bitter and Sweet

Alberdania 2007
146 Pages
Original title: Eztia eta ozpina
ISBN: 978-84-9868-400-1
Translated into: click here

It is the decade of the 90’s. Like many Maghrebians,  Selim leaves Morocco and goes to the blinding city of Paris. There is his Mecca. During his journey he will taste honey and live experiences as bitter as gall. Esther, a girl from Vitoria-Gasteiz, will bring the sweet flavour of honey, and the cruel reality of the Western World will be the bitter part. Three voices to tell Selim’s story; his own voice, Esther’s and that of a “mugalari”, a man who would help him cross the Basque-French border clandestinely at that time.

Patxi Zubizarreta

Patxi Zubizarreta was born in the Basque Country and lives in Vitoria-Gasteiz, where he finished his studies of Basque Philology. The Basque tradition -the roots- is present in Urrezko giltza (The Golden Key) —a work included in the IBBY Honour List— and in a book about the Spanish Civil War, Hiru gutun Iruñetik (Three letters from Pamplona). This topic was reflected in his performance titled Ants, horses, elephants at the Bologna Children´s Book Fair in 2015. Different types of journeys and migrations —the wings— are also shown in Zubizarreta´s prizewinning pieces like Usoa and Korri, Kuru, korri! (Xia Tenzin´s Wonderful Journey), a theme reflected in his performance titled Flying Over Paper at the IBBY congress in London. His translated piece from French to Basque, Le Petit Prince (Printze Txikia & The Little Prince) is also on the Honours List.

Patxi Zubizarreta