Burning Bones

WINNER OF THE TRANSLATION PRIZE LABORAL KUTXA – ETXEPARE 2023
Miren Agur Meabes poetic language shades and heightens the pulse of her writing, [adding] sensuality to the wound she writes of. Her way of looking elevates her raw, sincere voice to higher ground... – Harkaitz Cano
Miren Agur Meabe writes with about quiet worlds with tenderness and attention to detail, in a very sensual, almost synaesthetic way. – Anna Blasiak, The Spanish Riveter
a riveting and immersive read. – Rhianon Holley, Buzz
In a series of short poetic narratives Burning Bones finds the writer on a remarkable journey of imagination, discovery and emotion.
We watch the gardener gather kindling to prepare a bonfire. So many branches, I tell Gwen. They look like a pile of bones... I have a feeling thats what Im doing too, carrying a bundle of bones from place to place. And I dont just mean the bones in my body.
From a flooded river stranding a dolphin on a sandbank to a sailor afraid to venture onto land while a first kiss is cut tragically short Meabe plays with the expectations and form of stories while offering a rhapsody of reflection and reinvention.
Expertly translated into English by Amaia Gabantxo – arguably the most prestigious contemporary Basque to English translator – Burning Bones is a companion piece to Miren Agur Meabes A Glass Eye, a collection of short stories that complement the universe of Meabes novel about absence as an engine for creation, about what we make out of the things we lose – her eye, in the authors case, or love, or the innocence of youth.