Bilbao - New York - Bilbao

Uribe returns to English-language readers after the 2007 poetry collection Meanwhile Take My Hand with a seamlessly digressive meditation on a writer’s family and Spanish history. The narrator, an author named Kirmen Uribe, reflects on his plans to write a novel based on his grandfather, Liborio, while en route from Bilbao to New York in 2008. Kirmen’s inspiration comes in part from the name of Liborio’s boat, Dos Amigos, which is something of a mystery given that Liborio had no friends. While on the plane, Kirmen recounts visits with his relatives and their stories of the Spanish Civil War, and of traveling to meet other writers. Further tangents include descriptions of his uncle’s work on a Basque dictionary, a fellow airplane traveler reminding him of a movie he enjoyed with his teenage stepson, and a story of an enslaved person shipped from the U.S. to Denmark to settle a debt in the 19th century. Uribe’s transfixing Sebaldian anecdotes take the reader down a series of rabbit holes and end up piecing together a memorable family portrait. It adds up to a powerful work of autofiction. Agent: Maria Cardona, Pontas Agency. (Aug.)