When Liborio Uribe found that he was going to die, he wanted to see a painting once again by Aurelio Arteta, his wife’s father. Uribe had spent his entire life at sea, like his son José, living out unforgettable adventures which actually later fade into obscurity. Years later, faced with the same painting, Liborio’s grandson Kirmen, a writer and poet, uses these family stories to write a novel.
Bilbao-New York-Bilbao takes place during a flight to New York and tells the story of journeys of three generations of the same family. The key to the book is Liborio’s fishing boat, named ‘Dos Amigos’: who are these two friends, and what is the nature of their friendship?
Through letters, diaries, emails, poems and dictionaries, it creates a mosaic of memories and stories that combine to form a homage to a would that has almost disappeared, as well as a hymn to the continuity of life. A novel, it is also a reflection on the art of writing, and lies between life and fiction.