Xabier Lete

Xabier Lete Bergaretxe (Oiartzun, Gipuzkoa, April 5, 1944 - Donostia, December 4, 2010) was a Basque writer, poet, singer and politician. He started to write from an early age and he often published articles in the magazine "Zeruko Argia". In 1965 he created a band of Basque Music with Mikel Laboa, Benito Lertxundi, Joxean Artze, Jose Angel Irigarai and Lourdes Iriondo. The band, which was called "Ez Dok Amairu", disappeared in 1972, but Xabier Lete kept on singing with Lourdes Iriondo, who, by that time, had become his wife. In 1968, Lete published his first book of poems and in October 2009 he won the Basque Literature Award for his last book of poems "Egunsentiaren esku izotzak" (Frozen hands of the dawn). He received a hard blow in 2005 when his wife Lourdes died after an illness. In April 2009, Lete was made member of Jakiunde, the Basque Academy of Science, Art and Letters, and in 2010, he was named member of honor of the Academy of the Basque Language. Xabier Lete died that same year, on December 4, due to an serious illness and after stays in two different hospitals.