40th anniversary of the "Pott group"

Forty years ago, Bernardo Atxaga, Joxemari Iturralde, Joseba Sarrionandia, Ruper Ordorika, Jon Juaristi and Manu Ertzilla came together in Bilbao and created what they called the "Pott Group", a literary group that wanted to become a publisher, in addition to putting out 6 issues of a literary magazine of the same name.

As Iñigo Astiz told in the newspaper Berria (in Basque), they declared their intentions in the first issue of their magazine: Editoriale bat egiteko bildu gara Bilbaon Pott bandakook. Legioan bezala ez diogu elkarri eskatu curriculum vitaerik, afalondotako patxadaz hasi gara ekinean (...) Bihen bitartean, hau bezalako panfletoen bitartez jakinen duzue gutaz. Hitz bat oraindik: editoriale bat ez da beti sortzen plangintza kulturalaren hutsuneak betetzearren. Ez gaude horri begira. Begira gaude begira goiko kamino berrira, esan nahi baita, ez gaudela inori serbitzeko geure buruak argitzeko baino. Mekaben Pott. ("The Pott Group have come together in Bilbao to set up a publishing house. Like the legion, we didn't ask each other for résumés, we just started it up after agreeing to it at dinner. (...) In the meantime, you'll hear about us through pamphlets like this one. One final thing: a publishing enterprise is not always created to fill in gaps in cultural programming. We are not looking down that path. We are looking down a new path; in other words, we’re not here to serve anybody, we're here to clarify our minds. Mekaben Pott".)

The Pott Group’s endeavor only lasted 3 years, but it was enough to revolutionize the history of Basque literature and it has become an essential point of reference for understanding the current literary scene. The group managed to synchronize the clock of Basque literature with that of world literature.