Julian Zabalbeascoa’s Basque upbringing, which included many visits to his father’s family home in Bizkaia, plays a crucial role in his debut novel, “What We Tried to Bury Grows Here.”
During visits with his grandmother in their village of Ibarranguelua, she shared her memories of the savage 1937 bombing of Gernika, a town just a short distance away. She saw the German military planes flying overhead and that evening watched red flames light up the night sky while Gernika burned.
Those stories led him to ask himself: What is it to be under assault when the rest of the world ignores you? In his book, he examines the lives of those who were fighting for the Spanish Republic, despite having been abandoned by the world’s democracies. (Buy the book from Amazon)
The author was impressed by the resilience of the Basque people during the Spanish Civil War, who refused to give up. “We find ourselves in similar conditions today,” Zabalbeascoa said, adding that he would like his book to convey a message of “shatterproof hope.”
The University of Massachusetts Lowell professor is currently on a West Coast book tour for his novel, which was published last November. Zabalbeascoa, who hails from Los Banos, California, has already done presentations in San Francisco and Monterey, California. Euskal Kazeta interviewed the author as he was driving to Reno, Nev., for a book presentation on April 18 at the Center for Basque Studies there.
“What We Tried to Bury Grows Here” has already picked up a favorable review by the New York Times and been nominated for a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, which will be awarded April 25.
During the week of April 21, he will be presenting his book in Santa Barbara, Bakersfield and Los Angeles, culminating with the Book Prize Awards Ceremony.
The novel came out one week after the November presidential election and Zabalbeascoa notes that it could have disappeared under the deluge of national news, but “thankfully it’s gotten some legs under it.” The author attributes the current success of his book to his publisher, Two Dollar Radio, an independent company that is more willing to give smaller books care and attention that bigger publishers would probably not do.
Zabalbeascoa is a staff member at the Honors College of UML and spends most of the school year in Boston, Mass. teaching humanities classes on topics related to the college’s study abroad program. During breaks and the summer, he leads student groups on four different trips. In winter, he takes groups to Cuba, for spring break he leads students in Madrid and Sevilla, Spain and in the summer he runs a popular program in San Sebastián in the Basque Country and Paris.
The professor said he was lucky to help start study abroad programs for UML in San Sebastián and Cuba in 2015, and he’s been leading student groups ever since.
Zabalbeascoa, who dreamed of being a writer since he was very young, is overwhelmed with gratitude over the success the book is experiencing. He is already working on his second book, which is set in San Sebastián in 1999, when ETA walked away from a ceasefire. He said he hopes to submit it for publication soon. The paperback version of his first book comes out in February 2026.
Tuesday, April 22
Annual Institute of Basque Studies Spring Symposium
Bakersfield, Calif.
5:30 p.m. Cal State Bakersfield’s Institute for Basque Studies is hosting its annual Spring Symposium. It will feature a presentation by the 2025 Frank Bidart Visiting Artist Gala Knörr and a talk by the writer Julian Zabalbeascoa, author of the novel “What We Tried to Bury Grows Here”
Gallery of the Historical Research Center
Walter S. Stiern Library, 2nd Floor
Cal State Bakersfield
9001 Stockdale Highway
Bakersfield, CA 93311
Friday, April 25
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Ceremony
Los Angeles, Calif.
7 p.m. Presentation Buy Tickets
Bovard Auditorium, USC Campus
3551 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA, 90089
Sunday, April 27
Panel on Historical Novels with author Julian Zabalbeascoa
Los Angeles, Calif.
10:30 a.m. Basque American Author Julian Zabalbeascoa whose much-celebrated book “What We Tried to Bury Grows Here” was nominated for the LA Times Book Prize speaks on a panel “The Old World is Right Behind You”
LA Festival of Books
Annenberg Auditorium
University of Southern California
