The third edition of the literature festival organized by the Azpimarra readers' group kicks off this afternoon at 5:00 PM at the Gasteiz Gaztetxe. The event will run until Saturday evening, with a comprehensive program prepared for attendees.

The collective describes itself as "busy readers," reflecting their collective response to the difficulty of finding quality reading time amidst hectic lives filled with work and studies. "Azpimarra arises from an impossibility or frustration, from wanting to read more but not being able to," explains a group member, highlighting that the collective aims to motivate each other and foster a passion for reading.

Reading in a group, despite being an individual activity, allows them to extract more from books and engage in political and other discussions. "Each person highlights different things in the book from their perspective, or different things catch their attention. We find that when we come together, with the perspectives each person brings, we all return home with the feeling of having reread the book or having gotten much more out of it," they state.

This year, the festival will span two days. Friday will feature writing workshops on fables and video poetry, followed by an open mic poetry session and a concert by the group Xak. Saturday will include bertzos, a round table discussion on short story writing with Harkaitz Cano and Eider Rodriguez, a performance by singer-songwriter Aner, a poetry event titled "Zuzenean teilatutik" (Live from the roof), and the debut concert of the group Koimbra.

Beyond the program, the festival promises a good atmosphere, political activism, and space for reflection, as well as a meeting point for enjoyment. The goal is to create a community for literature enthusiasts and offer events that are attractive to everyone, "we want to create a comfortable atmosphere for everyone, without pedantry," they emphasize.

The festival's name, "Poetry is a hammer," proclaims literature's capacity to transform the world. The group believes that "committed literature is necessary in the face of today's violent world," and to counter the discrediting of political art, they look to the figure of Gabriel Aresti as a reference.