Clodagh Finn: Meet Mairin Mitchell — honoured abroad but unknown at home

In Guernica, Mitchell’s considerable presence and influence in the Basque Country is being explored in an exhibition that runs until February

Xabier Armendariz, curator of the Mairin Mitchell exhibition, which was organised by the Biscay provincial council; Euskal Herria Museum head Leire Irazabal; and Basque language, culture, and sports deputy Lorea Bilbao Ibarra.

If you happen to be passing through Guernica in the Basque country in Spain in the next few months, you might be taken aback to find that an Irishwoman, Mairin Mitchell, is the subject of a major exhibition at the Euskal Herria Museum. The writer, linguist, traveller, and geopolitical analyst is celebrated as “the Irish chronicler of the Basques”, yet she is hardly known at home.

To be fair, she wasn’t very well known there either until maritime historian and sailor Xabier Armendariz dedicated himself, “body and soul” as he put it, to rescuing her from obscurity. The result is a fascinating portrait of a woman who spoke several languages — German, French, Spanish, Russian, and Greek — and probably worked with the Allies as a translator during the Second World War.