Joan Errea papers

Joan Errea (1934-2016), born Paris, was born in Ely (Nevada) in a Basque shepherds family. Both her parents, Arnaud Paris and Marie Jeanne Goyhenetche, were born in the Basque region of Lower Navarre and migrated to the American West, where they met and married. When Joan was born, the family still spent most of the year in a shepherding wagon, looking for the flock. Later, the family settled south of Ely and, finally, near Winnemucca. Here Joan learned English (Basque was family language), attended high-school and married to Louis Errea. Her father's death soon after arriving in Winnemucca, deeply impacted Joan's life and literary work, due to her close relationship with Arnaud who taught Joan to write poetry.

After retiring in 1998, Joan started to write, authoring several books and publishing two: My Mama Marie and A Man called Aita. Errea's writing is focused on family relations and the Basque shepherding experience in Nevada.