Literature has always been a focus of the Royal Academy of the Basque Language – the internal procedures approved in 1920 mention promotion of literature as one of its objectives. The Awards Committee was set up that same year, along with four other committees.
In 1958, Euskaltzaindia launched the Txomin Agirre novel prize and the Toribio Altzaga theatre prize. It organised the first poetry contest in 1959, and set up a series of essay prizes in 1979 following the death of Mikel Zarate.
The Azkue Library and Archive serves Euskaltzaindia. It is also open to all researchers and it aims to foster research and support the distribution of Basque cultural issues as far as it is able.