Barcelona wants to honor Carmen Balcells as she deserves. The deputy mayor of the City Council, Jordi Martí, announced this Tuesday during the Committee on Social Rights, Culture and Sport that the literary agent, who died in 2015, will have a place in the Catalan capital.
It is a newly created square that will be built in a space currently occupied by the intersection of Treball and Concilio de Trento streets, in El Clot. The chosen place, in front of the entrance of the new García Márquez library, is not accidental, since Balcells was a great friend and editor of the Colombian. In fact, the writer and journalist was one of the best known of the authors represented by the Catalan, who also did much to promote other writers, such as Pablo Neruda, Camilo José Cela, Mario Vargas Llosa or Vicente Aleixandre, all of whom received awards Nobel.
Martí has announced that this Tuesday afternoon, "the gazetteer commission will approve this decision" which, as he assures, "will favor the great lighthouse that is the García Márquez library." In fact, the deputy mayor has elevated this cultural center to the category of “neighborhood civil cathedral” and has described it as “one of the most beautiful in the city”.
“I am sure that both Carmen Balcells and Gabo would be very excited if you had to go through that square to go to the library”, Martí assured after offering details about this new point in the city, where they will take place civic activities.
