Inma Rubiales never liked going to the conservatory. “I skipped classes and went to the library to spend the afternoon, which was next door.” There she discovered a world that captured her and that is her life today: literature. “I would borrow a book, read it, and at night, before leaving, she would return it and I would go home with a new one.” Over time, despite being only eight years old, she decided to write her own in her stave notebook. “I gave it to the librarian in case anyone wanted to read it.”
He didn't pay much attention to it but, now, the center is full of his works. And Rubiales has become one of the most read authors of youth and young adult literature in Spain. This weekend she will be one of the headliners of the Crush Festival, a new literary event that was born in Barcelona and that aims to bring together the youngest readers at the University of Barcelona, on the Gran Vía de les Corts Catalanes, this weekend.
Young adult, or YA, translates as 'young adults', that is, readers from 14 years old and up, as it is also very popular among adults. The protagonists are, as a general rule, teenagers, and the stories are usually romantic, fantastic, or sometimes even youthful dystopias. Tomás Casals, director of Bookish and main promoter of this event, explains to La Vanguardia that there was a void in Spain in terms of large-format literary events for this audience. “We cannot ignore this literature and these readers, because they represent a very important segment within the book sector and the growth, driven by social networks, is brutal.”
Instagram, YouTube and TikTok are the networks that most promote reading among young people. The latter grew exponentially after the pandemic when, during confinement, many people turned to new forms of entertainment. The publishing sector began to profit from this after BookTok, the trend of recommending books that sweeps the Internet, and booktokers, who practice it, emerged naturally. “The networks have created a more personal bond model between author and reader, different from what we were used to until now.”
There are many who, through these platforms, are already telling their followers about the new festival that is about to be born in the city. “It is no coincidence that it is in Barcelona, a city that has become a publishing and book capital for many years, not only because of Sant Jordi, but because of everything that is happening here. Something big was missing for this audience,” claims Casals, who establishes approximate ages of between 15 and 30 years, which coincides with the section with the largest reading population in Spain, according to the Barometer of Reading and Book Purchasing Habits in Spain 2023. , which was published in January by the Ministry of Culture.
“They deserve to have a Primavera Sound of literature. In fact, the event is designed to be that way.” The activities demonstrate this, as they range from a great literary party with music and authors at the Estació de França "for which all tickets have been sold out", to book exchanges, cosplay, podcast workshops and personalization of books. books or literary matches, so you can pair up (not in romantic terms, necessarily) with someone with similar reading tastes.
Nearly fifty national and international authors, such as Adalyn Grace, Rebeca Stones, Mercedes Ron or Inma Rubiales herself, will attend this event, which is intended to be annual. “This is not going to stop growing and we hope that in the coming years more young adult festivals will grow in our country and in Europe. "We also do not rule out, if this first edition goes well, planning others in different cities," predict the organizers, who say that more than 2,000 tickets have already been sold and that they are close to being sold out.
Another of the event's strong points are the pitching workshops so that new authors can present their works to publishers. In the end, says Laia Zamarrón, editor of Karen M. McManus – another star guest of the weekend – “festivals provide a meeting place.” She also celebrates this new initiative, as it will allow “to highlight the very high quality of this literature” and that it is carried out mainly by women.
This last point is something that Casals claims: “Literature has vindicated the role of female authors in recent years. Not so long ago, many were forced to use pseudonyms to publish. We are facing a contrary literary genre and phenomenon, in which it is they, both authors and readers, who are one step ahead." The test of cotton is the long lines that form to meet them, “up to ten hours. That's why I'm glad that female readers are pushing to have their own space. “They got it!” concludes Rubiales.
