There are few spaces in Barcelona as literary as the Rambla and, even so, sometimes literature seems absent from the day-to-day life of the promenade. Of the up to twelve bookstores that had existed, only two remain, the musical Beethoven and the centennial Pompeia. The Xarxa de Viles del Llibre and the Amics de la Rambla have conspired to temporarily reverse the situation by turning Barcelona's promenade into a Vila del Llibre this weekend with a series of events, workshops and exhibitions, not to mention a publishing and old man on the Rambla de Santa Mònica.
The president of Amics de la Rambla, Fermín Villar, explained yesterday that they had been thinking of organizing such an event for years, because "the cultural and historical substratum of the Rambla is sometimes difficult to come to the surface", and the event will serve to give to get to know emblematic but unknown spaces such as the Bacardí Passage, which will be transformed into a space of memory with the memory of emblematic bookstores, a photographic exhibition of portraits of Xulio Ricardo Trigo and the installation of a poetic stage dedicated to Eduardo Mazo, the Poet of the Rambla. In addition, literature will be present in other spaces such as the Museu de Cera, the Museu Marítim, the Palau Güell and even the Tablao Flamenco Cordobés.
For the director of the Xarxa de Viles del Llibre, Enric Bono, "we Barcelonans deserve to return to the Rambla, because we have always had a very strong emotional connection", and for this reason they have wanted to design a concentrated program of activities, which allows enjoy and at the same time "can grow organically".
Acts of all kinds that include tributes to Joaquim Carbó –who will star in the opening table– or to Manuel Vázquez Montalbán and Domingo Villar –with a Galician connection to sponsor Pontedeume as the future Vila do Libro in Galicia–, poetry recitals – Esteve Plantada or Javier Cuho- , four literary routes, various family activities –with poetry, storytelling or a gymkhana–, or conversations about books –with authors such as Alfred Bosch, Jordi Basté and Marc Artigau, Marta Carnicero, Laura Anguera, Magí Camps or Clara Queraltó–. But there will also be workshops on both crafts and literary creation –in the El Ribot space, the former creation workshop of the Museu de Cera–. Everything, as Bono has insisted, to “demonstrate that the Rambla can once again be a literary walk”.
Catalan version, here
