Whoever arrived early yesterday at La Vanguardia's Sant Jordi party will more than likely find Juana Dolores starring in a scene worthy of an Edward Hopper painting. The actress and writer, who has just published Requiem català, was waiting alone on a sofa for her companion while she savored everything that has been happening to her in recent months. “It is my first Sant Jordi as a writer and I feel happy to participate in what I consider the only Day of Catalonia, since it is the one that truly challenges the whole world,” she told La Vanguardia. An opinion shared by Carlos Zanón, who says that "the magic of this day, beyond the meeting with the readers, is that no one feels left out."
The company for Juana and Carlos arrived quickly. Some five hundred people came to the Alma hotel in Barcelona to kick off the book and rose festival. A meeting that Luz Gabás had been waiting for weeks, since “it is the meeting point for all authors. April 23 is the best day of the year, but we writers don't have a second to talk to each other. That's why I love being able to see all my friends today and meet those I admire so much."
She was not the only Planeta winner who walked around the terrace. Finalist Paloma Sánchez-Garnica spoke to several editors: "What I adore about this literary festival is the opportunity to see my stories from another perspective, that of the readers." An experience that Gemma Ruiz Palà describes as "extraordinary". The winner of the Sant Jordi 2022 award for Les nostres mares assures that she has a goal this Sant Jordi: “Be very aware of everything that happens and enjoy it to the fullest. What is happening to me is something that only happens once in a lifetime."
Who also had a target last night was Marta Carnicero. “I have come to meet Almodóvar and I am happy because I have achieved it. The other day he said publicly that he was impressed with my latest book, Matrioskas, and wanted to thank him personally. His response has been completely unexpected, since he has said that before coming here he has finished a chapter of Coniferous, my previous work. I think today is one of the happiest days I'm going to go to sleep. I am in a cloud ”, she recognized.
Dolores Redondo did not miss the party either. Like the filmmaker from La Mancha, the author of Waiting for the Flood (Destination) is one of the protagonists of the traditional photography of this year's newspaper. An experience that she has lived up to five times. "I was in the first, when I published the first novel in the Baztán trilogy, and the illusion remains the same," she admitted. Pilar Eyre also drew memories of her, who nostalgically recalled her first Sant Jordi. “I did not notify anyone from my family that I was signing and no one came to my booth. Since then I always announce where I will be”. Gemma Sardà has also done it. The author, who publishes Lady Puffin, claims to be "excited" to sign for the first time, along with the colleagues with whom she has written Les autòctones.
The vindication of the night came from the hand of Sergi Pàmies, who laments “the poison of competitiveness that permeates the day. We have to try to make that go away. Sant Jordi should not be a race. All reading is welcome.
Not even if this article had 3,000 more characters, it would be enough to name everyone present. Víctor del Árbol, Camilla Läckberg, Elísabet Benavent, Elvira Lindo, Ignacio Martínez de Pisón, Julia Navarro... Only a celebration like Sant Jordi could bring them together at the same time. A party that, according to Màrius Serra, "if someone wanted to invent it now, there would not be enough artificial intelligence to create it." How right.
