Santi Vila says that Màrius Carol is a “joy”. He is also a man from Barcelona and a man from La Vanguardia. That is why it is not at all strange that he does not limit himself to giving a talk to present his new book. Historias de la canallesca (Libros de Vanguardia) entered society accompanied by a Monologue wine tasting at the Eurostars Grand Marina Hotel.
The attendees had a great time with this “cultural and gastronomic pairing”. The wine was liked, but Màrius liked it much more. He dazzled the respectable with endless anecdotes from when journalism was done with typewriters, because Historias de la rogue is about that, about the experiences (some distant and others recent) that the former director of La Vanguardia has starred in for almost half a century of career.
Carol, who has gone through El Ciervo, El Correo Catalán, El Periódico and El País, landed at La Vanguardia in 1988. She tells a story about when Jordi Pujol was her boss at El Correo Catalán and then she started laughing with that anecdote, already in the age of computers, of an unskilled spell checker who renamed Soviet Premier Yevgeny Primakov Permissive Vagina. "It was as if the correspondent had drunk all the vodka in the USSR."
He continues with an account of when Salvador Dalí was about to die in a fire and with stories of King Juan Carlos I, whom he accompanied on his travels, and while he tells them, he exhibits his acting skills, gesticulates and interprets to the delight of the public. . "I am proud to be a good person, because that is necessary to be a good journalist," concludes the author of Historias de la rogue, which is the "prelude" to his future memories.
The translators of the world are not lords of Barcelona. They come from Australia, Japan, Germany, Costa Rica and endless corners where the most diverse languages are spoken. They haven't seen each other for years due to the covid and now, finally, they have been able to meet in person thanks to the invitation of the Professional Association of Translators and Interpreters of Catalonia. For a week they have worked from sunrise to sunset but, like Carol, they also like to enjoy themselves and for that there is nothing better than spring in Barcelona and a good wine.
So on Wednesday night they have a little wine at the H10 Marina hotel, where they listened to the award-winning Austrian translator Margret Millischer and prepared their great meeting on Friday at the Gabriel García Márquez Library. Their claims are clear and indisputable: the translator's signature must appear on the covers of the books and publishers must hire these professionals as required by law and not covertly so that they can receive the copyright that corresponds to them.
Nothing better than music to accompany a good wine (with the permission of the French cheese). Malalletra plays at the Ona bookstore on Friday afternoon. All of its members are writers who have been recruited by drummer Lluís Llort to get them on stage. There is no wine, but there are some beers and the call is a great plan.
Francesc Bombí-Vilaseca, Salvador Masip, Miquel Adam and Jordi Boixadós are in charge of the guitars and little by little the audience gets up and starts dancing. The wonderful voice of Elisenda Roca helps a lot, which starts with a With or without you, and ends with a version of I will survive Marta Carnicero, who may be the next Nobel laureate because she assures that she writes better than she sings and It is true that he sings like angels.
