The Catalan Book Week will celebrate its 40th edition from September 9 to 18, without - at least for now - restrictions and takes a step forward with the consolidation of the location in the Moll de la Fusta and an expansion of available space , with more than 250 exhibitors (206 publishing houses), more than 150 novelties and about 300 events. This was explained this Wednesday at the Ateneu Barcelonès by the president of the Week, Joan Carles Girbés, and the president of Editors. cat, Joan Abellà.
The maintenance of the week in the Moll de la Fusta is not a simple example of continuity, but rather represents a leap forward: the deputy mayor for Culture of Barcelona, Jordi Martí, has recalled that for many years the Setmana was looking for a central space to take advantage of passers-by, and this was precisely one of the obstacles that some exhibitors saw when it was forced to move due to the pandemic circumstances in 2020, first, and last September, still with restrictions. As Girbés explained, maintaining the location “for the first time of its own accord” shows that the meeting has become “the great festival of Catalan letters”.
For Abellà, “Catalan publishers are stubbornly stubborn and a bit rebellious”, and “we will try to inoculate a virus, but a benign one: reading, because “literature has been discovered as a refuge value and the book sector has imagination as a weapon” .
Girbés has also said that the proclamation of the Setmana will be given by the Premi d'Honor de les Lletres Catalanes, Antònia Vicens, and has announced the winners of the two awards: the Trajectòria for the writer and translator Joan Francesc Mira, and the Difusió a the director of the CCCB, Judit Carrera. Mira, who, convalescing from a surgical procedure, has not been able to attend, has assured in a text read by the director of Setmana, Cristina Domènech, that writers in Catalan "are neither worse nor better than the others," and that "no Literature is not obliged to publish good books every year. They will come”, but at the same time the quantitative leap that books have given has also allowed qualitative progress. At 82 years old, Mira will publish a new book in September, Quatre qüestions d'amor (Proa).
Carrera, for his part, thanked the Difusió award, which he extended to the CCCB teams, which he defined as "one more piece of a very lively and very rich ecosystem", from where they have worked to give impetus and projection to the books, and strongly defending not only books written in Catalan but also translation, “the paradigm of cultural exchange”. The cultural center will also participate with two events around mental health with two international authors, Daniele Mencarelli and Robert Kolker.
Among the novelties of the Setmana Girbés highlighted that some mornings will be dedicated to various groups: one focused on libraries (nearly one hundred will do the shopping for the season). One of the mornings it will host school groups, since this year the Setmana will take place with the course started, and more than 600 students from primary to high school have already registered. In fact, we wanted to influence their participation by reinforcing the children's and family program with many proposals and a differentiated space. And two days have also been devoted entirely to youth literature, with thematic activities (Japanese literature, technology, comics), workshops (one on manga and the other on erotic literature) and book presentations by phenomenon authors, whether they are tik-tokers or authors. very followed like Ana Polo or Joana Marcús.
And of course there will also be a party to celebrate the 40th anniversary.
Catalan version, here
