After the injection of collective joy that last April 23 brought, with books and roses invading the streets again, Barcelona will once again experience a book festival next week. Thursday, July 15, will be a day to reconnect with bookstores and enjoy the activities they organize in the afternoon, from presentations with writers to concerts. And the typical Sant Jordi stalls will not be missing.
The new festival, Llibrestiu, has been promoted by the Cambra del Llibre de Catalunya and has the support of the Conselleria de Cultura and the Barcelona City Council. Llibrestiu finds its origins in the good reception that the Sant Jordi celebration had last summer, when the outbreak of the pandemic made its organization impossible in April, explains the president of the Cambra del Llibre de Catalunya, Patrici Tixis.
But the sector had long wanted to establish another day that would serve as an excuse to go to a bookstore and was trying out how to do it. According to Tixis, the first experience was in October 2018, coinciding with the Bienal de Pensamiento, with La Nit de les Llibreries. About twenty establishments signed up to organize activities and extend their hours to welcome customers outside of usual hours.
Llibrestiu will be more similar to this 2018 pilot test, allowing extended hours until 11 at night, and not so much to the summer Sant Jordi, which lasted all day. The objective is to reclaim bookstores as cultural agents, Tixis emphasizes, by visiting them again in the evening and finding readings for the holidays.
In this new cultural event, more than a hundred establishments throughout Catalonia are expected to join, details the Gremi de Llibreters, which will post the complete list on its website in the coming days. In Barcelona, about 40 bookstores are expected to participate. Among them are Alibri Llibreria, Antinous, A peu de pàgina, Bolibloc, Gigamesh, La caixa d'eines, Lata Peinada, La Memòria Llibreria, Llibreria Documenta, Llibreria Calders and Llibreria Finestres. It will also be held in large establishments such as FNAC and Abacus.
Some of them still don't know what they will do, like Bolibloc, in Sant Martí, while others already have it clearer. This is the case of the bookstore A peu de pàgina, in Sarrià, which will organize a poetic cocktail and an open-air concert starting at 9:00 p.m., or Lata Peinada, in the Raval, which will feature the participation of several Chilean writers, such as Bruno Montané and Paulina Flores.
The Lliberia Gigamesh, in Paseo Sant Joan, has planned a presentation by writer and cartoonist Ricard Efa and a talk about comics in Catalonia, while Antinous, in L'Eixample Esquerra, will feature the columnist for The New Barcelona Post, journalist and writer Francesc Soler, who will present his new book, Barcelona demà o aquesta tarda. And La Memòria Llibreria, in Gràcia, will host a presentation by Joaquim Nadal about his book Girona 1939: porta de l'exili.
From Documenta, they wanted to organize a big party in Pau Claris, cutting off traffic and setting up a stage for poets and a rock band, but they haven't obtained the permits and will only be able to organize, according to one of their booksellers, Eric, a talk with writer and screenwriter Bob Pop and playwright Guillem Clua.