If one enters a bookstore and starts looking at how many titles are published in Barcelona, they will be greatly surprised to see that there are more than they expected. The major publishing houses that are always talked about, such as Seix Barral, Tusquets, Destino, Lumen, Salamandra, or Bruguera, have their headquarters in the Catalan capital, within the Planeta or Penguin groups. But so do independent imprints like Anagrama, Blackie Books, Libros del Asteroide, Acantilado, Navona, Alrevés Editorial, Garbuix Books, or H&O Editores.
All this without forgetting those that publish in Catalan, big and small, with some names like Edicions 62, Proa, Empúries, La Campana, La Magrana, Rosa dels Vents, Edicions del Periscopi, L'Altra Editorial, Club Editor, Quaderns Crema, Raig Verd, or Males Herbes. Among many more. Barcelona is an editorial capital, not only of Catalonia, but also of the rest of Spain, and has influence throughout Latin America, as became clear with the famous Latin American boom that attracted names like Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Julio Cortázar here, with the essential contribution of literary agent Carmen Balcells, but it also continued to do so later with the magnificent Roberto Bolaño and more current writers who now reside here, such as Rodrigo Fresán.
A powerful ecosystem that makes these literary interactions between Barcelona and the world possible, configuring a strong sector that covers the entire value chain, from literary agencies and publishing houses, through distributors, and reaching bookstores. Against this backdrop, local talent finds more ways to get their manuscripts out, more opportunities for their books not to be forgotten in the infinitude of titles constantly being published, a game of chance in which having the maximum number of possible cards adds a lot.
Much is published and, furthermore, much is read. Before the pandemic, a reading expansion began to be experienced that consolidated with the rediscovery of books during confinement, causing the book sector to experience years of bonanza ever since. So much so that in 2021 the book sector closed its best year in the last ten years, results that, despite the difficulties, have been moderating but have continued to increase year after year. According to the latest available data, from 2023, the publishing sector generated more than 2,720 million euros throughout Spain, with Catalan publishing houses taking 53%, with more than 1,440 million euros.
All of this will be discussed in the next session of the Moments Estel·lars cycle, organized by The New Barcelona Post with the collaboration of Casa Seat, Barcelona Global, Must Media Group and Giny Barcelona. Under the title Barcelona, literary capital, the session will analyze the power of the Catalan capital within the publishing sector, identify its main agents and look towards a future in which neither ebooks nor audiobooks seem to overshadow something as rudimentary as turning pages.
The talk will be held next Monday, November 4, starting at 6:30 p.m. at Casa Seat and will feature the president of the Gremi del Llibre de Catalunya, Patrici Tixis, and the editor of Periscopi, Aniol Rafel, moderated by journalist Toni Aira. To attend this event organized by The New Barcelona Post as an audience member, it is essential to reserve a ticket in advance. To get one, completely free of charge, click here.
Tixis (Sarrià de Ter, 1961), corporate communication director of the Planeta group, is at the head of the business association that brings together Catalan publishers, responsible for representing and defending the interests of the collective, but also presides over the Cambra del Llibre de Catalunya, a sectoral entity that represents the entire book chain. That is why he is a well-known face when Sant Jordi arrives, with the Cambra del Llibre, together with the administrations, being responsible for planning the book and rose stalls, concentrated in recent years around a large literary super-block throughout Paseo de Gràcia.
But Tixis arrived in the publishing sector after many years working as a journalist in media outlets such as El Punt, the Diari de Barcelona and La Vanguardia. A graduate in Business Administration and Management from IESE, he left journalism in 1999 to join the Winterthur group as communications director. A few years later, in 2001, he joined Planeta, the main publishing group in Spain and Latin America.
For his part, Rafel (Barcelona, 1977) founded the independent publishing house Edicions del Periscopi in 2012, with the aim of "selecting and editing for the Catalan reader contemporary works that stand out for their literary value, as well as acting as a link between important narrative voices and readers who seek a reference that provides them with the security of a gratifying and fulfilling reading experience in Catalan." Previously, he had worked as a bookseller, professional reader, style and orthotypographic corrector, translator, editor, and literary director.
Since the birth of Periscopi, the imprint has consolidated itself as one of the most popular within the literary scene, obtaining awards such as the Premi Llibreter ---seven times---, the Premi Òmnium for the best novel of the year with Aprendre a parlar amb les plantes by Marta Orriols or the Premi Crexells with Gegants de gel by Joan Benesiu. In 2016, he was awarded the Fernando Lara Memorial, granted by the Cambra del Llibre de Catalunya, in recognition of the professional career of a young entrepreneur in the book sector.