The book sector closes the year with the best results of the last decade

With the lockdown, many readers who never had time to immerse themselves in a book returned to their stories, while others reconciled with them. Books thus regained part of their cultural prominence, competing head-to-head with the movies and series that could be watched from the sofa.

Many months later, this trend continues and the book sector is experiencing one of its best moments in recent years. If in 2020 it closed the year exceeding the previous year's sales; this year, turnover will grow by more than 15% across Spain and around 8% in Catalonia, according to the Gremi d'Editors de Catalunya.

"It will be the best year of the last decade," states its president, Patrici Tixis. Still far from the figures recorded by the book sector before the 2008 crisis, the Gremi d'Editors is committed to investing in finding more readers and digitizing the sector to ensure that this growth trend continues when the pandemic is over. The president of the Gremi d'Editors insists on the need to promote a State Pact for Books and Reading that allows increasing the reading index in the medium and long term in Spain, which is below the surrounding countries. He also advocates allocating European funds to modernize the value chain.

2021 has also been characterized by the recovery of major events that are annually celebrated around books, such as Sant Jordi, the Setmana del Llibre en Català, or Manga Barcelona. Despite the restrictions, all of them have exceeded expectations, with an April 23 that filled the streets after a year without giving away roses and books, or a Manga convention that sold out all tickets in just one day. This year has also seen the emergence of new literary events, such as Llibrestiu, a book festival in mid-July where local bookstores, the great allies during the lockdown, organized outdoor presentations or concerts, taking advantage of the good weather.

36th Nit de l'Edició

The Gremi d'Editors celebrated this Monday the 36th Nit de l'Edició, recovering the in-person format. Hand in hand with writer Eduardo Mendoza, the theater company Tricicle received the Atlàntida award, a recognition that the association of publishers has been presenting since 1986 to people or entities that defend and promote culture. Another of the awards presented was the Fernando Lara Memorial, a recognition for young entrepreneurs or new business initiatives in the book sector, which went to the Lleida bookstore El Genet Blau. Likewise, publishers Alpina and Edhasa were recognized for their 75th anniversary, and Artigal Ediciones, Cossetània Ediciones and Ediciones Librería Universitaria for their 25 years.