The Associació d'Editors en Llengua Catalana has the preparations ready for the 40th edition of La Setmana del Llibre en Català, which returns for the third consecutive year to the Moll de la Fusta in Barcelona. From September 9 to 18, Port Vell hosts one of the most important literary events ---with all due respect to the Sant Jordi festival--- and which serves as the kick-off for the new cultural season.
After two years with a more modest format due to health restrictions caused by covid, it will bring together readers, authors, publishers, booksellers, and librarians around a program of 300 activities, ranging from exhibitions to talks and presentations of the latest literary releases. Dubbed by its organizers as "a great celebration of Catalan letters," this year its celebration will coincide with the centenary of an essential figure, Joan Fuster.
In previous editions, the event was organized in the most central and crowded areas of the city, such as, for example, Plaza Catalunya or Avenida de la Catedral. This was done because it served to attract the largest number of people, just as it was a good way to sell more. Even so, its organizers consider that the decision to have the Moll de la Fusta definitively be the place where its celebration should be established is "unequivocal proof that La Setmana is a festival with all the luxury of details."
La Setmana del Llibre en Català is still a pretext for promoting and disseminating reading in Catalan. It is for this reason that the organization takes the opportunity to reward those organizations or institutions that work for the normalization of Catalan in civil society.
The 2022 Diffusion award will go to Judit Carrera, director and visible face of all the work behind the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), "for her tireless work in recent years, generating reflection and debate around various social issues of interest where books and publishers are a decisive part," according to the jury.
For more than twenty years, the CCCB has organized the Kosmopolis literary festival and has carried out an infinite number of projects linked to Catalan literature, such as, for example, exhibitions focused on themes such as novecentismo and literature from exile, or figures such as Pere Calders, Salvador Espriu and, more recently, Ramon Llull ---who has traveled all over the world---. It has also organized tributes to Maria Mercè Marçal, Montserrat Roig, Gabriel Ferrater, Víctor Català and, soon, to Mercè Rodoreda.
A second award will be presented to the writer Joan Francesc Mira (València, 1939) in recognition of his career in Catalan literature, where novels such as Borja Papa (Joan Crexells Award 1997 and National Critics' Award 1998) and Purgatori (Sant Jordi Award 2002) stand out, among many others.
La Setmana will feature for the first time internationally successful authors, such as Ken Follett, who will converse via streaming from the United Kingdom with journalist Mònica Terribas; or Tatiana Tibuleac, Moldovan author of The Summer My Mother Had Green Eyes, who will be interviewed by journalist Anna Guitart.
La Setmana will feature for the first time internationally successful authors such as Ken Follett or Tatiana TibuleacThe event will host several thematic sections for all tastes and ages: from events linked to nature or the rural world, with the presence of the acclaimed filmmaker Carla Simónand the screenwriterArnau Vilaró, authors of the bookAlcarràs; passing through debates on the Catalan language and history, or talks on theater and classical literature; up to a special program for children, teenagers, and families.
This year's edition increases its literary and cultural commitment, and hopes that it will be reflected in the number of visitors, with a slightly higher estimate than in 2019, with the attendance of around 50,000 people and half a million euros in turnover.