Every year, in one way or another, I go to the Fira del Llibre en Català. Sometimes, because I have to sign or give a talk. Other times, because I like to go see who is signing and who is giving talks. To buy some expensive and beautiful edition from Adés i Ara. To see what is published for children. To get that cardboard shelf they give you (or used to give you, I don't know if they still do) depending on how much money you spend on purchases.
This year it has been held in Port Vell, a location that I don't quite like: it's very hot, there's no shade, and walking there is not appealing. Walking under the sun between the stalls makes you go fast. I liked it when it was in the Drassanes, indoors, and if we're going to change, I also liked it more when it was in La Catedral, where "you would stumble upon it" and where everyone is already very used to fairs being organized there, like the nativity scene fair at Christmas.
This weekend I went for a walk with my friends and their children, to say hello to another friend, who is there with her independent publishing house: Les hores. She shares a stand with those from Llegir en català. It's Maria Sempere. We met by chance. One day, at a bus stop, a stranger gave me one of her books, Historia de un matrimonio, by the Norwegian Geir Gulliksen, assuring me that I would love it. And so it was, and so I proclaimed it, as I always do when I like something: I want everyone to benefit from the good news. I will never keep to myself the name of a good unknown restaurant, a curious bar, a minority artist, because I precisely like that what I like becomes very popular and everyone enjoys it.
Anyway, Maria Sempere, seeing my appreciation for the book, asked me if I wanted to introduce the author, who came to Barcelona, and I, delighted, said yes and we did it at Laie. If I tell you that Historia de un matrimonio is about love, perhaps you won't want to read it. Well then, it's better if I tell you that it's a novel, very Norwegian, about "non-love." This book, and all the others published by Les hores publishing house, has made Maria become my friend (I always become friends with those I admire). Like the protagonist of the novel, Maria, with me and with the friends with whom we visit the fair, we go running in the mountains regularly. Often, while running, we talk about books.
When we arrive at the fair, on one of the stages there is a small tasting of the show Ovidi 25, a concert that pays tribute to Ovidi Montllor, who died 25 years ago. The recital is performed by the quartet formed by David Caño, David Fernández, Borja Penalba and Mireia Vives. David Fernández, the former Cup deputy, who here plays the guitar and sings, says ---and I agree--- that "Ovidi is the Leonard Cohen of the Països Catalans". But since we are with small children, we don't linger much in front of the stage: they are playing, at this moment, the beautiful Homenatge a Teresa, which contains a spoiler about the Christmas spirit. I translate:
She told us where we came from
And that the Three Wise Men
Did not exist...
Neither wolves nor spirits.
My daughter, when she was little, one day we were in the car and heard Catalunya Música she told us: "You always say this song is beautiful and every time it plays you turn it off! Why?". It was because of that.
María comes out of the stall and greets us, flushed. "It's roasting in here," she says. And she refers to the heat. While she talks to us, a colleague sells her the books. Today for you, tomorrow for me.
We don't linger long because the sun is scorching, but then, when we have already left, it will start to rain. It is difficult for most people to go to the fair in these conditions. It would be about making it comfortable and modern, with spaces for children and young people, with more areas for drinks or food, with spaces to be able to read. Why should I go to the fair and not to a bookstore? Because there will be experiences, colleagues, readers, sofas, shade, wine... Maybe I'm getting old, but I remember it so full of people, the Drassanes fair...