This week I did fieldwork. I left the motorcycle parked and walked to work with a single objective: to check how many bookstores I passed during this journey of just under three and a half kilometers through Barcelona's Eixample. Well, I have confirmed that it is perfectly or regrettably possible to go from the Sagrada Família to Catalunya Ràdio (Diagonal 614-616), without passing in front of any bookstore. Between Marina and Diagonal, Valencia street does not have a single damn bookstore. And, perhaps even more serious, the wonderful Diagonal, one of the main arteries of the city, does not have a single sad bookstore between Valencia and Beethoven, past Francesc Macià, with the exception of the one in the headquarters of the Diputación de Barcelona (Diagonal, 393). In fact, if I am not mistaken, in its eleven kilometers of length, Diagonal does not have any street-level bookstore, not counting, therefore, those inside shopping centers.
Since the legendary Áncora y Delfín (Diagonal, 564) closed its doors on February 18, 2012, no one has dared to reopen a bookstore on one of the main avenues of a city that proudly proclaims itself a City of Literature.
It may seem like a minor issue or a simple curiosity and, in fact, I admit that, literary symbolism aside, it is of relative importance that Diagonal does not have any bookstore, since around the corner there are quite a few and of great quality. However, this does not mean that how bookstores are distributed throughout the city is not relevant. Last year, coinciding with Sant Jordi, ACN published a very interesting data analysis based on the city council's bookstore directory that allowed for some substantial conclusions. The first, that ten of the twelve neighborhoods with the lowest income in the city did not have any bookstore. The second, that more income is not synonymous with more bookstores either. In fact, only half of the rich neighborhoods exceeded the average number of bookstores. In any case, the district that a year ago accumulated the most bookstores was the Eixample, with 110, followed by Ciutat Vella, with 50.
If one feels like reading, it is evident that they will not stop doing so because they do not have a bookstore next to their house. Spending an afternoon browsing books at Laie, Central, Ona, Finestres, Documenta, Nollegiu, Calders or any of the city's great bookstores, is well worth a walk. However, it is important that all neighborhoods have their own bookstores. Firstly, although it may seem stupid, to remind us that books exist. That the streets are full of shop windows with books is a way to promote reading, to make it present, I am convinced of it. Secondly, to promote zero-kilometer authors and, when I say zero-kilometer, I mean authors from the same neighborhood or the same street. As an author, I know how valuable it is for the neighborhood bookseller to talk about your book to your neighbors. And, thirdly, because bookstores are much more than stores that sell books. They organize reading clubs, children's workshops, presentations... They are a beacon and engine of culture.
In this sense, I enthusiastically applaud the recent opening in the Nou Barris district of Acció Perifèrica-Llibreria LGTBI i transfeminista (Francesc Bolòs, 28), by a young and brave resident of Torre Baró. José Antonio Martínez, may you have much luck and success!