Between champagne and roses. This is how two of the most anticipated international firms of the day spent Sant Jordi. On one hand, the restrained Han Kang, who only signed 100 copies —Korean style, very fast and efficient, without dedication or photo—, in a single session mid-morning in the garden of La Central del Raval bookstore. On the other, the indefatigable Amélie Nothomb, who spent the day accompanied by a glass and a bottle in a champagne bucket filled with ice during the four hours she dedicated to signing.
Kang, Nobel Prize in Literature 2024, one of the youngest to receive it (she is 55 years old), chose not to overdo it and was very selective. After her mass appeal at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) upon her arrival on Tuesday, where she gathered some 700 people in a talk on empathy with writer Mar García Puig, the Korean concentrated her presence at a single point and was delighted that the Sant Jordi festival combined books and roses, as she is a gardening enthusiast. Tinta y sangre (Ink and Blood), which is now published in Spanish and Catalan, was released in its original language between La vegetariana (The Vegetarian) (2007) and La clase de griego (Greek Lessons) (2011). Of the first, she has already sold some 80,000 copies in Spain, making her a bestseller. It was noticeable. She began signing at 11:30 a.m., escorted by her editor at Random, Albert Puigdueta, and the two interpreters who accompanied her, sisters Esther and Eun Jin. She handled it well.
Her readers were cautious and started queuing at eight in the morning to secure their spot. One girl had traveled from Ferrol solely to get her signature and that of Amélie Nothomb, who was presenting Psicopompo, her latest novel from Anagrama. The French author missed Sant Jordi last year due to falling off her bike the day before her arrival, and this year she made the most of it. She landed early in the morning, signed for four hours, divided into two shifts between morning and afternoon, without parting from her charming crystal glass, and planned to return to France on Friday on an early flight. “This festival should be exported worldwide,” she told the press, delighted.
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The post-pandemic period had seen a timid international presence at Sant Jordi for a few years, but this time there has been a noticeable increase in international writers. In addition to the Scottish Ali Smith, who acted as town crier advocating for the collective power of public libraries, American thriller author J. D. Barker and Swiss writer Joël Dicker were also seen signing.
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