Everything indicates that this Sant Jordi will once again be a splendid day, with the streets of Barcelona and other Catalan cities full of book and rose stalls, with the usual crowds strolling under a radiant sun, according to all forecasts. If the Sant Jordi proclamation at the Barcelona City Council is considered the prelude to the festival, what set the tone this year was the vigorous defense of public libraries made by the Scottish writer Ali Smith: “libraries are so powerful that they enrage tyrants,” she intoned in a Saló de Cent full of people from the cultural sector, in an event organized since 2003 by Bibliotecas de Barcelona.
The book festival arrives with novelties, especially in Barcelona regarding its location. Paseo de Gràcia and its surroundings will continue to be the epicenter of the festival, but this year, due to works, the emblematic Rambla will be temporarily lost. All the stalls that usually set up in this location will be moved to the more commercial center: Portal de l’Àngel, Plaça Nova, and the Cathedral square, reaching Via Laietana. Thus, the typical image of the Rambla invaded by a human tide will not be possible.
The large pedestrian island formed in Barcelona will increase, reaching 3.7 kilometers of book and rose stalls in a line. 425 will be set up in seven districts of the city, with Eixample being the busiest with 243 stalls, while Ciutat Vella will have 110, Gràcia 35, Poblenou 15, Sant Andreu 5, and Sarrià 3. In the Sant Joan promenade area, dedicated to comics and children’s and young adult books, the stalls will reach Plaça Tetuán, as well as on Avenida Lluís Companys, which will extend to Ciutadella Park. The sector that is growing the most is Les Corts, where, at the request of the district itself, they will have more atmosphere than ever with 14 stalls.
Of all this offer, 364 will be dedicated to books, of which 257 will also have author signings. In addition, about 130 stalls will be located right in front of bookstores, which on this special day bring their merchandise out onto the street. 61 stalls have been reserved for flowers. Furthermore, the licenses to set up a street stall, which are used by all kinds of associations, schools, political parties, or institutions, will be 5,489.
Patrici Tixis, president of the Gremio del Libro, says that the goal “is not to set a new record,” but rather that “everyone finds the book they are looking for.” On this day, when 2 million books are sold, about 75,000 different titles are available to the public. The bestseller list, although it has a lot of resonance and sets reading trends, accounts for only 5% of the books sold on this day, which come with a 10% discount.
For many, one of the attractions of Sant Jordi is getting close to their favorite authors, who also fill the streets with queues of all those who want a dedication stamped in their favorite books. Many will be signing today, but some of the most sought-after are expected to be Spanish-language writers such as David Uclés, who has just released La ciudad de las luces muertas to great fanfare; or Eduardo Mendoza, who has been in the spotlight due to some statements, and will sign La intriga del funeral inconveniente, among other classics.
In Catalan, queues are also expected to greet Regina Rodríguez Sirvent, a phenomenon with her first novel, Las bragas al sol, who has just released her second, Palomitas de madrugada, with marketing techniques that have even filled bookstores with fairground popcorn machines. Likewise, Agnès Marqués, who won the Ramon Llull prize with La segona vida de Ginebra Vern, will also be among the most requested. As in recent years, romantic novel authors, such as Alice Kellen or Joana Marcus, will also cause long queues of young people and teenagers. Han Kang, Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024, or Ali Smith, will also be among the most sought-after international authors, as well as Amélie Nothomb or the bestseller Joël Dicker.
As is customary, the festival began yesterday with the proclamation, this year by Ali Smith, who defended books and public libraries against self-serving attacks by despotic governments, such as those of Russia and the United States, to show “libraries as sources of collective power.” In the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Council, she conversed with her Catalan translator, Dolors Udina. Meanwhile, protests from the city’s library staff, who are on an indefinite strike, arrived from Plaça Sant Jaume.
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