Barcelona, literary city in Argentina

‘Barcelona, Literary City’ is the name of the project of the Catalan capital, invited as the guest of honor at the 45^th Buenos Aires International Book Fair. Barcelona contributes a total of 120 activities, 56 authors, a 200 meter squared stand with a large bookstore, two exhibits within the fairgrounds and a third in the city, as well as the performance of Catalan musician Sílvia Pérez Cruz.

As well as many giants in the publishing and literary industry, present at the inauguration for the South American were big names from the Catalan cultural world. Present were the culture official of the Barcelona local government, as well as the director of the Ramon Llull Institute, a body promoting Catalan culture abroad.

The director of the organization, Iolanda Batallé, highlighted the importance of the growth in Catalan publishers present at these events, noting that participation jumped from 10 to 12 companies, in 2018, to over 40 for the 2019 event.

For the future, she said that with “the idea of continuity that [the Ramon Llull Institute] always aims for,” the idea is to increase even more. “So that next year there are 50 publishers, for more translations to be done, for co-publishing to be done, for publishers who don’t have distributors to come,” were some of the hopes she had for the future.

Meanwhile, the director of the Buenos Aires International Book Fair, Oche Califa, emphasized the logic in choosing Barcelona as the guest city at the fair. “I almost shouldn’t have to explain why Barcelona is here,” he said. “It’s a cultural city, very similar to Buenos Aires in its dynamic and innovative character,” added Califa, “one and that moreover holds first-class industrial power in the book industry.”