Swiss writer Joël Dicker's latest novel among most sold books before Sant Jordi

Catalonia's day of love and books, Sant Jordi, is just a couple of weeks away. At the moment, Catalan author Xavier Bosch, Spanish author Javier Cercas, and Swiss writer Joël Dicker's latest novels are the most sold.

Dicker said, "we cannot forget about success, I cannot say that I do not feel the pressure, as if I said that, it would mean I do not respect my readers."

The writer thanked all his readers who take "time to read my books, and despite some may call success a pressure, I prefer to say it is a necessity," he said during a press conference in Barcelona on Tuesday to present his latest novel, 'La Très Catastrophique Visite du Zoo' or 'La catastròfica visita al zoo' published in Catalan by La Campana editions.

The book explains the story of Joséphine's class trip to the zoo, which to the surprise of everyone, turns into a catastrophe. No one knows what exactly happened, but Joséphine's parents are more than decided to discover the reasons behind the events.

"This book is an investigation that invites you to read. You just want to know what is going on, where we find the answers to those questions that we make ourselves," Dicker told journalists.

For him, "it is a similar book" to his previous ones, but "also a different book," as "the big difference is that in this case, the narrator is a small child."

The book was first written for an adult audience, but once finished, Dicker realized it could be read by "everyone aged between 7 and 120 years old."

One of the problems of being among the most sold authors also comes at a price. "I cannot like to all readers. There are a lot of very different readers who read my novels, but as more readers, the more difficult it becomes for everyone to like what you write," he said before adding that the "only requirement I set myself is to be authentic."

'La Très Catastrophique Visite du Zoo' does not have any murder nor robbery, compared to Dicker's previous books, such as 'A Wild Animal.' "We already live in a difficult world, and what I wanted was for this book to be a break of it, in which we could have a good time, which is why I did not want for the main characters, who are children, to suffer," he told reporters.

"I thought it was a great idea to present an authentic book, which were not crime thrillers," he said, talking about a book that includes a "huge challenge" that is adding some humour as "I love to laugh, but utmost, I love a book that makes me laugh." While he had already added some jokes in previous novels, he ended up erasing them as they were "not funny nor added anything extra."

Most sold for Sant Jordi

Joël Dicker was among the most sold authors during last year's Sant Jordi, on April 23. On that day, millions of books were sold across Catalonia.

A year later, Dicker is, once again, among the most sold authors ranking ahead of Catalonia's day of love and books.

He shares the ranking on Catalan language books with Catalan author Xavier Bosch's 'Diagonal Manhattan,' according to the Catalan booksellers guild.

He is also among the most sold in the Spanish language edition, with the translation in Spanish, and shares ranking with Spanish author Javier Cercas' 'El loco de Dios en el fin del mundo.'