book fair

The 20^th edition of the Manga Fair is taking place between Thursday 30^th October and Sunday 2^nd November at the Fira de Barcelona's Montjuic exhibition space. The Manga Fair is an annual event that celebrates the popular Japanese anime, bringing together fans from all around the world, through a series of exhibitions and activities in Barcelona. This year, the space has increased to 50,000m², and the opening times will be extended. There will be a variety of special guests attending, including the author Kengo Hanazawa, artist Takeshi Obata from Japan, and Ken Niimura, a Spanish author of Japanese descent. There will also be a number of musicians participating, such as the Japanese pop group Loverin Tamburin. The programme features various exhibitions on Japanese authors and illustrators. On the catering side, the event will feature Michelin-star chefs including Ricardo Sanz and Jordi Roca.

This year the Barcelona International Comic Fair celebrated its 32^nd edition by looking back at the golden age of superhero comics and the wars that shaped History. Organizers FICOMIC increased this year´s event space from 19,000 to 32,000 square meters, which resulted in attendance figures of 106,000 throughout all four days and an increase in sales of comics and other products. The Fair Director, Carles Santamaría, stated that “weare satisfied with the high participation of the audience in an edition that has beaten its record for space”. The festival was once again characterized by the presence of well-known names of the comic universe, such as Spanish artists Paco Roca and Francisco Ibañez, Canadian Ramón K. Perez and Maltese Joe Sacco.

Contemporary Catalan literature is being well received amongst British critics. The BBC recently interviewed Catalan writer Marc Pastor on the hit show ‘Meet the Author’ to introduce the English translation of his novel ‘La Mala Dona’ (known as ‘Barcelona Shadows’ for UK readers), which was published by Pushkin Press in January 2^nd. Critics have also praised ‘Maletes perdudes’ (‘Lost Luggage’), a novel by Catalan writer Jordi Puntí, who took part in the British Library’s European Literature Night last May. Another English publishing house has bought the rights of ‘Jo confesso’ (‘I confess’), a Catalan best-seller by author Jaume Cabré, and plans to publish it on 2015.

Victus, the historical novel by Albert Sánchez Piñol, has triumphed on the Catalan National Day of roses and books both in the Spanish and Catalan language. In the category of media-friendly writers, the biggest-selling book has been Brúixoles que busquen somriures perduts by Albert Espinosa, the scriptwriter known for his hit TV series Polseres Vermelles (‘The Red Band Society’). Barcelona’s streets were filled with bookstalls where the most popular authors signed their books in front of huge queues of excited fans. For bookshops it is also a great chance to bring in some much needed revenue as it is estimated that on Sant Jordi’s Day they invoice between 8% and 10% of the whole year’s profits, a figure of around 18 million euros.

The Catalan tradition of Sant Jordi (Saint George) dictates that men should buy a red rose to their beloved and women ought to give them a book in return. That's the theory, but in practice the crowd who fills the centre of Barcelona is buying many other things, such as earrings, T-shirts or even scarlet artichokes… April 23rd is a good day to be in Barcelona. The atmosphere is cheerful and roses tower over thousands of people who stroll down la Rambla, looking for a certain title at the bookstands or just being seduced by the cover of the latest bestseller.

Saint George (Sant Jordi in Catalan) is the patron saint of Catalonia. Every 23rd April the traditional red roses and all kinds of books invade the streets creating a unique atmosphere. Tradition says that the man gives a rose to his loved one and she offers a book to the man she loves. However, tradition has evolved and people also give books and roses to partners, family members and friends now. Despite the crisis six million roses and a million books are expected to be sold.

Classic and contemporary authors from Catalonia, writing in Catalan or in Spanish, are one of the main attractions of this year’s Salon du Livre in Paris, which is one of the main book fairs internationally. Running from Friday the 22nd to Monday the 25th of March in the French capital, this year the book fair has Barcelona as its guest city under the title ‘Barcelona, ville des prodiges’. The Institut Ramon Llull, the public body in charge of promoting Catalan culture abroad, is organising the presence of Catalan literature at the fair. During the first day, the visitors were mainly interested in Eduardo Mendoza, Carlos Ruiz Zafón and Josep Pla, who wrote ‘The Grey Notebook’ which has just been translated into French.