Barcelona lands at the Guadalajara International Book Fair as guest city with a story that looks at the present without losing sight of its legacy. Under the motto Vindran les flors, the proposal wants to show a lively and diverse literary scene, open to new voices and attentive to its history.
The program, presented in the Auditorium of the University of Guadalajara by the curator Anna Guitart and the Councilor for Culture Xavier Marcé, will be deployed the 29 7 November to DecemberThe expedition brings together almost seventy authors linked to the city and combines literature with performing arts, music, cinema and gastronomy, with the premise of explain the current literary Barcelona while recognizing key figures.
Program and featured activities
The heart of the landing will be the pavilion Public space, designed by Fabric and Santiago de León, which recreates a Barcelona square as a meeting point. With 1.183m², is conceived as a space for conversations, presentations and circulation of readers and professionals.
There will be a nod to Sant Jordi with books and flowers, signings and activities for the general public. The idea, according to the curator, is to offer a coral snapshot of those who write from or about Barcelona, ​​in any language, and promote dialogue with the Mexican literary ecosystem.
The evening program brings together nine events with names from different musical scenes: Maria Arnal, Rigoberta Bandini, Queralt Lahoz, Love of Lesbian o Mushkaa, among others, expanding the cultural focus beyond the book.
In performing arts, pieces such as Sonoma from La Veronal; Jo, transvestite de Josep Maria Miro; and a dramatized reading of Diamond Square directed by Carlota Subirós, building bridges between literature, dance and theatre.
The exhibition offer includes The books of Barcelona y The women will come, a look at a century and a half of female artists' presence on the city's streets. Added to this are three installations of cabosanroque about the universes of Mercè Rodoreda, Joan Brossa and Àngel Guimerà .
There will also be room for the table and the screen: the chef Gerard Bellver will sign the menu for the inaugural lunch and a gastronomic festival, while the cinema will arrive with titles such as They will be dust (Carlos Marques-Marcet), Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake (With Maite Carranza), My friend Eva (With Nora Navas), On April 47nd (Marcel Barrena) or Six ordinary days (With Neus Ballus). The City Council emphasizes that Barcelona and Catalonia lead the publishing sector in Spain and want to bring that potential to the Mexican market.
Selection of authors and public debate
The final list combines veterans and new authors, voices in Catalan and Spanish, and a variety of genres ranging from narrative to essays, poetry, and children's literature. The curatorship set two conditions: that those publishing in Catalan had Spanish translation (with the support of the Institut Ramon Llull) and that they did not repeat authors who already they came last year with the official Spanish delegation.
The delegation will travel headed by Eduardo Mendoza, in charge of inaugurating the fair, accompanied by authors of wide projection such as Javier Fences y Carme Riera. Also featured are names from the Barcelona scene such as Kiko Amat, Carlos Zanón o Miqui Otero, in addition to academic profiles such as Rafael Argullol o Victoria Cirlot.
The list is completed with international residents linked to the city, such as Pauline Flowers o Jordi Soler, and the Irish Colm TóibÃn, who lived in Barcelona and wrote about it, together with the playwright Victoria SzpunbergCatalan literature provides popular names and others yet to be discovered, Xavier Bosch o Regina Rodriguez a Marta Orriols, Gemma Ruiz, Mà rius Serra o Oriol Canosa.
As for profiles, a journalistic account indicates 36 female writers and 33 male writers, with the majority of authors publishing in Catalan, a third publishing only in Spanish, and several bilingual authors. The ages range from just over thirty to more than eighty, with Mendoza as a senior reference and Joan Manuel Serrat as a cultural ambassador for the city.
The organization emphasizes that publishers have also made proposals and that the curator has worked with full independence to achieve a balance of languages, genders, and generations. The council insists that the criterion is cultural and professional, and that Catalan must have prominent presence at a key fair for the Spanish-speaking world.
The selection process has generated debate by some noted absencesThe novelist Ildefonso Falcones He has attributed his non-inclusion to ideological reasons and has expressed his displeasure at being left off the list, recalling his sales success in Mexico and his connection with the city in several novels. The writer, who prefers not to participate in parallel events, defines himself as a author without a literary homeland and questions the representativeness of the delegation.
The organization rejects any discrimination based on linguistic or ideological and a plural criterion is invoked that prioritizes the photograph of the moment. At the same time, quota limits are admitted that have left out top names—such as Quim Monzó, Sergi Pà mies o Albert Sanchez Pinol— in an ecosystem with more candidates than places, something that was also pointed out by the present authors: Sales are not the only yardstick and the program seeks a diversity of perspectives.
With an agenda that combines books, music, theater, cinema and cooking, and a selection of authors that aspires to be as varied as the Barcelona literary map, the presence of Barcelona at the Guadalajara International Book Fair is presented as an opportunity to strengthen ties with the Mexican public, open new readings and put into conversation the city's traditions, languages ​​and generations.