La third edition of CordoBlack It once again fills the city of Córdoba with suspense and literature, consolidating a festival that in a very short time has carved out a niche for itself among the major events of the crime novels in SpainFor several days, streets, libraries, schools and cafes become stages where fictional crime serves as an excuse to talk about society, memory and current events.
In this new installment, the program opts for a combination of meetings with established authors, formation activities and proposals for closer ties Designed for diverse audiences, from seasoned readers to young people approaching the genre for the first time, Córdoba, which almost becomes a character in many of the stories, thus reinforces its image as a literary city with its own distinct character.
The starting gun will be fired this Thursday, December 18, at 19:00 p.m., at the State Library Canticle Group, one of the regular venues on the Cordoba cultural circuit. There, a highly anticipated conversation is taking place between Cesar Perez Gellida y Salvador Gutierrez Solis, literary director of the festival, which marks the official start of the third edition of CordoBlack.
A start with the city in black
The city "dresses in black" thanks to a programming distributed across different points in Córdobawhich includes libraries, schools, cafes, and other familiar locations for the local community. This dispersion of venues aims to bring the festival closer to the neighborhoods and not limit it to a single location, making the experience more accessible and everyday.
During the opening, the conversation between Gellida and Gutiérrez Solís became one of the most talked-about moments of CordoBlack's start. The dialogue not only served to present the new work by the Valladolid-born author, but also to review the current state of the genre and its growing relevance in the Spanish literary panorama.
As Gutiérrez Solís explained, Pérez Gellida's presence is due to a repeated public demand since the first editionEach year a survey is conducted among attendees to ask which author they would like to see at the festival, and Gellida's name always appeared at the top of the list, which has ended up making him the protagonist of the beginning in this third edition.
César Pérez Gellida and the weight of the current crime novel
For many attendees, César Pérez Gellida's participation is one of the main attractions of this year's event. The writer, born in Valladolid in 1974, has already amassed a extensive career within the crime novel with a large group of loyal readers throughout Spain and beyond.
His bibliography is notable for its trilogies Verses, songs and pieces of meat (Memento died, This irae y consummatum is) and Proverbs, songs and traces of blood (Scabies with taste, Wood knife y To great evils), in addition to titles such as All the best y All the worstAmong his most recent works are We grow dwarfs, Splinters on the skin y The luck of the dwarf, who have established their name within the genre.
A major milestone in his career comes with Under dry ground, the novel with which he wins the Nadal Award 2024During the conversation at CordoBlack, Gutiérrez Solís emphasized that this award represents a significant step for crime fiction, a type of literature that for a long time had been considered somewhat more marginal compared to other more "serious" genres within Spanish criticism.
That recognition, coupled with the television adaptation of Memento died In a three-season series released in 2023 by Amazon Prime, Gellida has been positioned as one of the most visible references of contemporary crime fictionFurthermore, the author co-directs the Blacklladolid festival with Dolores Redondo, which directly links him to other literary projects dedicated to crime and mystery.
"Nothing good germinates": Córdoba as a literary setting
One of the focuses of the opening talk is on Nothing good germinates, the new novel by Pérez Gellida that continues the story begun in Under dry groundWhat is striking to the Cordoba public is that The plot begins precisely in Córdoba., in the old station, and visits several corners of the city, some very close to the space where the meeting with the readers takes place.
This coincidence has stirred a particular feeling among the attendees, who see how the boundary between fiction and reality blursThe places the characters move through are the same ones the audience passes through when attending the festival. In this way, the city becomes another protagonist in the story, something that strengthens the emotional connection of local readers with the work.
The presence of Córdoba in the novel is not just an aesthetic nod, but allows the city to be used as framework for addressing social issues that run through contemporary noir: power struggles, inequalities, historical memory, and various forms of violence. The organizers of CordoBlack emphasize precisely this capacity of the genre to reflect reality from a critical perspective.
The dialogue between author and moderator also delves into the intricacies of the creative process, how the scenarios are documented, and what kind of The gaze needs a city to function as a backdrop in a crime novel. For the audience, listening in a familiar setting, this explanation helps them rediscover their own city from a different perspective.
The transformation of the crime novel in Spain
Beyond the specific work of Pérez Gellida, the opening session of this third edition of CordoBlack serves to analyze the evolution of the genre in Spain. What for years was seen as a niche for crime and mystery enthusiasts has become one of the preferred territories of many readers, capable of competing with other more traditional genres.
The conversation suggests that contemporary crime fiction is not limited to intrigue or "whodunit," but functions almost as a social x-ray of the time. The authors approach issues that concern people on a daily basis: gender violence, political and economic corruption, school bullying, social networks or disinformation, among other issues that affect citizens.
This hybrid nature, halfway between entertainment and reflection, partly explains the genre's current boom. For many readers, crime fiction has become a form of to better understand reality through fictionWhile maintaining the suspense, twists and turns and fast pace that usually hooks you from the first pages.
In this context, festivals like CordoBlack contribute to the conversation about gender It shouldn't be confined to books or the media, but should extend to public spaces where readers and authors can openly debate. The presence of figures like Pérez Gellida or Gutiérrez Solís helps reinforce this idea of community around the crime novel.
The very choice of venues, such as the Cántico Group Library and other venues throughout the city, points to the intention of normalizing the presence of the genre within Cordoba's cultural life. It's not just about a one-off festival, but about consolidating an event that readers look forward to year after year.
A festival that takes to the streets: institutions, cafes and educational centers
One of the most characteristic features of the bet on proximity It's their commitment to accessibility. The programming doesn't stay confined to formal auditoriums, but unfolds throughout institutes, neighborhood libraries and cafes, allowing the public to encounter crime fiction in their usual environment.
The festival reserves a significant space for the educational activity with Black IESThis initiative aims to introduce the genre to secondary and high school students. As part of this program, César Pérez Gellida will visit IES El Tablero on Thursday the 18th at 11:45 a.m., where he will meet with students to discuss his work, the writing process, and how reading can be a tool for seeing the world with greater nuance.
For her part, the narrator Nagore Suarez It moves to the IES Fuensanta on Friday the 19th, also at 11:45 a.m., in another session designed for a public young who may not yet have had extensive contact with crime fiction. These meetings are seen as a way to break down barriers and normalize the presence of writers in the educational context.
In parallel, the initiative Black Kids It focuses on younger readers and families. Programs are developed with it. children's shows with a touch of mysteryCreated and starring the poet and actress Alejandra Vanessa, the aim is to offer playful activities that introduce, in a highly adapted way, certain elements of suspense without sacrificing fun or humor.
This strategy of opening the festival to different age groups aims to ensure that CordoBlack is not perceived as an exclusive event for experts or veteran readers, but as a cross-cutting cultural project which can be enjoyed by people of different ages and from different levels of reading experience.
First World Thread Competition in X and local activities
Among the most striking new features of this third edition of CordoBlack is the launch of First World Thread Competition in XA contest open to authors from across the Spanish-speaking world who write in Spanish. The idea is to take advantage of the thread format on social network X to transfer the short stories about crime.
The jury for this competition is composed of some of the best-known writers in the noir and networking sceneAmong them are @Pedro_Torrijos, @gutisolis (Salvador Gutiérrez Solís), @Yosoycorra (Jorge Corrales), @israeldiaz_r (Israel Díaz Reinado), and @HistorietaLa (Jesús Báez Alcaide). Their ratings will be combined with the "likes" each thread receives to determine the winning story.
With this proposal, the festival seeks to connect the tradition of the crime story with new formats for digital cultural consumptionTaking advantage of the fact that many readers are discovering stories and authors through social media platforms, this initiative also encourages active participation, as anyone can submit their own thread within the established guidelines.
In addition to the X competition, CordoBlack maintains its commitment to the activities involving close contact with authorsAmong them are "Café Negro" and "A Bocajarro," meetings in which a maximum of fifteen readers sit down to chat in a relaxed manner with writers such as Paco Gómez Escribano, Toni Sánchez Bernal or María José Moreno. These formats allow for a more direct and less formal dialogue than traditional presentations.
The organization has insisted that all these community outreach activities are They are free and still have places available.Tickets can be booked through the festival's official website (www.cordoblack.es). This free admission is part of the festival's philosophy of facilitating access to culture without economic barriers.
Masterclass, new works and trends in the genre
Within the professional program, the third edition of CordoBlack also includes a series of masterclass entitled "Snipers"These sessions, led by authors such as Juan Ramón Biedma and Salvador Gutiérrez Solís himself, are designed for people interested in delving deeper into crime fiction writing, whether they are just starting out or want to review their writing process.
These classes cover topics such as plot construction, the development of complex characters, the use of urban space, and the management of suspense and narrative tensionThe festival presents these training sessions as a good entry point for those who wish to go beyond simply reading and experiment with their own stories.
The organization points out that some of these activities continue to have There are free places available and they are completely free.This makes it easier for both amateurs and beginning authors to access content that in other contexts is usually offered as paid courses.
Another point highlighted by CordoBlack is that this edition will feature up to six new crime novel publicationsThis makes the festival a showcase of trends within the genre in Spain. Through its panels, talks, and presentations, the event offers an overview of the proposals that are shaping the current state of noir.
In this way, the festival is configured as something more than a simple program of activities: it also functions as a an overview of new publications and the thematic concerns addressed in contemporary crime fiction, from social criticism to new forms of crime and investigation in the digital age.
By bringing together authors, readers, teachers, and book professionals in Córdoba, this third edition of CordoBlack reinforces its role as a meeting place for fictional crime fiction. Between talks, competitions, activities in schools, and shows for children, the city transforms itself for a few days into a veritable laboratory where crime fiction engages with reality and confronts it head-on, without ever losing that element of intrigue that makes it so addictive for so many readers.
