The Second-hand, Ancient and Modern Book Fair of Barcelona, ??which next September will reach its 72nd edition, is reaching a “turning point”, in the words of the president of the Guild of Old Booksellers of Catalonia, Marçal Font, at the presentation of the contest this Thursday at the Arús Library.
Font has explained that they wanted to make a leap forward by further professionalizing the fair, which is the oldest in Europe in its field, and this year it will move forward a week, so that it will also coincide with Catalan Book Week, a fact that, far from worrying the organization, they see as an opportunity to establish synergies, because they are complementary. On this occasion, 8 new bookshops have been added to return to the 32 before the pandemic, in a total of 226 linear meters on the promenade with which, in the words of Font, “for three weeks the people of Barcelona will recover a space that is often almost exclusively for tourists”.
Font has assured that it is necessary to understand the fair “beyond a simple market”, and that is why he has opted for a great opening party, on September 7 at Cinema Comedia, in which, among other activities, there will be a jazz concert by the quartet of Albert Bover, Andreu Pitarch, Masa Kamaguch and Pablo Arias. The president of the guild has highlighted that this year the poet, translator, essayist and art critic José Corredor Matheos has been chosen as herald. “Barcelona owed him a tribute”, said Font about the last member of the poetic generation of the fifties, who also closely followed the trajectory of the Dau al Set group.
In fact, jazz and Dau al Set will star in this year’s exhibition, entitled Jazz and the post-war artistic avant-garde. The four Jazz Salons of Dau al Set and Club 49 of the Hot Club of Barcelona, ??1951-1957, curated by Aitor Quiney.
The writer and editor Sebastià Bennasar has presented another of the novelties, a cultural program during the three weekends of the fair, each dedicated to a different area. The first will revolve around the importance of Dau al Set, taking into account that it is 25 years since the death of Joan Brossa, 100 years since the birth of Antoni Tàpies and 50 years since the publication of El vol de l’alosa, an important artist’s book by Joan Miró.
The following weekend will be dedicated to Barcelona as a literary city, with events such as a talk by Josep Lluís Martín Berbois on Sherlock Holmes and events on Manuel de Pedrolo or Montserrat Roig as well as, among others, an event on book collecting by young people.
The third weekend will primarily focus on children’s literature, with an emphasis on the figure of Maite Carranza and the importance of both the school library and the staff.
Another of the new projects that have been presented is Vita Libris, with the aim of reviving some titles that are part of the Catalan literary heritage in an exhibition that will occupy the back part of the stalls, also with the aim of “defending Catalanness and vindicating Catalan literature in such complex times”.
Font has also presented the poster for the fair, which is entrusted to an established artist, this time giving voice to urban art with the figure of Sixe Paredes, who throughout his career has combined work in the workshop with an important task with street art and who Font has said “comes from the base of urban art and graffiti”. Paredes has summarized his poster as “a reflection on the connections that are generated when one reads a book”.
