Fernando Aramburu is convinced that it was he who brought the rain to Barcelona this Monday. “Actually, I don’t come to sign books, but I have a special mission: to end the drought. But do not spread panic. As a weather man that I am, I have the power to make April 23 stop,” he joked this Monday night at the Alma Hotel in Barcelona, ??where the now traditional La Vanguardia festival was held for the eleventh year.
The downpour that fell in the middle of the afternoon did not prevent authors, editors – filmmakers, playwrights, actors and politicians – from coming to celebrate the book and rose festival with a big bang. There was no shortage of names such as the editors Elena Ramírez, Silvia Sesé or Juan Cerezo, on a night in which the true protagonists were the writers. From Bonnie Garmus and Hernán Díaz, who claimed to have “not seen anything like it in the United States or in any country visited,” to Luis Landero, Ramon Gener, Alice Kellen, Juan Gómez-Jurado and Gerard Quintana, who was amazed by the group of music Sax Guitar Duo, who improvised their set in a corner. “Meeting your idol and having him record you is the most exciting thing that could have happened to us,” say Alba Ruiz and Xavi Valls.
The first-timers in this signing, such as the Korean Won-Pyung Sohn or Roberto Corral, did not want to miss the celebration either. “I’m looking forward to living this new experience. I can get an idea just from the power of attendance that there is this Monday in Alma,” applauded the winner of the Edhasa award. Also premiering this Tuesday will be Doug Dorst, the novelist who formed a tandem with the director of Lost, J.J. Abrams, to create The Ship of Theseus Ediciones) –an interactive analogue book in times of screens–. The American was constantly aware of what was happening last night and who knows if he took the opportunity to concoct the plot of a future story that could end up making the leap to film or theater. There would be no shortage of companions for this adventure, as there were present, among others, the actors Lina Lambert and Pablo Rivero and the playwright Marc Artigau, very well accompanied by the writer and winner of the Llibres Anagrama de Novel·la award, Clara Queraltó.
Nor did Rodrigo Fresán, Carlota Gurt, Melcior Comes, Víctor del Arbol or Javier Castillo miss the celebration, who two years ago stood stoically in the rain to be able to sign everyone who came to his stand and that, if the situation, I would do the same thing again.
At a party chaired by the editor Javier Godó, there were no parliaments for the first time in a long time. “The circumstances and the rain have not allowed it, and they would not have paid much attention to us. It’s complicated,” acknowledged Jordi Juan, director of La Vanguardia, who took advantage of a live broadcast on the newspaper’s social networks to highlight “the importance of thinking about the little ones. They must be educated so that they can enjoy the pleasure of the book. Previous generations have grown up in a pre-digital stage and we have discovered that pleasure. It is important that they also know how to appreciate it and, for this, I encourage them to buy books for their children and nephews and that they do not remain on the shelves.” Nuria Cabutí, CEO of Penguin Random House, said along the same lines: “This year we are especially happy because we had David Walliams give the speech, which has encouraged all children and young people to read.”
The journalist and writer Sergio Vila-Sanjuán, head of the Cultura/s supplement, was also planning to speak in public – to thank the sponsors Pere Ventura, Estrella Damm and the Alma hotel itself, for hosting the more than 500 guests who came. this Monday night. He also planned to dedicate a few words to the cultural journalist Anna Pérez Pagès, who recently died, and who was a regular at the La Vanguardia party.
This Sant Jordi 2024 smells like a record year. Another one after the last one was the most participatory and has made the most sales in history, with 1.87 million copies and an accumulated turnover during the week of 24 million euros.
There are several factors that invite this again, such as the increase in the number of stops, which in Barcelona, ??from 2017 to 2024, has gone from 186 to 435; the footage, which is expanded by 3,356 meters, recovering the entire Rambla; or that the party falls on a weekday again for the first time since the pandemic, which presupposes less travel and concentrated participation, with a special peak in the afternoon, coinciding with leaving work. Something that the Secretary of State for Culture, Jordi Martí, especially likes, as he believes that “the jewel of Sant Jordi during the week is multiplied by a thousand, because most companies let people leave early so they can buy a rose and a book.” . This unwritten agreement seems magical and metaphorical to me.”
If anything will favor these optimistic figures, it will be the weather, which was uncertain until the last moment, and which forced the location of the newspaper’s traditional cover photograph to be changed at the last minute, made up this year by fourteen writers, who starred for a few minutes in a dance of elevators, in which former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero himself was also involved. The snapshot, which was to be taken on the terrace, was taken in the main living room, equally majestic, where a painting full of roses by Perico Pastor presided, which many guests assured that “you could smell it”, as well as the success that was achieved. wait this Tuesday.
