Yesterday was a day that Catalonia had been waiting for a long time. Since 2019, there has not been a normal Sant Jordi, either because of the pandemic or because of the inclement weather, which watered down last year’s party. This time, the sun reigned in a day in which Gemma Ruiz Palà and Eva GarcÃa Sáenz de Urturi became the main protagonists and the sales record was broken. The authors, respectively, of Les nostres mares, a portrait of several generations of women, and El ángel de la ciudad, continuation of the Kraken series, were the best-selling fiction books. Some data that didn’t catch either of them off guard, since their books had been on the top of sales for weeks.
Gemma Ruiz Palà lived a day that she will not forget: “It has been one of the most spectacular days of my life and I will take time to get over it”, she said minutes after learning that her novel had been the best seller, according to first estimates. Now, despite the joy, he did not hesitate to assure that it is not his victory: “I must insist that the list of best sellers represents 5% of the books sold, and the rest are 95%. We all win and Sant Jordi wins”.
Why has your book sold so much? He attributes it to a combination of factors such as the impact of the Sant Jordi award: “But it could also have been bought by the generation I pay tribute to, or their children”. The writer and journalist explained that she was surprised to make double signatures: mothers and daughters who gave it to each other, but also couples. In the morning she had started with a banana and walnuts, but by midday they were history and she passed by the terrace of the Condes de Barcelona hotel, where Grup 62 arranged a stop and inn for its authors: “I’m in the pits posing petrol”, he said, before continuing in the afternoon. She had started equipped with three pens that her mother had given her: “I’ve used up two, I’ll use what’s left for the ones I have to sign now”.
Sáenz de Urturi said last night to this newspaper that “I have been coming to sign for Sant Jordi for eight years and both my team and I did not take long to realize that the volume of queues and books that were being sold it was absolutely exceptional. I don’t know the copies I have signed but I will tell you that I have used three bic pens and I have calculated that each pen is equivalent to seven hundred books”.
It’s been less than a month since the new book by the winner of the Planeta 2020 prize went on sale. The writer from Vitoria does not take credit for this fact and assures that “I will always keep this Sunday in my heart. Every meeting with readers and every April 23 is special, but this one has undoubtedly been revolutionary. The only thing I’m sorry about are the readers I couldn’t sign. It’s something that happens often, but you never quite get used to it”, admitted the writer minutes before taking a flight to her next destination, as she is in full promotion.
Of course, before leaving, he announced that he will continue with the saga of the Longevians, since he is preparing a third book, and that there are still many adventures planned for Kraken. “Many readers have asked me when there will be sequels, and so it remains in writing.”
In the field of non-fiction, the ranking was led by the group of comedian podcasters La Sotana and their Gran Enciclopèdia del Barça (Blackie Books) and the book by Marian Rojas Estapé Cómo hacer que te pasen cosas buenas (Espasa), a success that continues since it was published in 2018. Just as remarkable is Si la memoria no ens falla, by Quim Monzó and Sergi Pà mies, who talk to Julià Guillamon in this volume of Libros de Vanguardia.
And, in the children’s and youth category, the triumph was for Les excursions d’en Titó (Estrella Polar), from the popular children’s character of the SX3 channel, and Arta contra el Alien Máximo, from YouTuber Arta Game (Montena).
Lists that include trends such as female voices, on the one hand, as well as readers’ preference for local writers, over translations. It is also surprising that among the books for children and young people in Spanish, the first five places are occupied by only two authors: the Spanish-Russian YouTuber Arta Game and the Mallorcan Joana Marcús, but in addition, all five are titles published by the same publisher, Montena.
The titles of the Catalan and Spanish lists are all different, with the exception of Maggie O’Farrell and El retrat de matrimoni (L’Altra/ Libros del Asteroide). Another repetition is the presence among the non-fiction in Spanish of two titles by the Madrid psychiatrist Marian Rojas Estapé.
Among the best sellers in fiction in Catalan, the presence of the first book of a novice writer, Regina RodrÃguez Sirvent, who with Les calces al sol (La Campana) has been among the best sellers for months, stands out as a surprise, despite the fact that was published in September. The author couldn’t contain her joy: “It’s been like a wedding and San FermÃn all together, incredible.” The writer explained that for her it was also a double Sant Jordi, because she is expecting a daughter and loves to experience all these emotions with her.
All these titles were protagonists of a record-breaking Sant Jordi that fulfilled all the expectations that the Chamber of Books of Catalonia predicted days before and even exceeded them, as assured by the technical secretary of the Booksellers Guild of Catalonia, Maria MarÃn. The specific turnover figures will be announced in the coming days, but the sector spokesperson believes that this Sant Jordi has been “the most participatory and the one with the most sales in history, with a growth of over 5% “. In particular, he positively values ​​the implementation of the new model of spaces for professionals, with stalls for bookshops and florists. “The model applied in cities like Barcelona contributes to the visibility of bookshops, to order the traffic of people and is one of the factors of this year’s success, and the reason why the model is committed to continuity”, adds the Chamber of the Book. In addition, for MarÃn it is not only about the specific supervilla, but also more stops and spaces in the districts. The booksellers will talk to the Barcelona City Council about how it can be avoided that there are moments in the morning and midday when “practically the flow of people collapses”, and defends the need to expand to more neighborhoods and that there there should be more transversality in the literary supervillage of the Eixample.
From early in the morning, citizens rushed to the streets en masse to buy their favorite books and the traditional rose. More than six million people got their flower, as detailed by the Guild of Florists of Catalonia. The high participation was accompanied by a general increase in both the publishing offer and the stalls, which went from 287 in 2022 to 320 this 2023. This offer has been distributed in eleven zones in seven Barcelona districts: passeig de Grà cia, Grà cia, Poblenou, Sant Andreu, Les Corts, Ciutat Vella (with the recovery of the most emblematic space of all, such as the Rambla) and Sarrià . Likewise, a total of one hundred bookshops in Barcelona have set up a stand in front of their establishment.
Sant Jordi has re-emerged, stronger than ever.
