Andreu Martín and David Guzmán, awarded by the Catalan Book Week

BarcelonaThe writer's career paths Andreu Martín (Barcelona, 1949) and journalist David Guzman (Barcelona, 1978) have been recognized by the Catalan Book WeekThe fair will be held from September 19th to 28th on Passeig Lluís Companys, a location that was tested last year and yielded positive results, with almost 100,000 visitors. "We've experienced enormous growth and brought Catalan books to the city center," said Ilya Pérdigo, president of the Catalan Language Publishers Association and the event's organizer, on Tuesday. In the next edition, the Week will have more booths, a greater presence of labels, and more exhibitors. "These are record numbers. We're convinced it's a major national event, and we want to reflect that," said Cristina Domènech, the initiative's director. In addition to the booths, new spaces will be added, such as a reading corner and a language tent, "to improve the visitor experience."

Andreu Martín has been recognized with the 29th Lifetime Achievement Award, an award that aims to be, according to Pérdigo, "a tribute to a unique and exemplary career, to an author who has kept alive his passion for telling stories." Regarding detective novels in Catalan, Martín has a long and prolific career, with more than a hundred books published, both solo and in collaboration. His titles include Mute and in the cage (1998), Tragic Barcelona (2009) and the very popular youth series starring Detective Flanagan, which started with Don't order sea bass out of season (1987). "I started writing before I was ten. I liked to tell stories. Aventis with friends, and he continued playing while writing them," recalled Martín, who added that he "did not have godparents or a privileged position" to dedicate himself to literature, because in his house "culture did not reign nor was there a formidable library." Manuel de Pedrolo (then director of the Cola de Paja collection) and showed up at his house with the manuscript: "It didn't even occur to me to go to the publisher to hand in the text." Martín joins the list of winners of an award with almost thirty years of history that has previously been received by Josep Vallverdú, Maria Barbal, Guillem Terribas, Teresa Duran, Joan Francesc Mira and Pilarín Bayés. "I have a long career and I often have to justify myself. But if you don't do a best-seller "If you want to earn money for life, you have to write a lot. For me, it's not an effort; it's the most fun, enriching, and satisfying game," the writer emphasized.

"Literature is as important, if not more important, than Barça."

This year's Diffusion Award went to Catalunya Ràdio journalist David Guzman, who is the presenter of the literary program Emerald City and until recently also headed the extinct The irradiator"If you're a sports journalist, you don't need to explain why Barça is important. If you're a cultural journalist, you should always be raising your finger and demanding space," Guzmán emphasized, highlighting the dissonance between the current situation of cultural journalism and that of twenty-five years ago. "At that time, newspaper culture supplements had 15 or 20 pages, television had a channel dedicated to culture, and there was also Catalunya Cultura on the radio. The paradox is that twenty-five years ago, there weren't so many publishing houses, so many titles produced, and so many readers," said the journalist, who called for "the call to continue."

Catalan Book Week will feature more than 300 activities taking place in three locations (one more than last year) over the course of ten days. Among the invited writers are Sergi Pàmies, Blanca Llum Vidal, Xavier Bosch, Marta Orriols, Najat El Hachmi, Anna Starobinets, Maria Barbal, Joan Lluís Lluís, Jordi Sierra i Fabra, Perejaume, Sílvia Soler, and Adrià Targa. It will also include an "improved" family space, according to Domènech, with workshops and storytelling, and another dedicated to "book-based conversations that will go further." All of this, with the aim of celebrating "a celebration of books and Catalan literature" with the presence of publishers from Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Valencian Community, Andorra, and Northern Catalonia.