Barcelona, the Catalan publishing capital, is still explained in Spanish.

Guadalajara (Mexico)"I'm a huge fan of everything related to Josep Pla," explained Juan Carlos, a high school teacher in Guadalajara, Mexico, one of the many visitors early in the morning at the bookstore located in the plaza that replicates the Barcelona pavilion, right at the entrance to the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL). "I discovered him with The gray notebook "Many years ago, and since then I've bought every book of his," he adds, showing off the little treasure that has just been recommended to him: the recent Spanish translation of The man in the overcoatThe biography with which Valentí Puig won the Josep Pla Prize in 1998.

Valentí Puig is one of the many authors who have traveled to Guadalajara in book form. The diversity of Catalan literature is quite well reflected in the Barcelona pavilion, where, amidst the throngs of fair visitors, one might encounter poets like Susanna Rafart, whose work has just been translated in Mexico for the first time, Ferran Burguillos, manager of Barcelona libraries, and the small delegation of Andorran publishers, of which they are a part (Trotalibros). The FIL opened its doors just an hour ago, but thousands of literature-hungry readers are already filling the dozens of stands of publishers such as Océano, Akal, Hachette, Santillana, Anagrama, and Harper Collins. Grupo Planeta and Penguin Random House are located very close to the Barcelona pavilion. The two publishing giants are keeping each other company – and competing – side by side: Planeta's main attraction for the public is an immersive installation dedicated to The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón; Penguin, for its part, dedicates a space to Bluey, one of the most popular and endearing dogs of recent years.

To fight to defend the literary word

Dozens of attendees have been making their way into the main auditorium for the opening ceremony, which started a quarter of an hour late: in Mexico, the difficult management of crowds constantly doubles the punctuality. When, finally, the master of ceremonies introduced the participants, the audience greeted them with applause and shouts of unrestrained enthusiasm. Instead of dignitaries about to deliver official speeches, they give the impression of masked wrestlers about to engage in a fierce fight.

In Guadalajara, however, the punches are replaced by praise for the power of the literary word and, above all, for Barcelona, ​​the guest city of honor at this year's event. The first to praise the Catalan capital was José Trinidad Padilla López, president of the FIL (Guadalajara International Book Fair): "There are cities like Barcelona that are built with books, with libraries—there's at least one public library in every neighborhood—and with dissent, and cities that, like Guadalajara, grow with the certainty that the word belongs to them." Among the Barcelona authors Padilla highlighted was Enrique Vila-MatasCarlos Ruiz Zafón, Mercè Rodoreda and Ildefonso Falcones: weeks before the fair, the author of the bestselling novel The Church by the Sea He complained about not being invited.

Marisol Schulz, managing director of the FIL, began her eulogy in Barcelona with lyrical words from the Granadan poet Federico García Lorca. She also mentioned the importance of the Latin American Boom through figures such as Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa and the literary agent Carmen Balcells, who will be honored. Catalan literature has once again emerged only through the figure of Mercè Rodoreda, who has lent her name to the Barcelona slogan: "The flowers will come."

Barcelona's publishing capital

"Today Barcelona is fulfilling a dream: to be here in Guadalajara," began Mayor Jaume Collboni, who wanted to remind everyone that the city loves books with words from Cervantes' Don Quixote. "We are the leading publishing capital of Spain," he noted, before mentioning Ruiz Zafón's Cemetery of Forgotten Books and championing the "new generation of authors little known outside of Catalonia, especially women," without naming any specifically. He did mention Mercè Rodoreda, "the author who has best captured the essence of the city." Later, he recalled that "in Mexico we saved words" thanks to the welcoming of numerous Republican exiles, including poets like Josep Carner and novelists like Pere Calders. Turning to the present, Collboni referred to some of the Latin American authors currently living in the city, such as Rodrigo Fresán, Juan Pablo Villalobos, Jordi Soler, and Paulina Flores. Also to two names that are very beloved in Mexico: the writer Eduardo Mendoza and the singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat. Although Catalan literature is the most prevalent In the program that Barcelona presented at the fair, he was regrettably absent from the opening speeches, with the honorable exception of Rodoreda.

Amin Maalouf receives the fair's grand prize

Endowed with 150,000 euros, the FIL Prize for Literature in Romance Languages has been awarded to the Franco-Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf (Beirut, 1949), author of novels such as Leo Africanus and essays like The Labyrinth of the Lost. “We live in a bewildering and terrifying era, but it is also one of the most wonderful in history thanks to numerous technological advances,” Maalouf said. “Since I was a child, I have never stopped wanting to observe what was happening in the world. This observation has brought me joys and also sorrows and disappointments. I thought that justice, justice, justice, justice, justice, justice, justice, justice, justice, justice, justice, justice, justice, justice, justice, spreading throughout the planet, that nations would make efforts to understand each other better, that the words of international organizations would be heard by countries large and small, that the great ideologies and religions would understand each other, and that the barbarity of war and violence would cease to exist.” Despite the fact that science and technology have “progressed greatly and rapidly,” moral evolution “has stagnated or is even regressing.” For Maalouf, it is necessary that “humanity be able to rise above greed and prejudice” in order to to rise to the challenge of the "great moral issues" and reverse "the current regression of universalism and democracy." "When we move from war to peace, nothing guarantees that we won't be at war again someday," he warned, before reminding everyone that "individual human and moral actions are crucial to maintaining rights and preventing regression." "Either we survive together, or we disappear together," the writer concluded.