New milestone for Catalan: Barcelona will host a major translators' forum in 2026

Guadalajara (Mexico)The institutional narrative surrounding literary creativity at the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL) took a turn early Tuesday morning when the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, announced a significant milestone for the international impact of Catalan writers: Barcelona will host a global forum from November 23 to 26, 2026. Organized by the Institut Ramon Llull (IRL) in collaboration with the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC) and the Centre for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCCB), where it will be held, "it aims to boost translations of Catalan literature and ensure it reaches places where it hasn't been very present until now," Illa commented.

Barcelona's presence as a guest city in Guadalajara began by emphasizing the authors of the Latin American boom and in established figures like Eduardo Mendoza and Javier Cercas. Alongside the dozens of roundtables, presentations, and dialogues with a majority of Catalan-language writers, the Barcelona City Council's discourse clung even more tightly to the importance of building cultural bridges across the Atlantic with the announcement of the creation of an 80,000 euro literary grant for Latin American authors that narrate the Catalan capital in Spanish, which caused unease among authors, writers' associations, and some political groups.

A fair in turmoil

During his time at the FIL, Salvador Illa – who took the opportunity to meet behind closed doors with writers such as Eduard Olesti, Elisabet Solsona and Rocio Bonilla– stated that he had drawn the following lessons: the importance of Catalonia having ambition without falling into arrogance; the need for more culture and reading in the current context; and the realization that Catalonia must be open and engage with the world.

After a busy weekend of activities, the Barcelona delegation kept up the pace on Monday. In roundtables such as An argument called desireAuthors such as Adrià Targa, Ingrid Guardiola, Anna Pazos, David Moragas, and Sira Abenoza offered profound reflections on desire, stimulated by questions from Gabriel Ventura. Maite Carranza met with hundreds of students—the same format that will feature Joan Manuel Serrat on Thursday. Xavier Bosch traveled to a high school on the outskirts of Guadalajara to discuss his literature with students. There were tributes to Carlos Ruiz Zafón and Carmen Balcells, and in the FIL Science section, Eva Vidal and Mara Dierssen reflected on the threat of authoritarianism in scientific research. In the evening, Roger Mas's voice shone once again, accompanied by the Cobla Sant Jordi, and the first dramatic reading of [the book] took place. The Diamond Square, directed by Carlota Subirós, in one of the city's most important theaters, the Santander Performing Arts Complex.