These are the favorite books of Catalan booksellers

Barcelona"Asthma Alghoul She is a very brave, honest and committed woman who has lived in the Gaza Strip for thirty years. The rebellious woman of Gaza "It's a cry and an indispensable commitment to their country and their language," explains Mohamad Bitari, the editor of Éter. "We have been working for many years to build a bridge between Catalonia and the Arab world," adds the editor who has collected, on behalf of the Palestinian journalist and writer, the Llibreter award for the best essay book "L'en postre tiene un momento libre". "It's very difficult and we didn't want to put more pressure on her, but every fifteen minutes she posts a post on Facebook asking for help for someone," adds Bitari, who has announced a second edition of the book, also signed by the Lebanese writer and journalist Sélim Nassib. To bridge the gap between the two cultures, Éter is working on publishing it in Arabic this fall. Towpath by Jesús Moncada.

The Libreros Awards are the only ones where voting is done by booksellers. Authors and publishers have called for some hope in a world that is becoming increasingly dark. This has been done, for example, by the Icelandic writer Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, who has been awarded for Eden (Club Editor): "I write in a language that practically no one understands. In a world so miserable and dominated by the arms industry and so full of suffering, it's important to write about hope and reparation, and about how we console one another; it's important to write with hope. Language cannot be a tool of power except between men.

Intimate stories by women.

Very intimate stories with female authors have won the awards presented at this year's 26th edition. In the Catalan literature category, the winner was Montse Albets (Mataró, 1977)The writer, who is also a bookseller, proofreader, and editorial consultant, tells a story about coping with grief and loss. The jury considered that Only earth, only rain, only mud (Periscope) "draws from the best of Víctor Català": "Written with great warmth and skillful use of various literary registers, it offers a lively read with a complex and emotionally charged plot."

The two winners of other literary awards are also women. Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, awarded by Eden (Club Editor) tells a story about a linguist specializing in minority languages who decides to plant 5,600 trees to offset the carbon footprint of the flights she's taken over the past year. "It highlights the importance of small, everyday things and immerses us in a magical setting like this corner of Iceland surrounded by nature," the jury says. The Canadian author Jocelyne Saucier has been awarded by It was raining birds (Ed. Minúscula). Saucier transports the reader to the wilds of Canada to tell a story about elderly people living independently without electricity or running water. "They join hands in an environment of calm, friendship, and the passage of time through serenity and memory," the jury notes. Minúscula's editor, Valeria Bergalli, has praised books like Saucier's, which "find a place in the hearts of readers, and that doesn't always mean they're successful, so to speak," Bergalli said. Reading the book, I did want to grow old because the novel disassociates old age from negative attributes like illness and dependency.

The Corb brothers (Blindi Books) by Oriol Canosa, with illustrations by Cristina Bueno, has won the Librero award for children's and young adult literature in Catalan, and The skull (Blackie Books) by Jon Klassen has won the Other Literature Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature.