In person, Zadie Smith (London, 1975) has as much character as the protagonists of her novels. For years, the author of novels such as White Teeth (2000) and NW (2012) –in Catalan at La Magrana– has combined fiction with essays, and this week she has visited Barcelona to present her latest and lush collection of non-fiction texts, Feel Free (Jande/Salamandra; translated into Catalan by Elena Ordeig Vila). In it, she recovers articles published in the press, prologues, award acceptance speeches, and some unpublished pieces where she combines autobiographical notes with burning issues of current affairs, such as addiction to mobile phones and the resurgence of racism. Smith, who has shared a conversation about beauty at the CCCB with the writer Édouard Louis, regrets having agreed to give interviews after having had a rough night. Perhaps that is why her answers are brief, although they cannot avoid containing, in essence, a sample of the novelist's intelligence.

The reader who starts Les conseqüències (Proa, 2026), the fifth novel by Pere Antoni Pons (Campanet, 1980), will have trouble stopping reading the story, magnetic, intriguing, and crafted with great skill, of a writer and journalist who, after his divorce and in the midst of a complex new romantic relationship, resumes contact with an old high school friend who will propose he investigate the mysterious visit to Mallorca of two Nazi officers in the middle of the Second World War. This is the starting point of a book that is devoured while following the adventures of a middle-aged man who, in parallel to his vital disorientation, knows how to unearth links between the fascism of the 1940s, the far-right groups that surfaced during the Transition, and the current resurgence of an ultraconservative radicalism. Three and a half years after Contra el món (Empúries, 2023), Les conseqüències confirms the skill and ambition of Pons, a poet, narrator, and literary critic (at ARA) who knows how to combine the speed required by a thriller with the digestion demanded by a novel of ideas, concerned with the anti-democratic and neoliberal drift of our present.

The Catalan Book Week is not satisfied with the 9,000 m² it occupies at the Passeig Lluís Companys in Barcelona until Sunday and is expanding into some activities outside the venue, such as the cocktail party celebrating the 50 years of La Magrana hosted at the Maritime Museum, with the presence of some of the authors who make up the current catalog of the label, such as Montse Virgili, David Moragas, Núria Perpinyà, Aina Gatnau, and M. Mercè Cuartiella. Also Cristina Genebat, winner of the first edition of the Lo Somni award with Sorra, who shortly before the start of the party could not find, like other authors from the house, which entrance to the museum to use. "Don't worry, sooner or later we will find the way," the novelist Aniol Florensa, whom she had just met, told her rightly, shortly before meeting a future author of the house, Paula Vidal, who will debut at La Magrana at the beginning of 2027.

La Setmana del Llibre en Català ha estat fidel a la cita anual amb els lectors des del 1983. Al llarg dels anys, la seva ambició ha anat creixent, i també ha crescut la resposta del públic, que en l'última dècada no ha deixat d'augmentar. Instal·lada al passeig Lluís Companys de Barcelona, la fira i festival té previst rebre enguany més de 100.000 visitants, que comprovaran una vegada més la frondositat i diversitat de l'oferta actual del llibre en català. La 44a edició de la Setmana estarà oberta del 18 al 27 de setembre, deu dies en què es programaran més de 350 activitats de tota mena –recitals, taules rodones, converses, contacontes i pòdcasts– que apel·len a un públic transversal.

The solid, versatile and successful literary journey of Ramon Solsona (Barcelona, 1950) has been recognized this year with the 30th Trajectòria award from the Setmana del Llibre en Català, which will be held at the Passeig Lluís Companys in Barcelona from September 18 to 27. The author of Les hores detingudes (Quaderns Crema, 1993), L'home de la maleta (Proa, 2011) and Allò que va passar a Cardós (Proa, 2016) will collect the award and take stock of his creative life in one of the central events of the fair and literary festival on September 23, at 7 p.m.

Lluís Llort has waited until the age of 60 to debut as an author of short stories. Born in Barcelona in 1966, the cultural journalist and novelist with a long and fruitful career has just published Short (crims.cat), thirty-seven narratives that "have discomfort as a common nexus". "Discomfort seems like a minor feeling, but it is more present in me than many of the feelings that abound in crime novels, such as revenge and hatred," the author asserts.

The writer Sebastià Alzamora (Llucmajor, 1972) has been awarded the National Poetry Prize, which is granted by the Ministry of Culture and is endowed with 30,000 euros. The jury has chosen his work Sala Augusta seguit de Llengua materna (Proa, 2025) for "its ability to transition, with identical genius, from the impassioned language of historical denunciation to the delicacy of domestic space". They also highlight that in this collection of poems, which is an evocation of Alzamora's memory, the author "weaves together with mastery collective history and family intimacy". "They called me shortly before lunch, while I was working on my new novel from home, in Llucmajor –comments the Majorcan author and ARA columnist by phone–. I picked up because I thought it would be about work, but I could not have expected it to be María José Gálvez, the Director General for Books of the Ministry of Culture. She informed me of the jury's deliberations, which had just concluded".

Sandra Bruna (Barcelona, 1973) made the decision to launch her own literary agency when she was only 28 years old, even though she already had a decade of experience in the sector. A quarter of a century later, the agency represents a hundred authors –among whom are Maria Barbal, Francesc Miralles, Alejandro Palomas and Care Santos– and has a dozen employees. The first thing one sees when entering the office located on Carrer Còrsega in Barcelona's Eixample district is a large window from which the towers, already in an advanced phase of construction, of the Sagrada Família rise up. The image is a good metaphor for the Catalan agency itself, which despite being one of the most important still has the ambition to expand a little more.

Ian McEwan is approaching 80 years old with no intention of slowing down his creative pace. Born in 1948 in Aldershot (England), the author of Atonement (2001) and Saturday (2005) –both available in English at Anagrama– has recently experienced the loss of some of his generational peers, such as Martin Amis, who passed away in 2023, and has also witnessed other novelists announce that they were stopping their writing, as in the case of Julian Barnes. "For some time now, I have had to attend a few funerals of people I knew, and I have realized the amount of things that I did not know about them. The dead observe us with a touch of shame and another of pride for all that we do not know about them," explains McEwan from his home, on the occasion of the presentation of his new novel.

The robust, flexible, and young voice of Irene Solà (Malla, 1990) has won over thousands of readers around the world in less than a decade, and is currently one of the most translated and beloved authors in Catalan literature. The meteoric and still rising trajectory of the writer from Osona might lead the most malicious minds to think of a pact with the devil to gain such unusual repercussions. Solà has managed to have When I Sing and the Mountain Dances (Anagrama, 2019) translated into 23 languages and has garnered awards such as the Anagrama Novel Prize, the European Union Prize for Literature, and the Nota Bene Prize. Before this great success, which included a theatrical adaptation and even a symphonic work, Solà had already received the Documenta Prize for The Dikes (L'Altra, 2017) and the Amadeu Oller Prize for Beast (Galerada, 2012), her only collection of poems, which Anagrama has just reissued.

One random morning, the universe sets a trap for Nofre Canadell, and when he comes to, still dazed and with the word spricka tattooed on his thigh, he gets in touch with his wife and children and realizes that, without knowing how, fifteen years have passed. "His life will never be the same again –anticipates Ramon Mas (Sant Julià de Vilatorta, 1982), who this September publishes the novel Sempre és massa tard (L'Altra)–. I have been turning this story over in my mind for a long time. I must have had the first idea seven or eight years ago. It revolved around a father who could not regain contact with his children or his wife after falling into a temporal rift".

The American actress Susan Sarandon, who in February received the International Goya in Barcelona, denounced this Sunday in Venice, where she presented the film The echo chamber, having been excluded from some projects due to her criticism of Israel and her support for Palestine.

Before becoming one of the founders of the iconic group Skatalà in 1985, Josep Manel Pugés—who has died at age 66 as a result of a "serious illness," as announced by the band—played drums and guitar in several pioneering bands of the Barcelona punk scene. Since the late 70s, Pugés was linked to Clinic Humanoyds, Attak, Ruidos Molestos, or Shit S.A.

Although the humility and shyness that have always accompanied him make it difficult for him to express himself with much expansiveness, Maria Barbal (Tremp, 1949) is happy to have, since this September, a literary biography like the one dedicated to her by Carme Arenas (Granollers, 1954), Words for silence (Column). "Carme took an interest in my writing from very early on, and I am grateful to her that it was so. In the end, I ended up becoming one of the sources of documentation for her book —she admits with a minimal smile—. Although at first I resisted the project a little, I must recognize that I have ended up drawing benefits from it. It has helped me to become aware of the trajectory I have had, and also to remember from which people I come".

"Dear Mercè: it has been a long time since we heard from you. What are you doing? Where are you? How are you? [...] As you can see I am [sic] in La Molina where I am taking a rest cure of chilling". This is the postcard that the painter and pedagogue Susina Amat i Juvé (Barcelona, 1912-1983) sent on July 20, 1971, from the Catalan Pyrenees, to Mercè Rodoreda (Barcelona, 1908 - Girona, 1983), whom she had become friends with when they worked at the Propaganda Commissariat of the Generalitat, in the middle of the Civil War. The author, who at that time was finalizing one of her most emblematic novels, Broken mirror (1974), he replied to her from Vienna three weeks later to let her know about the difficult time he was going through: "I have been [sic] in Vienna for about four months, where a person very dear to me is dying little by little after a couple of brain surgeries".

Year after year, the Week of Catalan Books is growing in every sense. In 2025, sales figures climbed to a record 820,000 euros – 15% more than the previous edition – it received more than 100,000 visitors and occupied 8,900 m², with 94 stands, 312 exhibitors, and the presence of 265 publishing houses from all Catalan-speaking territories. This year, the venue on Passeig Lluís Companys in Barcelona — a location the Week reclaimed during the America's Cup year, due to the sporting competition which prevented it from being held at Moll de la Fusta — will expand to 9,000 m², will feature 98 stands, 332 exhibitors, and 282 publishing houses.

The works council of the Barcelona Libraries Consortium made a call this Tuesday, in front of the Sagrada Família, to all staff to massively support the strike, which has been active since the end of May. About fifty workers participated in the rally, but their request had an immediate and notable impact, as only 4 out of 37 libraries opened their doors. "There has been a 60% follow-up from the staff who were supposed to work the morning shift compared to 40% of the staff who are working behind closed doors," explained Ferran Burguillos, manager of the Libraries Consortium.

"Yes: in my second year of ESO I started / speaking Spanish / because the Catalans didn't get it / and because, as Sylvia Plath said, / every woman adores a fascist", writes Maria Sevilla Paris (Badalona, 1990) in one of the poems in Sylvia Plath, / every woman adores a fascist", writes Maria Sevilla Paris (Badalona, 1990) in one of the poems in Ni una o l'oposada flor (Arrebato Libros). On the left pages we read the original poems in Catalan. On the right, the Spanish version, which often becomes a transformative game, by Juan Andrés García Román and the author. Ni una o l'oposada flor explains, in a ductile and precise language, Sevilla's devotion to animals, plants, and all sorts of living organisms –including men–, while at the same time reflecting on her relationship with Catalan, which, although not the language her parents spoke to each other, has become her usual language, a professional tool – she is an associate professor at the University of Barcelona and runs workshops at the Casal dels Infants in Raval – and a vehicle for artistic expression, which has so far resulted in half a dozen books, including Dents de polpa (AdiA edicions, 2015), Plastilina (Fonoll, 2021), and La nit ovípara (Documents Documenta, 2024).

Els Teatres del Farró –made up of La Gleva and La Fàbrica– aim to consolidate the production and co-production of small and medium-format shows with remarkable artistic value. "We are not interested in disposable culture at all –remarked Albert de la Torre, its artistic director, this Monday during the season's presentation–. If we believe a production is extraordinary, it should be possible to see it again. It can't be that we let it die".

Five years after the arrival of Cràter's first book, Cràter's first book, Contes de la becada, by Guy de Maupassant, the publishing project confirms its growing ambition thanks to the boost of a new publishing house, Set Arcs. "I could have started another collection at Cràter or opted for this other path, which in the end seemed the best to me," comments editor Mariona Bosch, who at Set Arcs will team up with the doctor in philosophy, university professor, and politician Jordi Graupera and with filmmaker Ventura Durall, who premiered his latest film last December, who premiered his latest film last December, Supernatural.