"Today is an important day for the authors of our country, because the entities that represent them have joined together to promote a shared publishing contract model that is more transparent, balanced, and respectful", announced this Monday at the Ateneu Barcelonès Sebastià Portell (ses Salines, 1992), president of the Association of Writers in the Catalan Language since 2022, during the presentation of the initiative he has promoted and to which eight more entities have joined, representing a total of more than 4,000 authors. "The main objective is to improve the conditions of our representatives, which in many cases are precarious", he added, accompanied by representatives from PEN Català, the Association of Writers of Catalonia (ACEC), the Professional Association of Translators and Interpreters of Catalonia (APTIC), and three playwright associations: the Catalan, the Valencian, and that of the Balearic Islands. The initiative, a pioneer in the State, has encountered a first hurdle, that of the publishers, who "for the moment have refused to be part of the conversation".

The announcement by Barcelona City Council of a new literary grant for Latin American authors The event held at the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL) has stirred up controversy in the Catalan cultural and political world. Complaints from writers like Núria Cadenes and Melcior Comes have been joined by those from the Association of Writers in the Catalan Language (AELC), and finally, political unease: both the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (Junts per Catalunya) have called for its removal. For its part, the City Council's Deputy Mayor for Culture, Xavier Marcé, explained to Guadalajara that he finds it difficult "to see a controversy in this matter." According to Marcé, what should be done is to examine "the commitment to Catalan in relation to the overall initiatives and not just this specific action."

Last year, one in four authors from the Catalan Association of Dramaturgy (ACD) did not receive payment for their work. And the situation has improved: in 2021, it was two out of four. To put an end to these situations, six authors' organizations have drawn up the Manual of good practices in the performing arts, a document that lays the foundations for contracting in this field and establishes the conditions under which work should be carried out. "Imagine that you have a job interview and they tell you that you can start the next day. You go home happy and explain it to your friends. But when they ask you how much you will be paid, you don't know how to answer. You haven't signed a contract. This irregular situation, which many professionals in other fields would not accept, is very common in culture, hundreds of associated authors.