This Tuesday, the program Más vale tarde on La Sexta lived up to the program's title. Suspiciously, they collected, a week late, the statements by Eduardo Mendoza disowning Sant Jordi and calling for 'Dia del Llibre' as the name for the day. Two days before the celebration, they thought it more opportune to revive the controversy. They haven't been the only ones. Other Spanish media outlets waited until the eve of Sant Jordi to turn it into news that had ruined the celebration. Saying it “makes Sant Jordi rare”, or it “stirs up” Sant Jordi, as if in Catalonia we were throwing plates at each other in the middle of the celebration.A Better late than never, after commenting on the health status of the bullfighter Morante de la Puebla, who was gored, Iñaki López made a simile with the writer: “A very hard tumble too, but much less bloody, is the one Eduardo Mendoza has taken...”. They turned Mendoza into the victim of the Catalans' anger. “Things got complicated”, “You don't know what a mess it's become”, “He must have really had it coming”, the presenters pointed out before continuing to explain the news. The program's editor explained how the writer had tried to rectify by tweeting on social media that it was a joke, a comment that the editor interpreted and defined as “an apology”. The program regretted that, even so, the writer had received criticism, and focused on a tweet by Carles Puigdemont. They turned the events into a political issue. To demonstrate it, they conducted the classic useless street survey to show that in Catalonia there are opinions for everything when it comes to choosing between Saint George's Day and Book Day: “¿What do they think in Barcelona?”. They interviewed four people. Three ladies and one gentleman. The man declared himself against Mendoza's statements and the first woman dismissed it by arguing that it was the writer's typical sense of humor. The second suspected if the author's comment hid an interest in selling more books and the last one claimed Saint George's Day and Book Day from a perfect equidistance. To collect the survey, the presenter Cristina Pardo added with a certain tone of arrogance: “¡And it is that free opinions, always, yes!”There are four aspects of this television treatment that should be highlighted. The first, postponing the controversy for a week to move it to the eve of Saint George's Day. The second, turning Eduardo Mendoza into a victim. The third, showing four responses from people on the street, very varied, as representatives of a very undefined and disparate popular positioning. The fourth is very subtle: the presenter, with a certain arrogance, claimed free opinions as if at some point someone had lost their freedom to opine. Mendoza had it to express himself and whoever wanted it had it to react. It is curious this use of the word freedom as if it only belonged to a few. And, above all, to reproach the popular or identity-based outcry as an example of coercion to freedom.

The Catalan Book Chamber published this Monday the list of best-selling books in the week before Sant Jordi in fiction, non-fiction, and children's and young adult books, both in Catalan and Spanish. As usual, new releases are climbing to the top positions.

In recent days it has become fashionable to criticize Sant Jordi, which, on the other hand, is criticizable like any other day of the year. The thing is that, traditionally, it is one of the most anticipated days for Catalans, who curiously and in general, are in a good mood and go out into the streets to mingle among roses and books, a combination that seems to me much more fitting than pineapple on pizza. But we cannot interfere with each person's palate, even though there are few things as disgusting to eat at the same time as pineapple and pizza. But we cannot interfere. The fact is that, with the number of things that don't work, wanting to criticize Sant Jordi's day is a desire to be seen, a fact that, on the other hand, I understand perfectly, because in some way one has to stand out among so many people who occupy space, among so many writers, among so many criticizing Sant Jordi's day is a desire to be seen, a fact that, on the other hand, I understand perfectly, because in some way one has to stand out among so many people who occupy space, among so many writers, among so many youtubers, influencers or podcasters. And listen, let everyone say what they think because everyone also opines what they feel like. Now we will not open the debate about the excess of both. And neither Sant Jordi's day, nor the world of books, much less the saints, are perfect, but I can think of a long list of things that need to be eliminated before this celebration. By the way, I remember that it is a working day, and that no one is obliged to celebrate it. Neither as a citizen, nor as a writer, nor as a florist. 

After Eduardo Mendoza, who thinks it's better not to say “Sant Jordi” (now that tourists had learned it, darn it!), the author of Cobi, Mariscal, wanted to contribute to Catalan design. On El matí de Catalunya Ràdio he said: “I really like changing things. It makes me very nervous that we still say Semana Santa. ¿Semana Santa of what? Or Navidades. These are those Catalan things that... You can't touch that, like bread with tomato. ¿What are you telling me? Come on, screw it!”

The political chronicle continues to be a judicial chronicle, with the trials continuing against Jorge Fernández Díaz and the patriotic police leadership, against Ábalos and Koldo, and against the Pujol family.

When Transbordo en Moscú, the last volume of Las tres leyes del movimiento, Eduardo Mendoza (Barcelona, 1943) thought it was time to retire. "The best thing I could do was retire, because I had already written everything I wanted to –he recalls at Casa del Libro in Barcelona–. Then I started to get bored and thought I would do something else without forgetting that I was in injury time." That was five years ago and, since then, Mendoza has published Tres enigmas para la Organización (2024) and, just this week, La intriga del funeral inconveniente, both published by Seix Barral, like the rest of his work. "Eduardo has often considered stopping writing and has even announced it, but we are lucky that he has done the opposite afterwards –admits Elena Ramírez, his editor–. Last year was very hectic for him, with everything that the Princess of Asturias Award and several trips entailed, including the Guadalajara Book Fair. Nothing suggested he was working on a new novel".

The International Book Fair (FIL) opened its doors just a day and a half ago, but the sheer number of events and emotions experienced in the Barcelona pavilion is overwhelming. On Saturday afternoon, Roger Mas delighted passersby with a performance of three songs, including a magnificent adaptation of a poem by Jacint Verdaguer: "Exile feels long to me / I'm being taken to the other shore / my eyes are sleepy / and walking tires me." WalkingPart of the Catalan delegation of authors, editors, agents, and journalists still bore the marks of the long transoceanic journey on their faces.

Tourism of Catalonia has created a new literary route which travels to different points in Barcelona following the novel The City of Wondersby Eduardo Mendoza. In the book, Mendoza recounts the changes experienced in Barcelona at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries due to the Universal Expositions of 1888 and 1929, which transformed the city. This literary route follows the main settings of the novel.

Quim Carandell, vocalist and leader of The Ludwig BandHe's an avid and experienced reader. With his bandmates from the Empordà region, he spends half the week traveling all over Catalonia to festivals and local festivals. But, amidst all the hustle and bustle of the road, he also has plenty of idle hours of traveling and waiting, which are made more enjoyable with a good book in his hands. For this summer, Carandell recommends one he hasn't read yet: The truth about the Savolta case, by Eduardo Mendoza, one thriller well woven about murders and gunmen in Barcelona in the first half of the 20th century.

Surprises can come from the most unlikely places: Eduardo Mendoza (Barcelona, ​​1943) received the news that he had been awarded the 2025 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature at the doctor's office, and a few hours later he received the media at the Jaume Fuster Library, suffering from a growing hoarseness. "I'm going to answer briefly and with ups and downs," warned Mendoza, although he was generous with his responses and patiently faced the "guerilla firing squad" of photographers. Among the 24 candidates from 16 nationalities vying for the award, the jury highlighted Mendoza's literary contribution, with "a set of novels that combine his desire for innovation with the ability to reach a very wide audience, and that enjoy widespread international recognition." "The award has, above all, a great effect of satisfaction, to think that just fifty years after publishing the first novel [The truth about the Savolta case] I haven't been sent to the room of bad toilets yet, and that's very nice," Mendoza said. "I've dedicated my whole life to doing what I like most, which is writing and being lazy, and in the end they've rewarded me in this way," he stressed. is a "provider of happiness." Regarding the role of humor in his work, he explained that after publishing his first serious novel, albeit with touches of humor, he opened "a branch exclusively dedicated to humor." The important thing about humor is not to lower the bar. You have to be respectful of the reader," he said.