Just two years ago, David Uclés (Úbeda, 1990) led a nomadic life, outside the formal workforce. He spent his summers playing the accordion in front of the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, and with what he earned during those months he got by for the rest of the year. "If I'm short of money, I paint a picture and sell it," he said. he said shortly after publishing The peninsula of empty houses (Siruela, 2024), when that novel about the Civil War was beginning to become a phenomenon thanks to word of mouth and the author's charisma, who speaks as readily about his literary idols as about the housing crisis or the beret he's worn for almost two decades.

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.

Until now Mercè Rodoreda She has been the most international author among all the contemporary classics of Catalan literature: more than 225 translations can be read in around forty languages. Historically, Salvador Espriu's work has also crossed many borders, and during the last decade, books such as Uncertain glory, by Joan Sales, and The gray notebook, by Josep Pla, have landed in countries such as the United States, China, France and Germany. There is a phenomenon that, until now, has been growing almost secretly: the extraordinary boom in translations of Montserrat Roig (1946-1991). From 2021 to 2027, 25 translations will have been published in a dozen languages.