One of the fruits of this year's harvest after wandering among the stalls of the Catalan Book Week was the novel by Grazia Deledda Honorable soulsPublished by Ela Geminada. Until now, almost two months later, I hadn't had the chance to read it, and I've discovered that it's an edition that includes a surprise gift, which is always appreciated.

Women's sport has become a central focus of current events. Its presence in Catalan newscasts has increased tenfold in the last decade and, although still far from parity, it already represents 30.6% of sports broadcasts, according to the Catalan Government's Plan to Promote Women's Sport in Catalonia 2024-2030. A comparison between the 1900 and 2024 Paris Olympics shows the extent to which the situation of women in professional sport has changed: at the 1900 Paris Olympics—the first to admit women—women athletes accounted for 2.2% of participants; by 2024, female competitors represented 50%.

If you have the chance to stop by the Disseny Hub Barcelona this weekend, you can still visit the exhibition Miguel Milán. (Pre)industrial designer, fantastic. In addition to showing iconic works by the creator (you'll want it all), it explores his life and career, highlighting a very artisanal and respectful way of working, both with materials and crafts. There's a kind of "Milan philosophy," about the whys and hows of the objects he designed, which is also very well explained through a video in which he himself appears talking to several people. My favorite moment is when he talks about benches (he designed many). "I really believe in the bench as an element of communication," said Milan. "When you're on a bench, you're forced to say good morning." It's true that the conversation might end up on a good day, and quite a lot, he also added that, but I loved that way of conceiving a bench. I left the DHUB with a book by Milan under my arm and thinking, precisely, about the Week of the Book in Catalan.

Last year, since the America's Cup took priority, Book Week was moved from the Muelle de la Madera to Paseo Lluís Companys. Going there now, I thought about that hierarchy in relation to the fate Trump envisions for Gaza and its population once subjugated: to dedicate them to tourism.

Standing at a stall during Catalan Book Week, I discover, to our mutual delight, my secondary school language and literature teachers. They're chatting with the writer Oriol Molas, another former student. "We come every year. We're here at ten in the morning, we're the first ones," they confess with amusement, even though they're coming all the way from Torelló (Osona). "We've already selected the stalls and publishers we want to see." They're loaded with books. How lucky I was, I think, to see them as passionate about literature as they were when they taught us. They've just retired after more than forty years of teaching at the Sant Miquel dels Sants School in Vic. They're a wealth of experience. Tell me the truth, are we really that bad?

Year after year the Catalan Book Week It continues to grow: each edition—this year's will mark its 43rd—increases visitors and surpasses sales from the previous one. With last year's change of location, from the Muelle de la Madera to Passeig Lluís Companys, the Week broke the bad omens (it left the old port of Barcelona and was delayed a few weeks due to the America's Cup) and managed to break its own record once again: it almost doubled its attendance, going from 0,000 to 20% more than in 2023, which meant going from 600,000 to 720,000 euros.

The great festival of Catalan literature, one of the most important cultural events in the Catalan capital, once again fills Passeig Lluís Companys with readers, publishers, booksellers, and authors. From Friday, September 19th to Sunday, September 28th, Barcelona will host a new edition of Catalan Book Week, an opportunity for book lovers to buy books and also to meet the authors. The celebration of the Week is presented, once again, as a Catalan book festival, which will feature author presentations and signings, conversations and roundtables, poetry recitals and theater evenings, literary tours and podcasts, among other activities.

Year after year, Catalan Book Week continues to grow: each edition—this year's edition will be the 43rd—increases visitors and surpasses sales from the previous one. With the change of location last year, the Muelle de la Madera on Paseo Lluís Companys, the Week once again broke its own record: it went from 60,000 to 100,000 visitors, and earned 20% more than in 2023, which meant going from 600,000 to 720,000 euros.

The writer's career paths Andreu Martín (Barcelona, 1949) and journalist David Guzman (Barcelona, 1978) have been recognized by the Catalan Book WeekThe fair will be held from September 19th to 28th on Passeig Lluís Companys, a location that was tested last year and yielded positive results, with almost 100,000 visitors. "We've experienced enormous growth and brought Catalan books to the city center," said Ilya Pérdigo, president of the Catalan Language Publishers Association and the event's organizer, on Tuesday. In the next edition, the Week will have more booths, a greater presence of labels, and more exhibitors. "These are record numbers. We're convinced it's a major national event, and we want to reflect that," said Cristina Domènech, the initiative's director. In addition to the booths, new spaces will be added, such as a reading corner and a language tent, "to improve the visitor experience."