Sant Jordi was born on Las Ramblas. And after the impasse of the pandemic years this 2023 he returns to the street where he started. It was in an almost centenary 1926, when Spain celebrated its first Book Day, although on October 7. «Then it was believed that Cervantes had been born that day. But a few years later the date of his death, April 23, was considered more certain. In 1931, the first April 23 was celebrated, coinciding with the festival of Sant Jordi and the tradition of the rose, which came from medieval times, when flowers were given in front of the Generalitat, “explains Patrici Tixis, president of the Book Chamber of Catalonia, an entity that in the 1920s promoted the celebration of Book Day throughout Spain, linked to Don Quixote.
Hardly anyone remembers the figure of the editor and writer Vicente Clavel Andrés (1888-1967), a Valencian living in Barcelona, ??founder of the Cervantes publishing house and vice-president of the Catalan Book Chamber: for his commitment, his passion for Cervantes and his long efforts of three years he managed to get the State to institutionalize Book Day. And it was in Barcelona where he had the greatest success. “Booksellers estimate that 40% more than the other days have been sold in Barcelona, ??with a collection of some 15,000 pesetas,” wrote the chronicle of the newspaper El Sol in 1926, adding the significant quote from a bookseller: “Of a hundred buyers that enter my establishment, 80 are women».
Of the 15,000 pesetas of 1926, in 2022 Sant Jordi had a turnover of 22.5 million euros, with more than 1.7 million books sold. Despite the rain and hail at intervals, Sant Jordi in 2022 was “the best in history”, in the words of Tixis, and was 1.5% higher than the pre-pandemic 2019. “We hope to repeat the figures for 2022. This will be an even bigger Sant Jordi, with more kilometers of book stands [4.3 km in total], more authors signing books and more spaces in the city, especially with the recovery of the 278 meters of Las Ramblas, which has always been the nerve center,” adds Tixis. From mountain to sea, all of Barcelona will be filled with books and roses, from the premiere of Gran de Gràcia to Plaça Reial.
With an increase of 25%, it goes from 170 stops with writers signing to 213 this year. Among international authors, the landing of the queen of Scandinavian noir Camilla Läckberg stands out (this will be her first Sant Jordi) and among national authors the unusual presence of Pedro Almodóvar, who publishes the book of autobiographical stories El último sueño (Reservoir Books). The bestseller Eva García Sáez de Urturi promises to once again lead the top 5 best-selling books with her brand new El Ángel de la Ciudad (Planeta) and repeat the podium of 2022, when she tied with Santiago Posteguillo as the best-selling authors (she with El Black Book of Hours and he with Rome is me).
«This year there is a great literary diversity, with many novelties even among the best sellers. I don’t see a clear title that stands out among the others. In reality, the best-seller lists represent only 5% of the sales of Sant Jordi”, warns Éric del Arco, president of the Guild of Booksellers of Catalonia, who also runs the mythical Documenta bookstore.
As usual in the Diada, sales of books in Catalan (52%) slightly exceed those in Spanish (48%): the only time of the year when the trend is reversed, since two out of every three books sold sold in Catalonia are in Spanish.
In addition to books and roses, Sunday will be a football day with Barça-Atlético de Madrid, which takes place at 4:15 p.m. at the Camp Nou, with the consequent problem of logistics, mobility and security deployment. «Sant Jordi lasts 12 hours, game two. There are a million people in Sant Jordi and 100,000 in the stadium, we are not worried about their affectation, “says Del Aro. Beyond the traffic problems, the City Council and the police and emergency forces have coordinated a security device for both events, to which is added the tennis final of the Conde de Godó Trophy. But on April 23, the book is always the protagonist.
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