IF YOU'RE in the Comunidad Valenciana any time between now and the early hours of March 20, you may notice an awful lot of noise and colour on the streets. It's the season for the region's biggest festival,...
Authors' autographs: Who's who at Saint George's Day book fair
22/04/2022
EVEN if you're not English, you can still feel patriotic on Saint George's Day, as long as you're somewhere in Spain.
Better still if you're in the north-eastern region of Catalunya, where the legendary dragon-slayer is the patron saint, but April 23 is also celebrated to a greater or lesser extent in other parts of the country, as well as in Portugal.
In Catalunya, though, George – known as Sant Jordi – is not associated with fire-breathing giant reptiles, but with the much less-hazardous and more calming notion of books and flowers.
Tradition has it that you should gift one or both to your sweetheart, spouse or, if you have neither, close friends and family on Sant Jordi's day – in fact, along with weddings, christenings, first communions, funerals and All Saints' Day, or November 1, the saint who inspires master carver ceremonies and red and white bunting among British expat communities is single-handedly responsible for some of florists' fattest profits all year.
An estimated one-third of a Catalunya-based flower shop's annual takings are amassed on April 23 each year – even in 2020, when the region celebrated a 'quarter-year' Sant Jordi on July 23 instead, so as not to lose it altogether when Spain went into lockdown.
Book stores typically make a huge percentage of their yearly earnings in the run-up to the start of the school term in September, given that pupils in Spain are required to buy their own textbooks; in Catalunya in particular but also elsewhere in the country where people have family or friends in that region also rake it in on Saint George's Day, enough that they could comfortably swap several weeks or months of 'ordinary' days' trading for that one date and still be better off.
What do books have to do with the saint known as George in England, Jordi in Catalunya, San Jorge elsewhere in Spain and São Jorge in Portugal?
Not a lot, in truth, other than the day his celebrations fall on. April 23 is known as International Book Day in tribute to Spain's best-selling fiction author in all time, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, whose novel Don Quijote de la Mancha has shifted more copies than any other, and to British playwright and poet William Shakespeare.
Both died in 1616, Cervantes 10 days before Shakespeare, but both on April 23.
This is because Spain was already using the Gregorian calendar, the one still current in most of the world today, whilst the UK had not yet made the transition and was on the Julian calendar.
Cervantes was an old man by 17th-century standards when he died – aged 69 – but Shakespeare was only 52; still fairly elderly back then, but not enough to die from old age. If they had been born in our time, they would have been in their early 90s and mid-80s respectively – a person in their 30s would have been the equivalent of today's new-ish pensioners in age terms.
And for book-lovers (and flower-lovers), Saint George's Day is a great time to be in Catalunya, where most towns set up stalls piled high with blooms and bestsellers – although, arguably, Barcelona is really where it's at. That's where you'll find entire streets turning into open-air libraries and blossoming gardens, and the stands and bookstores filled with famous authors from all over the planet signing their latest works, or copies of older ones fans bring with them.
Favourite non-Spanish writers who have been in Barcelona for Sant Jordi book-signings – writers you've definitely heard of – include Irish thought-provoking chick-lit author Marian Keyes (Sushi for Beginners, Rachel's Holiday, Watermelon) and US-born Norwegian novelist Siri Hustvedt (What I Loved, Summer Without Men) in 2017; British historians Mary Beard and Paul Preston, the latter of whom is considered one of the greatest foreign experts on Spain's past; Natjat el-Hachtmi (The Body-Hunter) who is back again this year, signing her works on Saturday at the FNAC store on the Passeig de Gràcia from 16.00 to 17.00 and at La Impossible on Sunday from noon to 13.00); and French thriller-writer Joël Dicker.
Huge absences at Sant Jordi book fairs which will be felt for the rest of readers' lives include Shadow of the Wind author Carlos Ruiz Zafón, whose four-part 'Cemetery of Forgotten Books' series made him the best-selling Spanish-language author in all history after Cervantes before and after his death in 2020, and prolific novelist Almudena Grandes, who passed away this year, leaving in her wake such epic multi-national masterpieces as The Frozen Heart and Frankenstein's Mother.
Which Spanish authors are there this year?
Sant Jordi book fairs are normally dominated by Spanish authors, particularly Catalunya-born writers, and most of the latter of these attend year after year.
A small number of international authors take part each year, as a nod to Barcelona's cosmopolitan nature and popularity with foreign tourists, which also means the Sant Jordi festival is more likely to attract visitors from abroad.
This said, many of the Spanish authors' works have been translated into numerous languages and are widely-read around the world, so you are likely to have heard of some of them, and even perhaps have read them yourself.
María Dueñas regularly appears in 'recommended reads' lists, and her key novels have been translated into English; the most famous of these is El Tiempo Entre Costuras (The Time in Between, aka The Seamstress) about a young sewing woman who flees to Tangiers with her lover just before the Spanish Civil War, and other much-loved follow-ups include La Templanza (A Vineyard in Andalucía), set between southern Spain and the UK in the 19th century, and Misión Olvido (The Heart Has its Reasons), where a professor whose life and marriage has fallen apart leaves Spain for California to take up what she thinks will be a mind-numbing academic research project, but which turns out to be an intriguing trail of mystery, suspense, and romance.
The author will be signing books at the FNAC store on the Passeig de Gràcia from 11.00 to noon, and on Sunday in the Plaza Universitat between 16.00 and 17.00.
Rosa Montero is known among English-speaking readers for the tragi-comic Instructions for Saving the World (Instrucciones para Salvar el Mundo), focusing on the everyday struggles of four very different characters – an African prostitute, a widowed taxi-driver, a disillusioned doctor and a middle-aged female biologist addicted to drink.
The Cannibal's Daughter (La Hija del Caníbal) has the main character, Lucía, dig down into her sense of identity and relationships, including those with her parents, as she attempts to solve the mystery of husband Ramón's abduction.
Absent Love (Crónica de un Desamor) is about a journalist and single mum who spends her life trying to solve her friends' relationship problems, whilst falling in unrequited love with her newspaper editor – an introspective and anti-romance modern-day Emma.
She will be signing books at the Casa del Llibre on the Passeig de Gràcia (between C/ València and C/ Mallorca) on Saturday from 18.00 to 19.00, at the book shop Laie on the same street from 13.00 to 14.00, and at the store La Impossible on Sunday from 19.00 to 20.00 and Abacus on the Passeig de Gràcia from 17.00 to 18.00.
Fernando Aramburu is one of those authors whose book title rings much louder bells than his own name – Patria soared straight to the top of the bestseller list, became a film, came out in paperback, and then appeared in English as Homeland, all within the space of just over two years.
A doorstopper of a novel, Homeland doesn't feel like it – rather like the late Carlos Ruiz Zafón, whose 900-page epics keep you up all night but will only last you the weekend, this crucial personal tale digging into the aftermath of some of Spain's most tragic recent history is a real page-turner. It focuses on a woman returning to the Basque village she left behind after her husband was killed in an ETA terrorist blast, and all her ghosts coming back to life.
You can get the writer's autograph between 18.00 and 19.00 on Saturday at the FNAC megastore on the Passeig de Gràcia, and also on the street itself between C/ Diputació and C/ Consell de Cent from noon to 13.00, and at the store Laie on the Passeig from 11.00 to noon.
Santiago Posteguillo is an English-language professor at Castellón University and has studied translation and creative writing in the USA and UK, so his huge tomes would inevitably end up being published for an English-speaking market – historical thrillers based in the Ancient world, making it feel as modern and real as if his characters were living now. Another one whose works should not put you off due to their size, the likes of Africanus, The Damned Legions, Rome is Me and I, Julia will stop you getting any housework done for days.
He will be signing his books at the FNAC megastore in the Triangle district from 11.00 to noon and on the Passeig de Gràcia between C/ Diputació and C/ Consell de Cent from 16.00 to 17.00, on Saturday, and at Abacus Passeig de Gràcia from 13.00 to 14.00 on Sunday.
If you loved The Pillars of the Earth or, indeed, anything else by Ken Follett, Ildefonso Falcones is Spain's home-grown version – his second novel, The Hand of Fátima (La Mano de Fátima) had a first print run of half a million copies nationally; a massive amount, especially for a book in a language other than English, given that the largest initial batches tend to be for novels destined for the US market.
It's set in mid-16th century Spain, told from the point of view of the moriscos, or Moors forced to convert to Christianity on pain of being deported, who fight back against the social injustice and violence they have been subjected to since the Inquisition.
Other world-famous, fast-paced works set in the Mediaeval era include The Cathedral of the Sea, The Barefoot Queen, Inheritors of the Earth, and Painter of Souls.
He will be signing books at the Casa del Llibre on the Passeig de Gràcia (between C/ València and C/ Mallorca) on Saturday from noon to 13.00 on Saturday.
Which international authors will be there this year?
Scandinavia and Greece are well represented at Sant Jordi 2022. Theodor Kallifatides, born in Sweden to Greek parents in 1938, is the author of Peasants and Masters (Bönder och Herrar), With the Coolness of her Lips (Med sina Läppars Svalka), Another Life: On Memory, Language, Love and the Passage of Time (Ännu ett Liv) and The Siege of Troy: A Novel (Slaget om Troja), all of which were originally written in Swedish but have long been on sale in English.
He will be signing books at Laie on the Passeig de Gràcia from 13.00 to 14.00, the FNAC in the Triangle district from 18.00 to 19.00 and on the Passeig de Gràcia between C/ Diputació and C/ Consell de Cent from 20.00 to 21.00, on Saturday.
Jo Nesbø, winner of the 2013 Peer Gynt Award and lead singer for the rock group Di Derre in his native Norway, is a household name all over the planet – part of the 21st-century Scandinavian romain noir movement, the most successful Norwegian author in all history (more so than Henrik Ibsen, whose folkloric play gave the name to the aforementioned award), with over 50 million copies of his works sold in over 50 languages, Nesbø's crime fiction gave us Inspector Harry Hole, and the 2011 film The Headhunters (Hodejegerne). You might be familiar with titles such as The Bat, The Redbreast, Nemesis, The Devil's Star, The Snowman, The Leopard, The Redeemer, and Cockroaches, or perhaps with his Olav Johansen novels, Blood on Snow (Blod på Snø) and Midnight Sun (Mere Blod).
You can get his autograph on your copies at the FNAC in the Triangle district from 19.00 to 20.00, and on the Passeig de Gràcia between C/ Diputació and C/ Consell de Cent from 17.00 to 18.00, on Saturday
Petros Márkaris (born Bedros Markaryan, in Istanbul), a Greek-Armenian translator and crime writer, has no intention of hanging up his pen despite his 85 years; thrillers with a touch of dry humour, Márkaris' novels feature the grumpy, set-in-his-ways detective Costas Haritos, from Athens, who bemoans foreigners, loss of traditional Greek values, and corruption in between cracking cases.
He will be signing his works at the Casa del Llibre from 13.00 to 14.00, Laie from 17.00 to 18.00 and the FNAC from 19.00 to 20.00 (all three on the Passeig de Gràcia) on Saturday.
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EVEN if you're not English, you can still feel patriotic on Saint George's Day, as long as you're somewhere in Spain.
Better still if you're in the north-eastern region of Catalunya, where the legendary dragon-slayer is the patron saint, but April 23 is also celebrated to a greater or lesser extent in other parts of the country, as well as in Portugal.
In Catalunya, though, George – known as Sant Jordi – is not associated with fire-breathing giant reptiles, but with the much less-hazardous and more calming notion of books and flowers.
Tradition has it that you should gift one or both to your sweetheart, spouse or, if you have neither, close friends and family on Sant Jordi's day – in fact, along with weddings, christenings, first communions, funerals and All Saints' Day, or November 1, the saint who inspires master carver ceremonies and red and white bunting among British expat communities is single-handedly responsible for some of florists' fattest profits all year.
An estimated one-third of a Catalunya-based flower shop's annual takings are amassed on April 23 each year – even in 2020, when the region celebrated a 'quarter-year' Sant Jordi on July 23 instead, so as not to lose it altogether when Spain went into lockdown.
Book stores typically make a huge percentage of their yearly earnings in the run-up to the start of the school term in September, given that pupils in Spain are required to buy their own textbooks; in Catalunya in particular but also elsewhere in the country where people have family or friends in that region also rake it in on Saint George's Day, enough that they could comfortably swap several weeks or months of 'ordinary' days' trading for that one date and still be better off.
What do books have to do with the saint known as George in England, Jordi in Catalunya, San Jorge elsewhere in Spain and São Jorge in Portugal?
Not a lot, in truth, other than the day his celebrations fall on. April 23 is known as International Book Day in tribute to Spain's best-selling fiction author in all time, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, whose novel Don Quijote de la Mancha has shifted more copies than any other, and to British playwright and poet William Shakespeare.
Both died in 1616, Cervantes 10 days before Shakespeare, but both on April 23.
This is because Spain was already using the Gregorian calendar, the one still current in most of the world today, whilst the UK had not yet made the transition and was on the Julian calendar.
Cervantes was an old man by 17th-century standards when he died – aged 69 – but Shakespeare was only 52; still fairly elderly back then, but not enough to die from old age. If they had been born in our time, they would have been in their early 90s and mid-80s respectively – a person in their 30s would have been the equivalent of today's new-ish pensioners in age terms.
And for book-lovers (and flower-lovers), Saint George's Day is a great time to be in Catalunya, where most towns set up stalls piled high with blooms and bestsellers – although, arguably, Barcelona is really where it's at. That's where you'll find entire streets turning into open-air libraries and blossoming gardens, and the stands and bookstores filled with famous authors from all over the planet signing their latest works, or copies of older ones fans bring with them.
Favourite non-Spanish writers who have been in Barcelona for Sant Jordi book-signings – writers you've definitely heard of – include Irish thought-provoking chick-lit author Marian Keyes (Sushi for Beginners, Rachel's Holiday, Watermelon) and US-born Norwegian novelist Siri Hustvedt (What I Loved, Summer Without Men) in 2017; British historians Mary Beard and Paul Preston, the latter of whom is considered one of the greatest foreign experts on Spain's past; Natjat el-Hachtmi (The Body-Hunter) who is back again this year, signing her works on Saturday at the FNAC store on the Passeig de Gràcia from 16.00 to 17.00 and at La Impossible on Sunday from noon to 13.00); and French thriller-writer Joël Dicker.
Huge absences at Sant Jordi book fairs which will be felt for the rest of readers' lives include Shadow of the Wind author Carlos Ruiz Zafón, whose four-part 'Cemetery of Forgotten Books' series made him the best-selling Spanish-language author in all history after Cervantes before and after his death in 2020, and prolific novelist Almudena Grandes, who passed away this year, leaving in her wake such epic multi-national masterpieces as The Frozen Heart and Frankenstein's Mother.
Which Spanish authors are there this year?
Sant Jordi book fairs are normally dominated by Spanish authors, particularly Catalunya-born writers, and most of the latter of these attend year after year.
A small number of international authors take part each year, as a nod to Barcelona's cosmopolitan nature and popularity with foreign tourists, which also means the Sant Jordi festival is more likely to attract visitors from abroad.
This said, many of the Spanish authors' works have been translated into numerous languages and are widely-read around the world, so you are likely to have heard of some of them, and even perhaps have read them yourself.
María Dueñas regularly appears in 'recommended reads' lists, and her key novels have been translated into English; the most famous of these is El Tiempo Entre Costuras (The Time in Between, aka The Seamstress) about a young sewing woman who flees to Tangiers with her lover just before the Spanish Civil War, and other much-loved follow-ups include La Templanza (A Vineyard in Andalucía), set between southern Spain and the UK in the 19th century, and Misión Olvido (The Heart Has its Reasons), where a professor whose life and marriage has fallen apart leaves Spain for California to take up what she thinks will be a mind-numbing academic research project, but which turns out to be an intriguing trail of mystery, suspense, and romance.
The author will be signing books at the FNAC store on the Passeig de Gràcia from 11.00 to noon, and on Sunday in the Plaza Universitat between 16.00 and 17.00.
Rosa Montero is known among English-speaking readers for the tragi-comic Instructions for Saving the World (Instrucciones para Salvar el Mundo), focusing on the everyday struggles of four very different characters – an African prostitute, a widowed taxi-driver, a disillusioned doctor and a middle-aged female biologist addicted to drink.
The Cannibal's Daughter (La Hija del Caníbal) has the main character, Lucía, dig down into her sense of identity and relationships, including those with her parents, as she attempts to solve the mystery of husband Ramón's abduction.
Absent Love (Crónica de un Desamor) is about a journalist and single mum who spends her life trying to solve her friends' relationship problems, whilst falling in unrequited love with her newspaper editor – an introspective and anti-romance modern-day Emma.
She will be signing books at the Casa del Llibre on the Passeig de Gràcia (between C/ València and C/ Mallorca) on Saturday from 18.00 to 19.00, at the book shop Laie on the same street from 13.00 to 14.00, and at the store La Impossible on Sunday from 19.00 to 20.00 and Abacus on the Passeig de Gràcia from 17.00 to 18.00.
Fernando Aramburu is one of those authors whose book title rings much louder bells than his own name – Patria soared straight to the top of the bestseller list, became a film, came out in paperback, and then appeared in English as Homeland, all within the space of just over two years.
A doorstopper of a novel, Homeland doesn't feel like it – rather like the late Carlos Ruiz Zafón, whose 900-page epics keep you up all night but will only last you the weekend, this crucial personal tale digging into the aftermath of some of Spain's most tragic recent history is a real page-turner. It focuses on a woman returning to the Basque village she left behind after her husband was killed in an ETA terrorist blast, and all her ghosts coming back to life.
You can get the writer's autograph between 18.00 and 19.00 on Saturday at the FNAC megastore on the Passeig de Gràcia, and also on the street itself between C/ Diputació and C/ Consell de Cent from noon to 13.00, and at the store Laie on the Passeig from 11.00 to noon.
Santiago Posteguillo is an English-language professor at Castellón University and has studied translation and creative writing in the USA and UK, so his huge tomes would inevitably end up being published for an English-speaking market – historical thrillers based in the Ancient world, making it feel as modern and real as if his characters were living now. Another one whose works should not put you off due to their size, the likes of Africanus, The Damned Legions, Rome is Me and I, Julia will stop you getting any housework done for days.
He will be signing his books at the FNAC megastore in the Triangle district from 11.00 to noon and on the Passeig de Gràcia between C/ Diputació and C/ Consell de Cent from 16.00 to 17.00, on Saturday, and at Abacus Passeig de Gràcia from 13.00 to 14.00 on Sunday.
If you loved The Pillars of the Earth or, indeed, anything else by Ken Follett, Ildefonso Falcones is Spain's home-grown version – his second novel, The Hand of Fátima (La Mano de Fátima) had a first print run of half a million copies nationally; a massive amount, especially for a book in a language other than English, given that the largest initial batches tend to be for novels destined for the US market.
It's set in mid-16th century Spain, told from the point of view of the moriscos, or Moors forced to convert to Christianity on pain of being deported, who fight back against the social injustice and violence they have been subjected to since the Inquisition.
Other world-famous, fast-paced works set in the Mediaeval era include The Cathedral of the Sea, The Barefoot Queen, Inheritors of the Earth, and Painter of Souls.
He will be signing books at the Casa del Llibre on the Passeig de Gràcia (between C/ València and C/ Mallorca) on Saturday from noon to 13.00 on Saturday.
Which international authors will be there this year?
Scandinavia and Greece are well represented at Sant Jordi 2022. Theodor Kallifatides, born in Sweden to Greek parents in 1938, is the author of Peasants and Masters (Bönder och Herrar), With the Coolness of her Lips (Med sina Läppars Svalka), Another Life: On Memory, Language, Love and the Passage of Time (Ännu ett Liv) and The Siege of Troy: A Novel (Slaget om Troja), all of which were originally written in Swedish but have long been on sale in English.
He will be signing books at Laie on the Passeig de Gràcia from 13.00 to 14.00, the FNAC in the Triangle district from 18.00 to 19.00 and on the Passeig de Gràcia between C/ Diputació and C/ Consell de Cent from 20.00 to 21.00, on Saturday.
Jo Nesbø, winner of the 2013 Peer Gynt Award and lead singer for the rock group Di Derre in his native Norway, is a household name all over the planet – part of the 21st-century Scandinavian romain noir movement, the most successful Norwegian author in all history (more so than Henrik Ibsen, whose folkloric play gave the name to the aforementioned award), with over 50 million copies of his works sold in over 50 languages, Nesbø's crime fiction gave us Inspector Harry Hole, and the 2011 film The Headhunters (Hodejegerne). You might be familiar with titles such as The Bat, The Redbreast, Nemesis, The Devil's Star, The Snowman, The Leopard, The Redeemer, and Cockroaches, or perhaps with his Olav Johansen novels, Blood on Snow (Blod på Snø) and Midnight Sun (Mere Blod).
You can get his autograph on your copies at the FNAC in the Triangle district from 19.00 to 20.00, and on the Passeig de Gràcia between C/ Diputació and C/ Consell de Cent from 17.00 to 18.00, on Saturday
Petros Márkaris (born Bedros Markaryan, in Istanbul), a Greek-Armenian translator and crime writer, has no intention of hanging up his pen despite his 85 years; thrillers with a touch of dry humour, Márkaris' novels feature the grumpy, set-in-his-ways detective Costas Haritos, from Athens, who bemoans foreigners, loss of traditional Greek values, and corruption in between cracking cases.
He will be signing his works at the Casa del Llibre from 13.00 to 14.00, Laie from 17.00 to 18.00 and the FNAC from 19.00 to 20.00 (all three on the Passeig de Gràcia) on Saturday.
Related Topics
You may also be interested in ...
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