The sky looked like something out of a Brontë sisters novel, with threatening clouds ready to ruin everything. But despite the punctual downpour that he unleashed in the Madrid sunset, the party of Aprilthe book supplement of this newspaper, it could be enjoyed for the most part as would be expected on these dates: outdoors, with temporary refuge indoors and in the same place as last year, the terrace of the Melia Fenix hotel from the Plaza de Colon.
Parties are an essential part of the Madrid Book Fairthe meeting point where authors, editors, booksellers and journalists come together when the day ends at the Retiro and, having fulfilled their commitment to readers, they indulge in the noble arts of relaxed chatting and drinking with more or less restraint . April He celebrated his Friday, the only one that, today, convenes a means of communication.
The Prensa Ibérica book supplement celebrates one year and a little over a month consolidated as a reference header in the literary world. On paper, it is published in its entirety with EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA and EL PERIÓDICO DE CATALUNYA, and in a mixed version with another cultural supplement of the group, the Bellver in april of Diario de Mallorca, as well as on the websites of almost all the group’s media in its digital version.
A party marked his birth, which was celebrated in Sant Jordi when he was barely a few days old, and a few weeks later it was replicated in the capital on the occasion of its Fair. Two literary events of such magnitude deserved a celebration to match, and in just one year, and with the sponsorship on this occasion of the Planet Group, both parties have become an essential event in which, in addition to the universe that surrounds the book, it is also common to see politicians, representatives of the business world and communicators. On this occasion was the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports of the Community of Madrid, Martha Rivera de la Cruz. But politics was the least talked about.
As those who work in the sector know, there is something heroic in publishing a weekly print supplement of at least 16 pages dedicated exclusively to books, the only one with this model that exists in Spain, and there they were Juan Cruz and Alex Salmonthe parents of the child, with Ines Martin Rodrigoa whole Nadal Award winner who is its most outstanding editor, and with Gemma Robles and Albert Saezthe respective directors of THE SPANISH NEWSPAPER and EL PERIÓDICO DE CATALUNYA, with which it is published. Javier Moll, president and founder of Prensa Ibérica, underlined the group’s satisfaction with the experience. “The balance of what has happened with April It is very positive, and we look to the future with great optimism. The authors follow it and look for it, and we realize that they like it& rdquor;. These authors endorsed it at the party, commenting in detail on some of the sections. There were even those who proposed making a book collecting the articles that are published in the “I have come to talk about my book” section, where they are the ones who write about their works and how they carried them out.
The authors are the protagonists of all this, and they were not missing from the party. Many veteran writers circulated on the terrace of the Hotel Fénix, other younger ones and a few who had just started. Were Julia Navarro, Angeles Gonzalez Sinde, Sergio Ramirez, Javier Cercas either Julio Llamazares, contributor to this newspaper. But also the rookies mar garcia puighappy for the fourth edition of his book The history of vertebrates, Alvaro Llamas either Charo Lagares. And they also moved around Lawrence Silva, Juan Gómez Bárcena, Marcos Giralt Torrente, Alba Carballal or Marta Jiménez Serrano, author of one of the most commented books of the moment, Not everyone. A sigh of relief was heard when Joaquin Reyes made an appearance. On the occasion of Sant Jordi he was invited to the party of April in Barcelona, but the author and humorist appeared precisely here, on the terrace of the Fénix in Madrid. This time he arrived and the party and the drinks were waiting for him.
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With the rains, at times torrential, that have shaken Madrid in recent days, people talked about the weather it has been doing at the Fair. The general opinion, summed up her director, Eva Orueis that, despite everything, this year aims to end with better figures than the previous one. Eva Serrano, editor of Círculo de Tiza, explained it based on the learning that the discomforts of recent years have been. “People have come to the Book Fair with masks, with capacity that forced three-hour queues… So now they come with an umbrella and that’s it.”
Ready for anything and more than used to experiencing storms and roasting inside a booth, Rosa Montero, one of the authors always most sought after by readers, said that she has hardly set foot on the Fair yet, because she had just arrived from a trip to Brazil, but what she has ahead of her is a long-distance race. “Starting tomorrow I sign almost every day. But the thing is that if I don’t do it, I don’t have time to sign with my booksellers friends. I do it every year & rdquor ;. Always enthusiastic, Montero’s good spirits coincided with the joy that the Bulgarian gave off Georgi Gospodinov, the brand new winner of the last international booker prize, hallucinated with what he had seen in the Retiro: the masses of people leafing through books, the dozens of authors chatting with their readers and the stream of people who came to get their book signed. Then the auction, with a Dry Martini in the hand. All the pools indicate that he will repeat at the Fair, and probably at the festival of April.
