Traditionally in Merli, Barcelona today announced the cultural menu to be presented at the Buenos Aires Book Fair

BARCELONA.- What is a city today? What does it mean to be a city in these times when the urgency of globalization is made worse by the need to rethink the concepts of freedom, openness, tolerance, exchange, civilization, debate ? Directly or tangentially, these questions guide the story with which
Barcelona, ​​city of honor guest of the

Book Fair

from Buenos Aires, it is proposed to disembark in April during the great cultural event of Buenos Aires. And in this sunny afternoon, north of winter, there is a press conference under the rose windows and stained glbad windows of the Saló de Cent, in Barcelona City Hall, the historic center of the city. On the outside, yellow festoons claiming freedom for pro-independence prisoners; inside, Mayor Ada Colau and a delegation of cultural leaders: the director of the Ramon Llull Institute, Iolanda Batallé, Francesc Vilaró, Secretary General for Culture of the Generalitat and
the new president of the El Libro Foundation, María Teresa Carbano. It is spoken in Catalan and everything suggests a desire to leave a mark. "From this fair, continuity and cooperation," promised Batallé.

Tradition and avant-garde; regional identity and cosmopolitanism: from these contradictions and this wealth, the streets that lead us to the city council are made, and this spirit is also perceived at the conference. In addition, the city of Barcelona knows that it has an important literary tradition and a recognized editorial power. These two aspects will be crucial in the program that brings to the Book Fair of Buenos Aires, as well as in the historical links between the two cities, marked by exiles of double track: European migrations of the end of the XIXth century and exiled Republicans who arrived at our country with the end of the Spanish Civil War (this year marks the 80th anniversary), the Argentineans who arrived in Barcelona fleeing the first military dictatorship and successive economic crises that followed. Bilingualism, which will inhabit two houses, Spanish and Catalan, will also be very present at a time when the debate on independence is going through a critical phase.

Indeed, the Catalan language will take its place at the Feria de Buenos Aires, where the Barcelona program will seek to present it from the cultural point of view and what it has to do with regional diversity. The delegation will include 56 authors and illustrators from Barcelona, ​​but also 13 from the Balearic Islands, the Valencian Community and Andorra (where Catalan is also spoken). Between the option to send the best known or opting for those who are not yet registered on the Argentine circuit, the organizers have chosen the second. There will also be names close to us, such as the Argentinian Horacio Altuna or
the journalist and writer Matías Néspolo, or Héctor Lozano, the scriptwriter of
the Merlí series. In addition, 8 specialists related in different ways to the universe of the book will travel: designers, booksellers, educators and philologists like Professor Jordi Punti, who will support the concept of the book as an artifact necessarily inserted in various networks work and social pleasure.

Multiple activities

"The literary city goes to the city of bookstores," he said.
the president of the El Libro Foundation, María Teresa Carbano, an affirmation with a slogan for this meeting. "Bervinguda, Barcelona !, S 'exclaimed soon after, to close his speech, the only pronounced in Spanish.

Among the planned activities (there will be about one hundred), round tables, conferences, debates, conferences are planned. For the Night of the Fair, this moment when the fair goes down in the streets and offers a free musical show, Barcelona will take Buenos Aires to
Silvia Pérez Cruz, magnificent singer born in Girona in 1983. Although the face of Perez Cruz is not yet well known in Buenos Aires (he appeared at ND Teatro in 2016), who saw the film
The night of twelve, surely remember the devastating interpretation that makes "The sound of silence", of Simon & Garfunkel. Or, who enjoyed the documentary
Lorca in Buenos Aires (which was screened at the National Library last year), they will keep
his interpretation of "Pequeño vals vienés", a musical version of the poem of the Andalusian writer. Perez Cruz's voice is brilliantly subtle, but he knows how to turn to the deep tears of flamenco or the darkness he touches; her ductility led her to frequent and mix jazz, rock, fado, Latin American song, lyrics of Leonard Cohen, a tango, lyrics of Serrat. In 2007, he recorded the album
Immigrasons, where he recovers songs of Argentineans and Catalans who have been exiled in one way or another. As much for the natural way in which he evolves between the avant-garde and the tradition as for the meeting of the cultures that he brings together in his music, his presence will reflect what the Barcelona delegation wishes to express.

Another point of attention will be that of the city as a space for the public and of how culture is also a way of inhabiting the urban. The city of Barcelona has many festivals related to literature and thought: Bienal of Penso Ciudad Abierta, Barcelona Negra, Literary Fair, Cosmópolis, International Fair of the comic strip of Barcelona, ​​The Salón del Manga, among others. The best known is perhaps Sant Jordi, the Book Day, celebrated on April 23, which is similar to that of our fair and where, in the street stalls and in the presence of a large public, it is proposed to to exchange books and roses. The bet will be to bring something of the spirit of these activities into the pavilions of the Buenos Aires Fair.

On the other hand, the focus will be on the importance of the public library network of the Catalan capital: 40 institutions in total, distributed in different neighborhoods and promoted since the 90s by the town hall. The Library Service of Catalonia, as part of the "Desiderata" project, will take six librarians to Buenos Aires to share their experiences with Argentinean colleagues. This program will also develop activities in collaboration with the Network of Libraries and Parks of the city, in collaboration with the Government of the City of Buenos Aires and the Casal de Cataluña. They promise readings, recitals, talks, debates and the creation of an immense literary graffiti.

Barcelona will have a stand of about 200 square meters, which will focus on the word woven bridge between the two cities. At the professional level, efforts will be made to promote the Castilian translation of authors in Catalan, promote local literature and support the distribution mechanisms of the publishing houses of Barcelona. A diverse, enthusiastic and humanistic context that deserves special attention.