The days before the ‘diada’ of Sant Jordi They have resulted in well-founded optimism among the sector, since the first news points to an increase in sales in relation to the previous year, which was already a record. This trend, that of turning book and rose day into a week of activities around bookstores, has been increasing over time and in 2023 it has reached its culmination. The fact of coincide on sundaya circumstance that on other occasions raised doubts among those involved, has only solidified the feeling that Sant Jordi expands to the previous daysin vigils that not only function as a commercial barometer, but also help to create a festive and cultural atmosphere, the two great pillars of a unique and singular celebration.
But the day of Sant Jordi is this Sunday. It officially began this Saturday with the reading of the proclamation by the writer Gemma Ruiz, recent winner of the Sant Jordi Award, with a plea in favor of reading and a feminist claim that is the core of her literary work. And it will be held throughout Catalonia with a kinder weather forecast than a year ago and with hopes set on a day that is expected to be the most crowded and participatorywith records in terms of the number of books published and the number of stands and authors who will sign their novelties.
In 2020, the pandemic wreaked havoc and imaginative solutions had to be improvised so that the commemoration did not falter. In 2021, the recovery of the street as an essential setting for the festival had to be structured under severe sanitary measures. It was in 2022 when the effective and unrestricted implementation of the call literary ‘superilla’ It was envisioned in Barcelona as an effective solution, not only as an alternative that, initially, served health reasons, but also as a friendly environment that made it possible to reduce crowds. This 2023, the ‘superilla’ expands. It will now have 154,000 square metres, 10% more than a year ago, and it will not only extend from Diagonal to Gran Via (with the epicenter on Paseo de Gràcia, widening between Pau Claris and Balmes), but it will come from Gran de Gràcia to Colón, with the reincorporation of the Rambla as a bookstore scenean explicit reference to the tradition of the ‘dyad’.
In other towns in Catalonia, either the usual spaces in the center have been maintained or, also as a result of the pandemic, they have opted to move the stands to places with a larger configuration, but in all of them an outbreak is perceived that, in In the case of the capital, this translates into nearly 300 stands and a hundred points of sale for roses in the center, without forgetting the great variety of proposals in the neighbourhoods, not only focused on books, but also on other recreational activities. .
The sector celebrates a full day today, but data such as the National Book and Reading Plan should not be ignored, with 31% of the population over the age of 14 who never read a book, or like that of the INE, which certifies the drop in spending on leisure and culture around an average of 1,000 euros in relation to the 2,200 that were invested in 2008. Figures that should make us reflect. This Sunday, however, is a celebration of civility, a vindication of culture as an economic and social engine. This is how it will be lived, one more year, throughout the country.