Spain and its thousand literary tastings

Elvira Navarro, Carlos Zanón, and Manuel Vilas are having a beer in Barbastro's market square. They're killing time before participating in their respective talks at the Barbitania festival. Meanwhile, Irene Vallejo signs books at a makeshift table in front of the bookstore, and National Poetry Prize winner Aurora Luque is finishing up her evening recital at the Santa Ana Church.

Anyone passing through this city of just over 17,000 inhabitants in the province of Huesca this weekend will have been surprised by the large concentration of writers per square meter. "What are you doing here? The Zaragoza Book Fair is just a few days away," a tourist asks her husband. Another woman replies: "Ma'am, things happen outside the capitals too."

It is increasingly evident how necessary and productive defocusing is. María Ángeles Naval, Director of the Barbitania Festival

Writer María Ángeles Naval, the festival's director, agrees. "The literary circuit has been expanding for some time now and has more centers than just Barcelona and Madrid. Of course, these remain very powerful, but it's increasingly evident how necessary and productive the defocusing is. There's total involvement in these types of events. Workshops and activities of all kinds are held, and everything revolves around this cultural project. The revitalization of the region is evident."

Maribel Medina shares this opinion. She still remembers a few years ago, when she visited La Puebla de Almoradiel, in Toledo, as an author. “I'd been invited for years. When I went, I realized it was a pleasure. The treatment was friendly, and my novel was chosen as a required reading in high school. I scolded myself and told myself I was guilty of obeying the publishing wheel.” As a result of this thought, she founded the Almoradiel Lee festival, now in its tenth year.

“I was involved for four years, and when I was already filming alone, I left.” She then created Mi Pueblo Lee, a non-profit cultural association that works to promote reading in rural areas and won the National Award for the Promotion of Reading in 2024. “The idea is to bring literature to every corner, and to do that, you don't need a huge amount of resources. We just went to Santa María del Páramo, with 3,000 inhabitants, which had a budget of around €1,900. When there's no money, you give free rein to your imagination.”

Mi Pueblo Lee is also responsible for other initiatives, such as the transformation of the town of Libros, where a library-hotel will soon be built. “Its mayor, Raúl Arana, expressed his concern to me a few years ago, fearing the town would die due to the lack of jobs. So I told him they had something unique, their name, Libros. And when you have something unique, you have to make the most of it. With fellow writer Javier Sierra, we launched the first festival there, and its sixth edition will soon begin.”

Elena Moya, in charge of the Morella festival, also held this past weekend, reflects that "although Spain has always been a country with a wealth of book fairs, the festival formula seems to be working more and more." So much so that, adds writer Ignacio Martínez de Pisón, "it's becoming more and more common for them to become franchises," citing the Hay Festival as an example, "which is based in Wales and has branches in Mexico, Peru, and Segovia."

Another example is Úbeda, which more and more people associate with the International Historical Novel Competition. “We always heard that nothing was being done here, so several of us thought about what might fit in a World Heritage city. We grew this event, and last year's award went to Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Master of Glass .”

Another place inevitably associated with a festival, Celsius 232, is Avilés, where Brandon Sanderson, among others, will be performing next July. “The decentralization of culture is important. And that doesn't mean removing it from the center and bringing it to the periphery, but rather encouraging the periphery to develop its own unique fabric,” says Jorge Iván, one of the organizers.

In Catalonia, several festivals do so. The Transversal festival, organized by the Le Méridien Ra hotel, took place at the beginning of the month on Sant Salvador Beach in El Vendrell. However, this literary festival, which escapes the capital, begins in January with Tiana Negra, which has established itself as a benchmark for Catalan crime fiction. "The proof is that three municipal governments have passed and we're still here. And it's no small feat because, on many occasions, when the mayor changes, initiatives end," reflects its director, writer Anna Maria Villalonga, who also points out that the event "is a prelude to the BCNegra festival," which takes place a month later in the Catalan capital.

The islands have long staked their claim on the publishing scene with events such as FLEM in Magaluf, promoted by the independent bookstore Rata Corner, which features national and international authors such as Chuck Palahniuk and Dolly Alderton. Last year's edition attracted more than 10,000 people. "Many stayed at the hotel where the festival is held or in the surrounding area. The program encourages them to do so, as there's also evening programming," notes its director, Miquel Ferrer.

The Canary Islands also do their part with offerings like the Lanzarote Literature Festival. “We are an island traditionally dominated by the visual arts and music, so literature has always been relegated. The festival was created to mitigate this shortcoming,” recalls its director, Carlos Battaglini. And it succeeds, with guests such as Marta Jiménez Serrano, Juan Manuel de Prada, and Álvaro Colomer. “Books will always be a reason to celebrate,” he concludes.