If you are unfamiliar with this event, you can find posts from the years 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 (an outsider’s observations, referring to 2016), 2015, and 2014.
This blogger’s personal recommendation for this year would be
Irene Vallejo, Papyrus, (Spanish: 2019 – blog post; English: 2022)
There is more information from the publisher; the cheaper paperback edition will come out on 23 August 2023. The Wikipedia has an article on the author, Irene Vallejo (Zaragoza, Aragón, 1979).
Robert Walser, Der Spaziergang [the walk], ca. 1916
This year’s Sant Jordi [Saint George’s] will have two parts, the actual day in lockdown with some events retransmitted on Instagram; the Catalan regional government then wants to celebrate the typical feast of books and roses on July 23 – we’ll see if that will be possible…
If you would like to get an idea of a typical Sant Jordi day in Barcelona, read Moisés Naím’s 2016 article.
There are other, older post on World Book Day from 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013.
The Guardian offers Top 10 Latin American short stories.
Today, the Unesco celebrates the World Book and Copyright Day, more information on their website. The autonomous region of Catalonia celebrates its patron saint George with a spring festival of books and roses. More information by the Catalan government here, an older blog article here, and more information on Catalan traditions by the Wikipedia here.
If you would like to get a visual impression of Barcelona during Sant Jordi, go to the La Vanguardia special and watch the video on the upper right hand side.
Also today, in memory of the day of his death, the Miguel de Cervantes Prize is awarded by the Spanish king (this year done by the crown prince due to the limited mobility of the king…). This year’s prize winner is the writer and poet José Manuel Caballero Bonald (Caballeros, 1926).
Update after Sant Jordi 2013:
this year’s best-selling books were Victus, a historical novel on the defeat of Barcelona in 1714, written by Albert Sánchez Piñol, and Brúixoles que busquen somriures perduts [Compasses looking out for lost smiles] by Albert Espinosa, considered not a literate but a “mediatic” writer of best-selling books, and author of the popular TV series Polseres vermelles (Red Band Society in its US version).
literary rambles 