Catalan literature in the spotlight at the London Book Fair

Catalan literature has a big week ahead, with the opportunity to boost its audience internationally at a major event in the global literary world: the London Book Fair. The trade show held at the Olympia exhibition center is key for the sector, with 25.000 professionals and 1.700 stands in its last in-person edition, in 2019.

Catalan culture be will showcased at the fair from Tuesday, where it will feature prominently as it is in the spotlight with a special program of activities and networking events. It is the second literature that has ever enjoyed this special focus after India in 2017. Institut Ramon Llull (IRL), a public body in charge of promoting Catalan culture and language abroad, has been working on the event for five years along with the Catalan Institute of Cultural Businesses (ICEC).

Their aim is to increase the number of books translated into English, a market in which Catalan has room for improvement. Translations from Catalan into English are only the fourth most common after Spanish, French and Italian. “English has always been a big challenge because English publishers, for many years, were not that open to considering other languages and translations. Thank God this has been changing over the past decade,” Iolanda Batallé, the then director of IRL,  told Catalan News in April 2021.

Matchmaking meetings

Other objectives include boosting British publishers’ orders from illustrators from Catalonia and the Balearic Islands as well as promoting the works of writers who have already been translated into English. The activities include matchmaking meetings between Catalan and English-speaking publishers and literary agents – 31 publishers from Catalonia have travelled to London and will be part of the ICEC stand.

Also, for any attendee in the trade show, eight top writers will perform as many talks, each of them with an English-speaking author. Irene Solà, Sergi Pàmies, Marta Orriols, Borja Bagunyà, Eva Baltasar, Josep Maria Esquirol, Aina Bestard, and Raül Garrigasait will participate in separate talks with Daisy Johnson, David Constantine, Max Porter, Rupert Thomson, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Jay Griffiths, Vassiliki Tzomaka, and Christopher MacLehose, respectively. The full program can be read here.

An exhibit displaying works of six Catalan illustrators will also be part of the London Book Fair, with drawings of Aina Bestard, Violeta Lopis, Cristina Losantos, Joan Negrescolor, Miguel Pang, and Júlia Sardà. IRL is making the most of the occasion in order to hold dozens of Catalan culture events during the spring in Britain. For instance, Irene Solà, one of the most successful Catalan writers in recent times with her book ‘Canto jo i la muntanya balla’ (When I Sing, Mountains Dance.) will talk with Max Porter, one of UK’s most prominent rising authors in contemporary fiction. Other talks with writers mostly in London, but also one in Edinburgh on Monday evening, will take place this month. In May, other shows include Catalan circus, performing arts, and visual arts.