Javi opened the doors of Librolandia just two years ago in Benetuserone of the Valencian towns most affected by the DANA disaster. It has been the last bookstore to join, of the forty participants, in the second edition of Book Fridaythe pioneering alternative to Black Friday that takes place from November 29 to December 1 and has just been presented in Madrid Moyano slope.
Librolandia only has three walls left. No door, no shop window, no computers, no counters, but yes 80,000 euros in debt because of the books destroyed during the floods to which are added 40,000 more that are needed for the reconstruction of the establishment. Javi’s is one of the eight devastated Valencian bookstores (Somnis de Paper -also in Benetúser-, Bufanúvols -Catarroja-, La Moixeranga and Passarella -Paiporta-, Libro Ideas -Aldaia, CC Bonaire-, Samaruc -Algemesí- and L’ Esplai -L’Alcúdia-) and, just one month after the catastrophe, his testimony is loaded with meaning.
Despite all the difficulties, Javi, like the owners of the remaining seven, has managed to find a way to maintain, against all odds, its online salea window from which he hopes to raise funds during the days of Book Friday (and also those after, of course). His desire to regain normality contrasts with the lack of institutional aidwhich have not arrived thirty days later.
That is why Lara Sánchez Berchi, founder and director of the Soy de la Cuesta Association, dedicated some emotional words to Librolandia during the presentation of the initiative. And he also asked a question “to the big publishers (neither to the medium-sized nor the small ones that do a very good job and have a hard time),what are they doing forhelp these Valencia booksellers with a million euros of debt in book deposit?».
The Councilor for Culture, Tourism and Sports of the Madrid City Council, Marta Rivera de la Cruz, has picked up Sánchez’s glove. «I hope that the aid to Valencia’s bookstores arrives soon because a bookstore in a town is gold and, if it closes, it does not open again. From here I encourage all institutions that can do something to do so and soon. Because one help that arrives late is no longer worth it not at all”.
Protagonists
Rivera de la Cruz has also conveyed the City Council’s commitment to Book Friday and to the booksellers of Cuesta de Moyano, which will soon also commemorate its centenary: «It is the only stable book fair that there is in Spain, we must celebrate it and participate in it.
It was Hugo Prestel, third generation bookseller who today combines his work at the head of Booth 17 in Moyano with his work in the Madrid garbage collection service, which had the happy idea of launching this initiative. This second edition has been conceived precisely as a tribute to those small bookstoresveterans or recently opened that make “a commendable effort to stay open, thanks to a good management model and their enthusiasm for fostering active reading communities,” according to Sánchez.
The protagonists of this Book Friday are in various locations such as Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Buñol and Benetúser (Valencia), among others. In particular, it highlights the participation of Urueña (Valladolid), known as the ‘Book Village’the only place in Spain where bookstores outnumber bars.
Seville also has a relevant role. Booksellers and educators are facing the closing of ten bookstores in 2023 with the opening of new establishments and library projects in areas such as Polígono Sur, considered one of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in the country. Among the initiatives, the Andalusia Schoolawarded the 2023 Reading Promotion award and which is also part of Book Friday.
Carriers of emotions
This year’s programme, again under the direction of Giselle Etcheverry Walker, focuses on the relationship between the material world and literature, inviting readers to explore how everyday objects such as phones, watches or clothing become historical witnesses and carriers of emotions through works of fiction and non-fiction.
In this context, literary talks will be organized with authors such as David Ucleswho will dialogue with Braulio Ortiz about trips around the peninsula; Iñaki Domínguez and Diana Alleron analog devices such as vinyl or radios; Llucia Ramis and Jordi Nopca They will reflect on beds and dreams, and Eduardo Barba next to Clara Obligado They will tackle gardening.
Furthermore, in collaboration with the San Lorenzo de El Escorial City Council and the Peña San Lorenzo, Javier Santamarta and José Soto Chica will talk about the war and the objects related to it. Plus, novels, memoirs, graphic novels and essays… There are a total of 45 recommended books, available both at partner bookstores and on bookfriday.org.
In association with the Goethe-Institutet Madrid, the German writer Annabelle Hirsch will have an unprecedented conversation in Spain with Margarita Yakovenko about objects related to femininity, in reference to her work ‘Women’s Things. A story in 100 objects’.
On the other hand, the Hotel Bastardo will host ‘After Lector’, a collective morning reading led by the poet Helena Mariño, who has also created sound quotes that will be available in QR format at various points in the program.
Also, Book Friday reward readers who buy a book in these bookstores until December 1 with a number to draw a check worth 240 euros to buy books before December 30, 2024.
#Benetúser #Polígono #Sur #Seville #bookstores #resist #shine #Book #Friday
