They launch the ‘Book of Dana’ campaign to support affected publishers and authors

The president of the AEPV, Africa Ramirezassured that “the Valencian publishing sector will be reborn after the damage suffered due to the floods. This initiative aims to “make visible the importance of the publishing industry, promote the value of culture and allow authors and publishers to continue with their professional activity.”

In fact, he highlighted, “the book sector needs, more than ever, the help of all readers. “All together we will be able to revitalize Valencian culture and recover from this tragedy that has devastated a large part of the cultural pillars of our sector.”

With the motto ‘With reading we build who we are. With you we rebuild what was lost’, both organizations, with the support of the communication consultancy Alabra, make a call for solidarity, highlighting that, by supporting the authors and publishers affected by the floods, society can contribute to recovering what was lost, both materially and culturally.

For this reason, explained the president of Cedro, Carmen Riera«we have tried to seek the complicity of the readers and we invite them to learn about the literature made in Valencia, much of it in Valencian. Reading has a transformative power and with this initiative we also seek to help Valencian authors and publishers rebuild the sector in this region.

This initiative joins the special fund that Cedro created. «Aware of the difficult situation faced by writers, translators, journalists and editors affected by the recent dana, we have created a fund of 250,000 euros to offer immediate financial help. This fund will support the repair of homes, the acquisition of essential products and the development of the authors’ work, in addition to mitigating the financial losses of the editors,” explained Riera.

For this, a virtual bookstorecoinciding with the Christmas campaign, in which each of the affected publishers, about 40 in total, will put on sale 10 of their titles that were on the market when the damage hit. This initiative will be active until next January 30.

In this regard, the CEO of Alabra, Julián Zabala, pointed out that “in times of adversity, culture reminds us that we are a united community. With ‘Libros de la dana’ we seek not only to support the Valencian publishing sector in its recovery, but also to vindicate the power of reading as a tool of reconstruction. This project is an example of how collaboration between institutions, companies and citizens can restore hope to a sector as essential and necessary as books.

The floods in the province of Valencia destroyed more than a million books. In total, 40 publishing houses were affected, 11 bookstores were destroyed and 3 logistics platforms suffered considerable damage. The sector recorded losses of up to 4.5 million euros in books (at printing prices), valued at 16 million euros. Various damages to infrastructure and property were also caused, with a value of between 700,000 and 800,000 euros. The majority of affected labels are small family businesses in a sector that supports our culture.