Every Sant Jordi is unique. This one will be the one of pollen, as, combined with the wind, it has been, books aside, one of the protagonists of the day. Although the streets are always filled with books and roses and Casa Batlló once again dresses its facade for the occasion, the circumstances change: the weather –sun is expected for much of the day–, the authors signing, or even the sections where stalls are set up. This 2026, for example, the traditional and iconic image of La Rambla full of stalls will not take place due to construction work and, instead, will be replaced by a new literary axis that will start at Portal de l’Àngel and extend through Plaça Nova and Plaça de la Catedral and up to Via Laietana.
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Authors are expected to be there from early morning until after 9 PM. And it’s a little earlier, around 8:30 PM, when the list of best-selling authors is expected to be announced. A figure that, as recalled at a past press conference by the president of the Cambra del Llibre, Patrici Tixis, and the president of the Gremi de Llibreters de Catalunya, Èric del Arco, “will not be definitive until a few days later,” when a complete count of all street-level businesses can be made.
The city has a new literary axis that starts at Portal de l’Àngel due to the works on La Rambla
In any case, starting as favorites are Regina Rodríguez Sirvent in Catalan fiction with her novel Crispetes de matinada (La Campana / Suma) and Eduardo Mendoza with La intriga del funeral inconveniente (Seix Barral), despite the latter having been in the eye of the storm for days due to statements in which he advised calling the festivity Book Day instead of Sant Jordi, as he “was an animal abuser and probably couldn’t read.” Although the author clarified that it was a joke, his words did not go unnoticed, to the point that Junts youth have called for a boycott. Something that many publishers and booksellers do not believe will influence sales, trusting in the loyalty of a large part of their readers, as shown by the data from recent weeks.
They are just two of the many names that will star on such a significant date in the city, where South Korean Nobel Literature laureate Han Kang will also be present, who last night became, along with those already mentioned, one of the protagonists of the traditional Sant Jordi photo of La Vanguardia, which celebrated the 13th edition of its party at the Alma hotel last night. Around 500 people gathered there, most of them related to the world of books, who this Thursday also did not want to miss the Sant Jordi breakfast at La Virreina, the starting signal for such a celebrated (and marathon) day, in which there is room for both debutants and veteran authors, and among whom there will also be some journalists from La Vanguardia who are publishing a book this year.
During the event at La Virreina, speeches were given by the city’s mayor, Jaume Collboni, and by the editor Laura Huerga, president of PEN Català. Both expressed their conviction, as the Cambra del Llibre did at the time, that this 2026, if the weather truly holds throughout the day, will once again be a record year. Ali Smith –edited in Catalan by Raig Verd, Huerga’s publishing house–, this year’s town crier, toasted “with an imaginary glass of Scotch whisky for books, literature, and the Catalan language.” Immediately after, a few writers convinced her that she had to try ratafia, and she assured them she would.
Beside her was also Biel Mesquida, Premi d’Honor de les Lletres Catalanes, who insisted that he and Smith were already siblings. From a distance, Aurora watched them; at just 18 months old, she is already a regular, as with her mother, children’s author Núria Albesa, it is already the third time she attends the prelude to the literary Diada: the numbers don’t add up, do they? “The first time she came was when I was pregnant, of course!” jokes her mother, author, among others, of the book series Jeff i Pip (Cruïlla).
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Other regulars, whether they have a book or not, are the members of the musical group of writers Malalletra, as Jordi Boixadós, Maria Escalas, Elisenda Roca, Jordi Campoy, Marta Carnicero, and Salvador Macip were there, telling their woes to Espido Freire. Making his debut, on the other hand, was the Valencian Vicent Flor (Terres bárbares, Edicions 62), who was accompanied by Núria Cadenes, who illustrated to him how to survive an intense day unscathed. She, a veteran in this field, noticed the difference from other years due to the impact her book had with the Proa award for Qui salva una vida. One of the debutants was also Mireia Giró, who lamented that since her book, La desastrosa teràpia de Sara Bonsom (Univers), came out a few months ago, she didn’t have many signings arranged, but she placed her hope in readers.
Although the event at La Virreina is the traditional act that kicks off the day, the earliest risers are the award-winning authors from Grup62, who always meet for breakfast to gather strength. There, calm, was Francesc Torralba, winner of the Josep Pla award with Anatomia de l’esperança (Destino), who had woken up very early as every day to go for a run. For him, unlike other years –he started publishing at 22, is 58 and has a hundred books, do the math–, he has taken the day off from his job as a professor. “This Sant Jordi is different, I’ve noticed a radical change, with more resonance, which I like because my task is to convey a message, in this case, that the future is not written and does not have to be dystopian, but rather that we have possibilities for a bright future. As I believe in philosophy from the agora, like Aristotle, I try to send reasonable and edifying messages.” Next to him, Agnès Marquès, Ramon Llull award winner for La segona vida de Ginebra Vern (Columna), assures that a day like today is the result of the previous weeks, during which she has taken her book to many towns and cities: “Now it’s mainly about reaping the fruits of the work done before.”
In Barcelona, as in other cities, the professionalized model is being applied again, with spaces enabled for the book and flower sector. There will be 425 professionalized book and flower stalls: 61 for flowers and 364 for books, of which 257 will feature author signings. To all these stalls, 130 bookstore stalls in front of establishments must be added.
It is worth noting the growth of sections on Sant Joan and Lluís Companys promenades, known as the ‘geek triangle,’ where stalls dedicated to comics, children’s and young adult literature, and family audiences are mainly concentrated, demonstrating the growing interest in these genres.
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