At Sant Jordi, anecdotes emerge naturally. “I don’t know what to tell, nothing special has happened,” many authors say when approached by cameras, microphones, and recorders. But you don’t have to dig too deep to realize that things do happen, yes. And many. For example, Albert Sánchez Piñol signed books for the first time on April 23rd, as incredible as it may seem. And despite being a bestseller, it wasn’t until the publication of his latest novel, Després del naufragi (Univers), that he dared to face this marathon day. And although this is an exciting day, it must be said that it is not always easy to cope with the crowds.
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Just ask Jacinto Antón, who had to act as both chronicler and author on this Diada, as he recently published Sirenas, leones y otros encuentros inesperados (Salamandra). Those who met him could distinguish which role he was in at any given moment because he wore an explorer’s hat during his encounters with readers.
Enrique Vila-Matas had no hat, at least not inside the tent, but he did have time (within what Sant Jordi allows) to listen to what his readers told him. In the rather long queue, by the way, everyone waited patiently, knowing it would eventually be their turn. The author takes what his readers tell him very seriously, as he never knows if he can draw a story from it. Among those who came to greet him was the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, who confessed that both he and his 86-year-old mother were great admirers.
Next to him, David Uclés, another of the day’s bestsellers, signed for a good part of the morning, still smiling as he recalled the lady who showed him her ID to prove they shared a surname. “She asked me to sign it for her!”. However, for astonishment, María Dueñas’s story. Hers is twofold. On one hand, she greeted a reader who approached her stand with a shopping cart loaded with her novels. And, on the other hand, she signed an unnamed book, El tiempo entre costuras, which will be a gift for the secret service.
The queues to see Nobel laureate Han Kang were equally enviable. The South Korean author, not too fond of crowds, often covered her mouth when she saw how much she still had to sign. She couldn’t even rest during the lunch organized by Penguin Random House, her publishing group, as journalists approached her in the bathroom. “The truth is, I knew this was going to be big, but I didn’t imagine something like this, especially not in a country so far from mine,” she confessed to La Vanguardia.
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It was her first Sant Jordi, just like actor Maxi Iglesias’s, who was overwhelmed with selfies per minute by his fans, who did not hesitate to buy copies of his novel Horizonte artificial (Roca); or Lucía Solla Sobral’s, who deeply resonated with readers with her Comerás flores (Libros del Asteroide). “A little girl told me she wants to be like me when she grows up,” she explained emotionally.
Similar phrases were heard in Inma Rubiales’s queue, who, despite starting to sign at 11 in the morning, found readers who had started queuing at 7. “It’s incredible. Also, two girls asked me to write the word ‘supernova,’ which appears in my book, because they want to tattoo it in my handwriting.” An experience also shared by Eva García Sáenz de Urturi, who met a reader who tattooed the cover of La saga de los longevos. “Now that’s truly carrying the story on your skin.” But for ink, Rodrigo Cortés came perfectly prepared with different ex libris, depending on the book they asked him to sign.
Llucia Ramis, author of Un metro cuadrado (Libros del Asteroide / Anagrama), met a young woman who lives in one of the blocks where she lived years ago, while Javier Castillo began his signings crying due to his pollen allergy, another of the day’s protagonists.
