Melville House Books

On April 23, 400,000 books will be sold in Barcelona as part of the annual, ritualistic celebration of a holiday combining the death dates of both Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare, UNESCO‘s declaration of the date as International Book Day, and the feast day of the city’s patron saint, Sant Jordi (aka St. George the Dragon Slayer). As Barbara Wysocki details in a Christian Science Monitor report, St. Jordi’s Day has become a major cultural event, with the streets “overflowing” with red roses (the flower of Sant Jordi), and “more than 300 bookstalls, festooned with the red and yellow of the Catalan flag,” as well as “a potpourri of bookish events” including over 200 visiting authors making appearances. Says Wysocki, “Just steps from every flower stall are booksellers lining those famous shopping streets, hugging narrow passageways, and dotting city squares such as Placa de Catalonia and Placa Nova . . . For these ambling readers, choosing from overwhelming hardcover and paperback options may be the most strenuous challenge. Not every book on display is great literature, but since this vernal fiesta is also known as the Day of Lovers, women shop for the perfect books for the men they love.” Of those books, says the report, “Especially prized are the Catalan-language volumes. The region’s nativetongue has undergone periods of neglect and suppression. From 1939 until the early 1950s, the Franco regime forbade the printing of books and periodicals in Catalan.”

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.