SARAGOSSA. If on Book Day people sign almost in torrents, at the Zaragoza Book Fair (and also in Huesca, which concluded yesterday), they go cup by cup. Book by book. You have to win over readers and it is done in very different ways. The editors inform, explain, comment; Some authors often recommend other people’s books, almost always from the same publisher, and booksellers give the gift of their chest. “Tell me, do you know what you’re looking for?” For example, in Olifante, a young man A. is looking for a book of poetry. “Not necessarily about love, but rather about life.” And he will end up taking Alejandro Bona’s book: ‘Brieviary of the cold’. And along the way, his mother, Pilar, acquires another collection of poems, and the editor gives them ‘Preludio y fado’ by a true master, Joaquín Sánchez Vallés.
Alejandro Bona and María Martín Hernández, the first two winners of the Ángel Guinda award for those under 35 years of age, had been there until midnight and enjoyed love and attention. «What excitement for him and her family. As it is his first book, a lot of people have come,” Ruiz Marcellán stressed for Bona.
Pedro’s bookmarks
The Book Fair breathes vitality, movement, outbursts of curiosity, and it also breathes solar and human heat. In the morning Irene Vallejo was one of the queens of the event: the brand new young winner of the Aragonese Literature of 2023 went to Antígona with her son Pedro and with the illustrator and painter Lina Vila, co-author of ‘The legend of the gentle tides ‘. She didn’t stop. The three of them didn’t stop, because even the boy was drawing and talking with the readers. Julia Millán reported like this, almost like a telegram: «Everything went very well. Total row with Irene Vallejo » And then she added: «Pedro has signed as many bookmarks as his mother books. The public has given him many presents of all kinds. And Irene has been as kind and dedicated as always. It has been a success”.
«The Fair is going very well. Since we have been in José Antonio Labordeta Park it has always worked well. Today David Terrer and I signed
Daniel Viñuales, cartoonist and co-editor of GP Ediciones, dedicated to comics, said something similar: «The Fair is going very well. Since we have been in José Antonio Labordeta Park it has always worked well. Today David Terrer and I signed. From Hola Monstruo, focused on children’s literature, Mariela Cisneros, author with Israel Gómez and Susana Vivar of ‘A world without music’, points out: «This first weekend is being quite intense. Let’s go full speed. Non-stop”. Another author of children’s literature, like Patricia Gayán, points out that “Saturday morning was slow. On Sunday, everything was very good.
Verónica García, coordinator of Ámbito Cultural, drew attention to a morning appointment. «The journalist Pablo Ferrer and the musician Pedro Andreu have starred in a fabulous meeting at the Kiosco de Las Letras (that haven of culture in the middle of the park) that has brought together adults and children around their book ‘Before nine o’clock’ ( Ask). They have talked about the process of creating the book, anecdotes, curiosities… The little ones have been encouraged to read fragments of some of the stories,” he says, and values the contribution of this space: “El Kiosco de las Letras has “It has become a point of reference for culture in Labordeta Park, where literature, art and nature come together, and from Ámbito Cultural we are very happy to be part of this commitment of the Municipal Board of Libraries.”
Miguel Mena seems to have not stopped being an announcer for Radio Zaragoza-Cadena Ser. People miss his voice and his humanity. “My case is very particular. 90% of the people I sign my copies for talk to me about the radio. Three years after retiring, I am struck by the affection and familiarity that this medium provokes,” says the author of ‘Canciones lightes’ or ‘Alcohol de quemar’, and slips in a nuance that will be very useful for everyone: “I have a critique for the Fair: it seems inexcusable to me that there is not a public address system that every half hour, more or less, informs who and where they are signing. “People go through the Fair blindly, without knowing who is signing their books.”
Today, appointment with Beatriz Luengo
David Lozano has returned to this event with SM’s Gran Angular award for ‘Intruso’. «The Fair is being very nice, really. I am really enjoying the encounter with new readers, but also the reunions of young people who tell me that they have not forgotten the novels of mine that they read as teenagers and that today they have returned to continue reading me. I’m loving that! », he confessed.
Miguel Mena: “My case is very particular. 90% of the people to whom I sign my copies talk to me about the radio. Three years after retiring, I am struck by the affection and familiarity that that medium provokes.”
Today, Monday, this literary event continues: at 6:30 p.m. in the tent, Asun Sarrado, from the publishing house Cosquillas, will tell stories to the little ones. At 7:30 p.m., Mariano Lasheras will present ‘The Forgotten Words’ with the duo El Mantel de Noa (Pilar Gonzalvo and Miguel Ángel Fraile). And at 7:00 p.m., at the Kiosco de las Letras, a meeting will be held with the singer, actress and dancer, Beatriz Luengo, winner of two Latin Grammys and author of the book ‘Hasta que se aban las songs’.
