How to lose weight by reading

There are many elements to be able to sell a book, and quality, whether we like it or not, is only one, although it should be the main one. On Monday, at the Cercle del Liceu, with a presentation of Pepe Garcia Reyesthe talk Culture and publishing: two necessary worlds brings together the general director of the books area of ​​Grupo Planeta, Jesus Badenesand to the general director and editor of Galaxia Gutenberg, Joan Tarridamoderated by the journalist Sergio Vila-Sanjuán, which begins by remembering its beginnings: Badenes changing numbers for letters, because “when you enter the world of books, you stay, while Tarrida “was forged in the jungle of poets,” where the editor remembers that until “ They were throwing shoes!” or the battles between the first Llibres del Mall and Quaderns Crema.

The conversation shifts to reading rates and the strong growth of the sector after the pandemic, the nature of best sellers or bookstores, a pillar: “They are immensely lucky and their independence supports bibliodiversity,” says Tarrida. Bádenes agrees, but the problems that some booksellers encounter in succession make him suffer, even though they are relieved because the dynamic makes them leave again. But of course, if we talk about bookstores we must also talk about Amazon, which some see as a commercial danger if it were not for the law of fixed book prices. The textile businessman Ignasi Barba (also known as Nacho de Sanahuja) –among the public, Elena Ramirez and Joaquín Álvarez de Toledofrom Planet; Genara Sert and Max Vives Fierro, from the Art&Law publishing house; the writer Carmen Guell or the lawyer Aranzazu Escudero de Zuloaga– compares the digital megastore with Inditex: “We don’t like it but we all have to work with them.”

They also talk about the primary importance of titles, and give as an example the Diet guide to lose weight during sexby Richard Smith, which did not have great success in Spanish when it was published in the seventies, until in this century it was decided to change the title: How to lose weight by fucking It became a bestseller and, lo and behold, it even serves as a headline for chronicles.

The next morning, more than 700 people fill the Kursaal theater in Manresa for the Atrapallibres and Protagonista Jove awards gala. Among the public, a large part of the winners –Home answers (Barcanova), from Salvador Comelles and Sandra Aguilarin 9 years; Fora de lloc (Barcanova), by Lucy Knisley, in 10 years; Filstrup (Ànimallibres), from Jaume Copons and Oscar Julvein 11 years; Ghost (Sowing), by Jason Reynolds, ages 12-14; and Gossos salvatges (Fanbooks), from Georgina Dalmauin 14-16 years–, and the finalists, like Miquel Desclot either Marina Saez, among others. There are also authorities such as the mayor of Manresa, Marc Aloy; the deputy director general of Book Promotion of the Ministry of Culture, Jesus Gonzalez; the Secretary General of Culture, Jordi Foz; the director of the Institució de les Lletres Catalanes, Izaskun Arretxethe person responsible for the National Book and Reading Plan, Montse Ayatsthe president and director of Ibbycat, Lluís Zendrera –and editor of the centenary Youth– and Marta Roigor editors like Isabel Monso from Vienna and Sergio Perez by Mai Més.

But in reality, they are not exactly the protagonists, today, but the 700 children between 9 and 16 years old who represent the 14,000 who make up the juries of each category. Yes, you read it correctly: 14,000. For these readers, reading does not make them lose weight, but rather fills their heads with good worries, because throughout the year they have come into contact with the selection of the best books prepared by an Ibbycat committee, which also changed its title , because today this is the name of the Catalan Children’s and Youth Book Council.

It is not likely that the vast readings are the cause of the poet’s thin figure Enric Casassesbut in his recital at the Horiginal of the Deskomunal, on Wednesday, he does assure that the title of his book Make a mistake is wrong, for not calling D’fall in love-se aixi. He begins before the beginning, he says that the Horiginal is like a series with chapters and he makes a summary of the previous one, he goes to Àngel Guimerà and then he goes back and forth to the poems that he himself made at the beginning, “between the hard rocks of thought.” ”, or between drunks, police and God.

Are Jordi Cornudella, Núria Martínez-Vernis, David Cano, Eduard Sanahuja, Raquel Pena, Armand Virallonga, Marc Audi, Cristina Giorgi, Núria Isanda, Ferran Garcia, Nura Nieto, Maria Sevilla either Raquel Santanera, who fill the place to hear how Casasses also recites Estellés or remembers that one day, not long ago, he saw Ferrater, or as if he were one, and made him a poem where he sees him with a red-haired dog going to throw away an empty jug to the container. And he moves on to the poems that he theoretically presented, those of the recent to the raó (Edicions 62), written with one foot in a Mallorca that also gets between the words. He also says poems in tone between aphoristic and histrionic, with references and verses from troubadours, Saint John of the Cross, Viladot, Papasseit, March, Salvà, Lesya Ukrainka, Pep Albanell, or his poems inspired by Marc Bolan. His poetry is rock’n’roll.

Version in Catalan, here