With La Rambla Vila del Llibre, books return to La Rambla

The program, eclectic and itinerant, will feature events dedicated to the memory, work and life of Ventura Pons, Lluís Permanyer, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Josep Maria Llompart, Ramon Reventós…

With the publishing market as the epicenter, within the passage Bacardí, the program activities will take place in emblematic places of La Rambla and its surroundings, such as the Hotel 4 Naciones, the restaurant Ocaña, the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona or the Jamboree

(Barcelona, December 2)—. The weekend of December 12th to 14th will see the return of the literary festival La Rambla Vila del Llibre, an opportunity to return to the most emblematic promenade in the city through the world of books. Organized by the company Vitalibris and the association Amics de la Rambla, the festival will present this year an eclectic and itinerant program, always linked to the promenade and the city of Barcelona, which will include, in emblematic places of La Rambla, activities around the figure of Ventura Pons, film and literature in Barcelona; a tribute to Lluís Permanyer and the profession of city chronicler; panels on Barcelona a hundred years ago, gunmen and satirical press; literary routes, a publishing market, which this year will be located in passatge Bacardí, and many more activities.

La Rambla Vila del Llibre aims to pay tribute, in this fourth edition, to the filmmaker Ventura Pons. For the relationship of his films with literature, almost always based on novels, stories and plays; for his relationship with Barcelona, the main setting of his films; for his commitment to the Catalan language, which he has brought all over the world through his films; for his social and intellectual commitment to freedom and LGBTQ+ rights; for his knack for discovering actors and giving them their first opportunity; for his talent, more recognized abroad than at home... The program of activities will address his multifaceted figure from different perspectives throughout the weekend with the participation of many of his historical collaborators, leading actors, career colleagues, and defenders of his legacy.

Another prominent figure in the program will be Lluís Permanyer, protagonist of an event at the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona. The sudden disappearance, just a month ago, of the "unofficial chronicler of Barcelona," as he liked to call himself, invites us to reflect and discuss the profession of chronicler with a representation of historians and journalists who have made Barcelona the subject of their study and practically their life. Rafa Burgos, Xavier Theros, Xavi Casinos, Enric H. March, Daniel Venteo, and Paco Villar will discuss their work, the city, and Permanyer with Enric Sierra, journalist and deputy director of La Vanguardia.

La Rambla, literary matter

The program of La Rambla Vila del Llibre has always had a view linked to the promenade, its history, its relationship with literature and the entities that reside there. The Rambla is, and always has been, a beehive. Of people and stories. of books, therefore. This year, we will approach it from different perspectives. Gunmen, satirical authors, inclusion projects, novels, and lives that pass through La Rambla.

We will look a century back and discover the chronicles and satirical stories of Ramon Reventós, a brilliant writer who frequented the humorous press of the time (Papitu, L'Esquella de la Torratxa, Picarol...). A bridge between Rusiñol and Calders, who, due to the dispersal of his writings and a rather short life, has remained practically forgotten and which Enric Gomà recovers and presents in an anthology of his best prose at Editorial Medusa: Un centaure a la Rambla (A centaur on La Rambla).

It is also a hundred years since one of the most violent historical periods remembered in the city, which is saying a lot. La Rambla and its surroundings were the scene of open warfare between employers and labor unions. The gunmen, a historic episode in the struggle for workers' rights, which left behind such remembered figures as the future president Companys and assassinations engrained in the DNA of the city like that of Salvador Seguí, the "Noi del Sucre," or that of Francesc Layret. We will discuss this, with journalist Francesc Bombí-Vilaseca, based on the literary novelties written by journalists David Revelles and Jesús Martínez and the novelist Xavier Vidal.

In Plaça Reial, at the headquarters of the Setba Foundation, we will approach the photographic project Traspassant l'objectiu (Passing the lens), carried out by professional photographers with women inmates in prisons and which has resulted in the photobook Wad-Ras. Invisible Women. The book about women prisoners from Barcelona is the second arising from this ambitious artistic mediation project that works with photography as a tool for empowerment.

In addition to these panels, the schedule of events will include other activities and books, such as the novels Ocellets i ocellots, about Pasolini and his death, by Lluís-Anton Baulenas; Silenciades, by La Rambla neighbor Tona Pous, El far de les Rambles, by Lluc Oliveras, and the biography of the poet Josep Maria Llompart recently written by Pilar Arnau; a traveling concert by the band Hip Horns; children's stories and a bookbinding workshop to learn how to create a pocket notebook taught by María José Valero.

Singular places

Persisting in the idea of opening doors and showcasing emblematic spots of La Rambla and its surroundings, places that are not usually transit areas or not commonly open to the public, this year's program is also enticing due to the spaces where activities take place, a particular way to get to know La Rambla. Such as the interior of the Hotel 4 Naciones, the oldest in Barcelona; the Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona, the official timepiece of the city; the Ocaña restaurant, and the artist it is named after; the headquarters of the Setba Foundation, in Plaça Reial; the Jamboree; the auditorium of the new Fnac, in the building of the historic tailor Modelo; the Andreu Nin library; or the passatge Bacardí, home of the publishing market.

Another way to approach the promenade is through the literary routes of Amics de La Rambla. With the philologist expert in literary heritage Maria Nunes and the historian Rafa Burgos, we will discover during the weekend, in different walks, The Rambla of letters. The one that has inspired authors and poets, like Marta Pessarrodona and Salvat-Papasseit; where memorable experiences have lived writers such as George Orwell, Sagarra, Verdaguer, or Hans Christian Andersen; or where Vázquez Montalbán, Montserrat Roig, and Sergi Pàmies have trodden.

You can find the detailed program at: http://www.viladelllibre.cat/larambla/ or on the website of Amics de La Rambla: https://www.amicsdelarambla.cat/