2023-10-07 13:51:50
This weekend, Besalú turns into capital of independent publishers. After stopping for two years due to disagreements with the administration, the Liberisliber fair recover the streets and squares of the center. About seventy publishing houses participate – 57 of which are Catalan – and take advantage of this platform to make their catalog available to readers. There are novelties, but also books that are not easy to find. The contest, which apart from the stands includes a literary festival, inaugurates this 2023 its first thematic axis: the art of reading. And it returns with a desire to expand and project itself to have a presence all year round, with online resources and professional meetings.
To speak of Liberisliber is to speak of the vindication – and obstinacy – of them small publishers to make a place alongside the big publishing groups. But also from a project born in 2010, when at that time these experiences were not proliferating, to give them a presence on the street, so that readers can feel and read their background.
This 2023, after an “involuntary impasse” – as defined by its director, Miquel-Àngel Codes – Liberisliber has returned to Besalú. It had been stopped for two years, following disagreements with the aid “which did not guarantee minimum working conditions” (because it was not confirmed until two months before).
Now, however, having overcome this barrier due to the commitments made by both the City Council and the County Council, the contest reclaim streets and squares. It does so by maintaining the essence of the beginnings, but also by incorporating novelties and a desire to expand; in this case, not with more spaces, but with the will to be projected throughout the year.
That there was a desire for Liberisliber to return is shown by the figures. “We have 65 editorials which we didn’t even have to call, and there are around thirty of them who have remained on the waiting list,” explains Codes. This 2023, of all the independent publishers participating, eleven are doing so for the first time .
Contact from you to you
One of the new publishers at Liberisliber is Barcelona-based Chronos, which specializes in science fiction books. From behind the stand, its editor, Gonzalo Rodríguez, emphasizes that the contact you with the reader it allows “to explain first hand why we chose the books, what passion led us to publish it, and to be able to show that part of the catalog that we know is difficult to keep in bookstores”.
Most of the Liberisliber stamps are Catalan, such as Calligraf, Ela Geminada, Gavarres, Periscopi, Pol·len or Sidillà. But Liberisliber’s reputation also goes further, with three in Madrid, two in the Valencian Country and one in Navarre, the Basque Country and Andalusia.
Although Codes admits that in recent years independent publishers have gained a presence, he still admits that there is work to be done. “A lot of progress has been made, but we have to work hard to get this little bit of attention,” he explains. And this is evidenced by one of the stamps that have been at Liberisliber since the beginning, Calligraf from Figueres. “We are publishers who take care of our books in the face of the avalanche that arrives in the shops; we publish about fifteen each year, and coming here allows us to explain what is behind each title”, states its publisher, Ramon Moreno .
To pick and stir
The fair serves as platform to meet new authors, reissues of classics, translations of alternative foreign books, contemporary poetry. Some of which are either hard to find or will never be on bookstore shelves. There are also genres to choose from: narrative, non-fiction, fantasy, eroticism or theatre, through gastronomy, intrigue, poetry and art.
In addition, the fair is also an opportunity to learn about the latest developments. An example is Ela Geminada, which is now entering the erotic literature with his new collection Idil·lis, where he has already published ‘Delta de Venus’ and in November he will bring to the market ‘Obres púbiques’ by Manuel de Pedrolo. “We believe that it is very important to recover erotic references in Catalan, to encourage conversations about them, and reading erotic literature in the end gives us moments of pleasure and puts on the table topics that are still taboo for us”, says its editor, Laia Reckless From his day-to-day life, he explains that the work of an independent publisher is “risky and lonely”, but that “it pays off in the end”.
And on the other side of the publishers, there are the readers. People wandering around the stands rummaging through books looking for little gems. Like Joan Batlle, who comes from Banyoles looking for degrees from an American psychologist of whom he declares to be a fervent admirer. Or the Girona sisters Clara and Maria Pilsa, who do not favor any gender. “I go to seasons, I like everything,” they explain.
In addition, the fair also allows libraries to expand their catalog, with books that escape the best-sellers. “We are used to the biggest editions, and these small publishers do very nice things that end up being very unknown; by putting them in our fund, we contribute to expanding letters and knowledge”, says the director of the library Emília Xargay de Sarrià from Ter, Anna Sala.
And when the walk around the stands has already been done, Liberisliber also offers the visitor immerse yourself throughout the weekend in the literary festival (the other central leg of the contest together with the fair). There are more than thirty activities, including dialogues, recitals, concerts, meetings with authors or theater in the street.
Willingness to expand
The resumption of Liberisliber also comes accompanied by news. Both in substance and in form. At the outset, the contest starts one more collaborative programming, involving publishers around a thematic axis. The one of this 2023, is the art of reading. In addition, Liberisliber will no longer celebrate its awards and will convert them into a reader recommendations project (of which it will give more details in the autumn).
But above all, and this is how the director of the contest, Miquel-Àngel Codes, points out, what is wanted is for the project to “have a presence beyond a weekend, and extend throughout the year”. For this reason, Liberisliber wants to launch online resources (such as search engines for translators, illustrators and literary festivals that generate job opportunities) and new professional meetings. One, focused on illustration and another that wants to claim – and get – translations of local texts.
The details of these initiatives will be announced between now and the end of the year. And they will show that Liberisliber has a footprint, and a desire, to promote independent publishers.
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