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On Monday, 6th April the activities to take place during the Week of Catalan Culture were set out at the Blanquerna Cultural Centre, the cultural seat of the Madrid delegation of the Government of Catalonia. Four of these activities are included in the programme for Sant Jordi Around The World, when once again the Institut Ramon Llull will celebrate the Diada de Sant Jordi (Saint George's Day) all over the world. This year the IRL will host events in 22 cities in 13 countries during April and May. The activities include those held in Madrid, London, New York, Berlin and Paris. The Director of the IRL, Josep Bargalló, has made special note of those that will be held in Madrid and New York, "the great capitals of the two main languages in the world today".

In Madrid, as part of the Week of Catalan Culture (SCC), which is organized by the Blanquerna Cultural Centre, the IRL has organized a Catalan poetry reading hosted by Mario Gas. Alongside Gas, Vicky Peña and Juan Echanove will also be participating, with music by Carlos Santos. The show aims to reveal through translation the fertile exchange between Spanish and Catalan poets, with poems by 25 authors including Josep Carner, J. V. Foix, Joan Salvat-Papasseit, Bartomeu Rosselló-Porcel, Salvador Espriu, Miquel Martí i Pol, Gabriel Ferrater, Blai Bonet, Vicent-Andrés Estellés, Pere Quart, Joan Brossa, Jordi Sarsanedas and Maria Mercè Marçal, among others.

In presenting Poets in Madrid: Catalan Poetry Readings, Mario Gas highlighted the "vitality" of Catalan poetry and the "exceptional quality of the chosen poems and poets". Along the same lines, Juan Echanove acknowledged that until a month ago he knew nothing of Catalan poetry, but now, having come to know the work of poets such as Joan Margarit, Blai Bonet and Maria Mercè Marçal, he has been "personally enriched a great deal".

The show, which is free to the public, takes place on Tuesday, 14th April at 8.00 pm at the Teatro Español.

Coinciding with Sant Jordi on 23rd April, the Blanquerna Cultural Centre will also host the presentation of the Spanish translation of Solitude, by Victor Català, as well as a tribute to Ibizan poet Marià Villangómez. In the latter event, an overview of the poet and her work is proposed through the reading of her poems, and there will also be poetry readings of some contemporary writers from the Balearic Islands.

To close the activities of the IRL in Madrid there will be a presentation of the new edition of Bearn, by the Majorcan author Llorenç Villalonga. This event will take place on 11th May at 7.30 pm at the Blanquerna Cultural Centre with the participation of José Carlos Llop, the editor of this important critical edition published by Alfabia.

World Voices Festival in New York
New York will be the other main focus of this year's Sant Jordi Around The World, with the participation of five Catalan and Balearic Island authors in the World Voices Festival, one of the most important in America.

Included in the festival, on 30th April, is a homage to Reinaldo Arenas and Blai Bonet, organized by the Institut Ramon Llull and the PEN Club of the United States. The writers Margalida Pons, Biel Mesquida and Carles Rebassa will all be participating. During this activity, the IRL will publish a booklet with poems by Blai Bonet, Reinaldo Arenas and the other participants translated into English.

Still within the World Voices Festival, on 2nd May, the Baryshnikov Arts Center will host a reading of the stage adaptation of La Plaça del Diamant (The Time of the Doves), by Mercè Rodoreda, directed by Joan Ollé and starring the American actress Jessica Lange. On the same day, there will also be the English translation of La Mort i la primavera (Death in Spring).

Events in London, Berlin and Paris
Another privileged setting for this Sant Jordi is London. On Sant Jordi itself, 23rd April, the maestro Jordi Savall, accompanied by Ferran Savall, will offer the recital Songs & Dances: From the Renaissance to the Present, with a repertoire that includes songs such as Gwerz (a traditional Breton song), Noumi, noumi yaldatii (a Hebrew lullaby), and the Catalan song La cançó del lladre (The Thief's Song), among others.

Berlin will host an outstanding presentation on Tuesday, 21st April: the translation into German of the work by Baltasar Porcel, Mediterrània. Onatges tumultuosos (The Mediterranean: Tumultuous Waves), which the Majorcan writer will be attending, along with the German translator, Kirsten Brandt.

Also, on 21st April at the offices of the delegation of the Government of Catalonia in Paris, the French translation of the poetry of Màrius Torres (La dernière rose, published by L'Harmattan) will be presented. The poet's brother and former Secretary of the Generalitat in exile in France, Víctor Torres, will also participate, along with Marta Giné, Lecturer in Romance Philology at the University of Lleida and translator of the poems along with Norberto Gimelfarb. The presentation will be followed by a bilingual version of the reading.

In addition to these events, activities will take place at all universities at which the IRL has teachers of Catalan language and culture. Of particular note is the Week of Catalan Music at the University of Santa Barbara (USA), or the Catalan culture workshops in Cracow (Poland), which will feature the poets Lluís Calvo and Sebastià Alzamora.