The Institut Ramon Llull and Catalan Book Week are joining forces once again to put on Making Catalan Literature Travel for International Publishers and Agents, a meeting between a selection of representatives of publishing houses and international literary agents to grow awareness of literature and new publications in Catalan. The event promotes the internationalisation of Catalan publishing and the professionalisation of one of the country's most important annual cultural events, demonstrating that Catalan Book Week is a great chance to showcase the might of the publishing industry and to give selected editors and international literary agents the opportunity to sample the vitality of the Catalan book industry, which is poised to release more than 270 new titles this year.
The participants, who have been chosen following a call for applications during the month of May are 14 professionals from the worlds of fiction and children and young people's literature, are: Ali Arabzadeh - Blue Circle Agency (Iran); Annette Michael - Orlanda Verlag (Germany); Ekaterina Kashirskaya - Peshkom Books (Russia); Fabian Leonhard – Trabanten Verlag (Germany); Gamze Erentürk - Kovan Agency (Turkey); Hande Demirtas - Gunisigi Kitapligi (Turkey); Lina Chebaro - Thaquafa – Arab Scientific Publisher (Lebanon); Linda Poncetta - Sperling and Kupfer (Italy); Majid Jafari - Pol Agency (Iran); Merle Ostendorp - Klaus Wagenbach Verlag (Germany); MohamedIkhlef - Dar Athar (Algeria); Sara di Rosa - Ragazzi Mondadori (Italy); Silvia Naschenveng - Mundareu Editora (Brazil) i Vesna Milosevic - Data Status (Serbia).
They will all meet with around thirty Catalan publishing houses and agencies in half-hour-long group sessions, in which their biggest titles will be presented to the participants. Prior to this, the international editors will attend three online sessions on the following: The Catalan Publishing Sector (led by Gonçal López-Pampló), Autobiographical Literature in Catalan (led by Albert Forns) and Illustration in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands (led by Arianna Squilloni).
Before the session about fiction in Catalan, the audiovisual do’s and don’ts, made by Marina Espasa and commissioned by the Institut Ramon Llull, will be made public, in which ten main characteristics of Catalan fiction will be laid out. As well as that, an event has been organised as part of Catalan Book Week with the illustrator Rocío Bonilla, in which some of her international editors will participate virtually, one of whom is a participant in the delegation. Rocío Bonilla will sit down in conversation with Carol Borràs, from the publishing house Bromera, about the internationalisation of her works. The event will be moderated by the journalist Anna Pérez Pagès, director of the programme Àrtic on BTV.
The library of translations will also make a return, which will be managed once again this year by Llibreria Jaimes. It will be at the Catalan Book Week fair on stand 20.
