BOOK FAIR' 24: THOUSANDS OF STORIES AWAIT YOU. PLAZA JUAN XXIII

 

This year, the Cartagena Book Fair will pay tribute to the recently deceased Cartagena poet José María Álvarez . This is reflected in the posters advertising a fair that will take place from October 16 to 20, in Plaza Juan XXIII and which has already announced that it will have Cartagena native Raúl Quinto, winner of the 2024 Critics' Prize for his work 'Martinete del rey sombra', as the opening act. 

Two texts by José María Álvarez are featured on the posters for the Cartagena Book Fair. Parts of the poems  Maduz  and  Argent Vivo  are the main attraction of the image that will be placed throughout the city, announcing the arrival of the literary event. 

One of the signs reads: "Nights and nights, faces / while Nothing spins / and you feel the gin warm your soul, / and sometimes, for an instant / you notice that you have in your hand / the secret of the world. / All this together elevates this dull / scene, and whoever you are / to refined Art." A text that has been taken from Álvarez's poem Maduz and is accompanied by a symbol featuring book pages and the motto 'Thousands of stories await you'. 

The poster was unveiled on Thursday, September 12, by the Councilor for Culture, Nacho Jáudenes, the Director General of Culture, Eugenio González, and the coordinator of the Book Fair, Belén Carrascosa. 

"Once again, books will be out to meet us and we will see, once again, that we all have a work waiting to be discovered. Someone has created a fantasy or recreated a story that will move us, entertain us or take us on a path of intrigue that is impossible to abandon until the end. For this reason, the motto for this edition is: Thousands of stories await you" said the Councillor for Culture. 

"We are bringing books back to the heart of Cartagena. From 16 to 20 October, Plaza Juan XXIII will become a great market of stories and a place where readers can meet the people responsible for the hours they spend trapped in reading," added Jáudenes. 

The tribute to José María Álvarez will go beyond his presence on the fair's poster, as the organization is preparing a tribute in which several writers linked to him will pay him a well-deserved tribute. 

The chosen herald for the fair is also from Cartagena, Raúl Quinto,  who a few months ago managed to have his novel 'Martinete del Rey Sombra' recognized with the Narrative Critics' Award, in which he narrated the events that occurred in 1749, when, under the reign of Ferdinand VI and by order of the Marquis of Ensenada, the mass arrest of the gypsy population took place in what has been described as a failed extermination project.

Raúl Quinto  has a degree in Art History from the University of Granada and currently resides in Almería, where he works as a professor. He is one of the coordinators of the José Ángel Valente Faculty of Poetry and has collaborated as a critic in publications such as Quimera. He is the author of poetry books such as La piel del vigilante (DVD, 2005), La flor de la tortura (Renacimiento, 2008), Ruido blanco (La Bella Varsovia, 2012), La lengua rota (La Bella Varsovia, 2019) or the notebook Sola (La Bella Varsovia, 2020). He has also published the following hybrid narrative books: Idioteca (El Gaviero, 2010), Yosotros (Caballo de Troya, 2015) and Hijo (La Bella Varsovia, 2017)