Bibliotecas de Barcelona and Casa Amèrica Catalunya are organising the KMAmèrica Latin American literature festival. The first edition will take place, from 16-19 June. The curator is writer Eduardo Ruiz Sosa, and there will be round tables, dialogues in interview format, an oral literature show, the première of a play, and a literary walk dedicated to Gabriel García Márquez. The Gabriel García Márquez Library, located in the Sant Martí neighbourhood and due to open its doors on 28 May, will be one of the venues for the event, and the Casa Amèrica Catalunya will be the other.

Twenty-two writers from 11 Latin American countries have confirmed that they will be attending, and seven Catalan writers will be moderating the round tables. Among those who will be present at the first edition will be: Cristina Rivera Garza (Mexico), Marta Aponte Alsina (Puerto Rico), Selva Almada (Argentina), Gustavo Faverón Patriau (Peru), Carlos Fonseca (Costa Rica), Mónica Ojeda (Ecuador), Martín Caparrós (Argentina), Vanessa Londoño (Colombia), Itamar Vieira Junior (Brazil), Abilio Estévez (Cuba) and Alain-Paul Mallard (Mexico). The aim is to find the meeting point between well-established literatures, bold ideas, peripheral voices, globalised perspectives, scenic narratives, subordinate landscapes and dissident bodies that defy the norm. The organisers say that “KMAmèrica aspires to consolidate itself as a new literary festival within the cultural framework of a multifaceted, open and critical Barcelona, and hope that it will coexist alongside other cultural activities and events in the city, adding to the diversity, exchange and recognition of our experiences of the world”.

A new library

The festival programme was announced at the Gabriel García Márquez Library, which, as already mentioned, will also be one of the two venues hosting the event. The new facility is located at C/ Treball, 219, and will be the third largest library in the Barcelona Library network. It will have a collection of approximately 40,000 documents, 140 reading points and 30 Internet access points. Furthermore, it will have different activity spaces, including a sensory space, as well as other spaces for meetings and group work. There will also be a radio studio. The library will specialise in Latin American literature, and will contain the most important works by Latin American writers, poets and playwrights, both classical and contemporary. It will also have a space dedicated to comic strip artist Francisco Ibáñez, a Sant Martí resident.

On the day of the inauguration, Saturday 28 May, the Library will be open form 10 am to 2 pm and from 4 pm until 8 pm. The neighbourhood organisations and associations will be the protagonists of different events, and there will also be a radio programme. At 11 am, before the visit and speeches by the authorities, Pep Callau and Els Pepsicolen will be offering a family show. Events on inauguration day will end at 7 pm with a vertical dance performance entitled Las voladoras from Les Filles d’Eva.

More information available via this link.