Book stalls report damage of up to 14,000 euros due to the Sant Jordi storms

The ‘consellera’ of Culture, Natàlia Garriga, has met this Monday with the book sector to assess what happened in Sant Jordi. They sought to assess the damage caused by the storm carousel and seek some kind of compensation for bookstores and publishers who lost some of the material due to the waterspouts last Saturday, not to mention the sales they stopped making. Eight bookstores in Barcelona, ​​one in Badalona and another in Sabadell were severely affected, explained Garriga, who This week he hopes to have a definitive calculation of the effects. Both the damage to the stalls and the destroyed books and those that, despite the downpours, “could have a second use to see what we do with them,” declared Patrici Tixis, president of the Cambra del Llibre.

Some bookstores and publishers have already communicated damages of up to 14,000 euros caused for the storms. If we take into account that there was a record of more than 250 book stalls in Barcelona alone, the total bill for material losses caused by showers can be high. The Central estimates to have lost 50,000 euros, as published by ‘El País’.

“No publisher or bookstore should close because of what happened,” Garriga said.. The ‘consellera’ did not specify how much the money that will be allocated to aid amounts to while waiting for “this week” the Gremi de Llibreters to gather all the information on those affected throughout Catalonia. She ruled out, yes, move Sant Jordi date. “Sant Jordi is an exceptional day,” she stressed. However, she supports the idea of ​​continuing with the Llibre Estiu initiative, which was carried out in 2020 and 2021 to boost the book sector in the midst of a pandemic.

The presidents of the Cambra del Llibre, Patrici Tixis, and the Gremi de Llibreters, Maria Carme Ferrer, agreed with the ‘consellera’ that, despite everything, Sant Jordi was a success in terms of sales figures. “We have had a bittersweet Sant Jordi”, summarized Tixis. Had it not been for “absolutely exceptional circumstances” that ruined the book festival for more than one would have been “the best Sant Jordi in history”, he assured. The sector calculates sales similar to those of 2019, when 1.6 million copies were sold and 22 million euros were invoiced. The final figures are also pending to be known throughout the week.

This afternoon the representatives of the book sector will meet with those responsible for Culture of the Barcelona City Council. Garriga hopes that the municipalities will also commit to aid.