The English-speaking world celebrated World Book Day two days ago, and will be celebrating World Book Night tonight, March 5th, 2011. Not so in Spain, though, as far as I know.

However, the Setmana del Llibre en Català (Catalan Book Week) is being held in Palma at the Centre de la Misericòrdia and will finish there tomorrow, March 6th. Opening hours today are from 10h00 to 21h00 and tomorrow from 10h00 to 14h00 and from 16h30 to 21h00. Tonight at 19h30, poems by Catalan artist, Joan Brossa, will be presented in a musical arrangement by Oliva Trencada (Pep Toni Ferrer), also at La Misericòrdia. Entry admission is free to the book fair as well as to the performance.

Bookcrossing, on the other hand, is an activity which is practiced throughout the year and with no particular timetable. Bookcrossing is an activity where books are left in public places throughout the world for lucky members of the public to find, read and then, to be released once more for another lucky finder. The movement started ten years ago in the USA and has since spread throughout the world, including Asia and Australia. In Spain, Bookcrossing has a few thousand participants and is actively done in places like Madrid, Seville, Zaragoza, Santander, Barcelona and Palma. Earlier this morning, a book by Mario Vargas Llosa (Lituma en los Andes) was left in the Bar Ca n’Usola in Felanitx but, by the time you read this, it may have found a taker.

The photo was borrowed from the Internet. Thanks are due to cccb.org and the photographer, Susana Gellida.

Muchas gracias.