Spies and secrets take centre stage at the BCNegra literature festival

Spies and secrets take centre stage at the BCNegra literature festival

Culture and free time. The nineteenth edition is on from 5 to 11 February.

The nineteenth edition of the literature festival BCNegra is on from 5 to 11 February, adopting espionage and the violation of privacy in the current virtual world as its main themes.

Barcelona’s noir literature festival features over a hundred authors, including Eduardo Mendoza, Elaine Vilar, Kike Ferrari, Chris Offutt, Juan Tallón, Carles Porta, Susana Martín Gijón, Sandrone Dazieri, Rosa Ribas, Alicia Giménez Bartlett, Marc Pastor, Andreu Martín, Joe Thomas, José Ovejero, Victoria González and Carmen Mola.

The programme includes round tables and discussions, along with film sessions, routes, reading clubs, an exhibition of games in this genre and even a literary cabaret paying tribute to Boris Vian to round off the first day, dramatized and performed by Lluís-Anton Baulenas.

The legendary La Paloma, the Biblioteca Jaume Fuster and the Mooby Bosque and Filmoteca de Catalunya cinemas will be hosting the bulk of the activities in the programme. In addition, various community centres, libraries and other venues and facilities are organising a long list of parallel activities to take the spirit of the festival into all the city’s districts.

The poster for this year’s edition is the work of Javier Olivares.

Jo Nesbø wins the 19th Pepe Carvalho Award

The Pepe Carvalho Award, given every year as part of the festival and recognising a leading author in the genre, goes on this nineteenth occasion to the Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø. The jury believed that “since the start of his career, Nesbø has demonstrated a narrative solvency, ambition and generosity that has seen his readers end up addicted to everything he publishes”.

The award ceremony will be in the Saló de Cent chamber at the City Hall, during the afternoon of Thursday, 8 February. The following day, the Nordic writer will be talking to the journalist Xavier Bundó as part of the festival. After that, there’s a screening of the films The Snowman (2017), directed by Tomas Alfredson and based on a book by Nesbø.