Semana Negra Gijon 2021

Last week, almost overnight, the benches that lined our quiet street were removed and wooden huts were erected in their place all along our street. At the same time, a big white tent resembling a circus tent and a long line of miniature white circus tents went up near the sea wall at the end of the street. “What was happening?” we wondered. When the assembly crew completed building the wooden huts and erecting the tents, they hung a huge illuminated sign across the entrance to our neighborhood that said, “Semana Negra.” Black Week. We still didn’t know what that meant. Was it a summer festival? Was it a large market? Was it a celebration of black-owned businesses? Was it really going to be here just for one week? The set-up was extensive. Clearly whatever it was, they were anticipating a big turn-out!

Then we discovered it was a book fair! Remember the Scholastic Book Fairs in elementary school where you took your allowance to school to purchase new books for great prices and could also buy stickers, erasers and plastic rulers? I loved those fairs and the little plastic Scholastic bags I brought home filled with my purchases. That is not what this is.

Picture instead, a book fair with booth after booth of book sellers: thrillers, history books, art books, comic books, kids books, etc.. Then add a super-sized hut with a bakery piled high with fresh breads, cake, cookies and sweets; an ice cream hut with at least 15 flavors; next to a chorizo and various sized sausage hut. Add two brand new Toyotas, a shiny red C-HR hybrid and a silver Rav 4, parked next to the chorizo booth to impress the throngs of book buyers walking by. I can tell you they caught Rocky’s eye! In fact he seems to steer us past them every day. (Maybe he misses owning a car more than he lets on.)

On the back side of the book huts, all of the local bars have chairs and tables set up and lights draped from the trees for anyone who might need a beverage while attending the festival. In the giant white circus tent at the end of the street you can now buy grilled octopus and mojitos! After your snack, you can check out the clothing, hat, purse, jewelry and toy booths. Or you can attend any number of free presentations with authors from Spain, Italy and France. We saw one excited young lady taking a selfie while posing with a new book she bought and having a beer. If that doesn’t encourage literacy, I don’t know what does!

But there is more… after you’ve loaded up with books, clothing, chorizo, pulpo (octopus), bread and mojitos, you can ride a giant ferris wheel or other exciting rides until 2 am or attend a music concert or poetry reading. Imagine waking up one morning to discover that Barnes and Noble had set up shop in front of your apartment and instead of just offering Starbucks coffee in their cafe, they now had a bar, a concert venue and an amusement park! Then imagine many popular authors like Patricia Silva, Stephen King, David Baldacci, and Michael Connelly were presenting just one block away. I can’t believe I used to get excited about Scholastic Book Fairs when I could have been attending Semana Negra in Gijon!

But why is it called Semana Negra? My first thought was that it was a nod to the black-ink most commonly used in books. Black Week of Gijon is actually a literary festival created by writer, Paco Ignacio Taibo II in 1988. It began as a festival exclusively dedicated to the crime novel, hence the name, but now includes science fiction, fantasy, poetry and historical novels. It has been celebrated every July since 1988 with the exception of 2020. It moved to our neighborhood in 2012.

According to the founder, Taibo, the festival started with 73,000 attendees it’s very first week. Now it boasts more than a million visitors over 11 days featuring 250 guest authors, musicians and other performers. I’m not sure we’ve seen anywhere close to a million visitors in our neighborhood this week but I can vouch for the fact that there has been a steady stream of participants of every age from 10 am until way after we go to bed each night. This is a literary festival attended by families, couples, young people, dogs and babies.

I don’t recognize any of the featured authors but I plan to attend a presentation by Lorenzo Silva, a favorite recommended by my Spanish teacher on Friday. He is famous in Spain for his thriller literature called literatura genero negro. Whether I understand much of what he says or not, it will be fun to take part in the festival. Maybe if I have a mojito first, I’ll understand him better!

At the culmination of the festival, various awards are presented: The Hammett Prize for the best detective novel written in Spanish; The Rodolfo Walsh Prize for the best non-fiction crime-themed work written in Spanish; The Espartaco Prize for the best historical novel; The Silverio Canada Memorial Award for the best first crime novel published in Spanish; The International Competition of Police Stories for an unpublished work and The Celsius Prize for the best fantasy, science fiction or horror novel.

One of the T-shirts available for sale this week features a picture of a cow wearing cool sunglasses that reflect pictures of books. The shirt reads: “Leer es la leche.” (To read is the milk.) Confusing until you find out, that “la leche” (milk) is often used to describe something wonderful. In other words, “To read is fantastic!”  My teacher cautioned me though, because if you just say, “Leche!” or “Leches!” it translates as “Dammit!”  So this literary festival is “la leche!” And the shiny red Toyota CHR is “la leche” according to Rocky. However, if I trip on the sidewalk after having a mojito, you might hear me yell, “Leche” and it won’t be because I’m ordering a glass of milk!

I have not read a Spanish novel since my university days, four decades ago. Semana Negra has definitely inspired me though. I have a few more days to stroll through the fair looking for just the right book to read. By next July, I may even have a few “favorite” Spanish authors to tell you about.

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Prefer to adventure in person? Consider joining me on a retreat. I have one double occupancy room remaining in both the Bordeaux Retreat August 28- September 4, 2021 and The Hiking & Yoga Retreat in Spain September 18-25, 2021. Need more planning time? Sign up now for one of the featured retreats of 2021!  http://www.globalyogatrips.com

Want to read more about Semana Negra in Gijon? Here are two links you can start with.

Paco Ignacio Taibo II

https://www.semananegra.org/