The Nuevos Ministerios lobby woke up on Friday and turned into a haven for literary conversations and newly signed pages. The Madrid Metro and the Citizens’ Association opened the Soy de la Cuesta on Friday for Book 2025 there, a celebration that coincides with the centenary of … Cuesta de Moiano Book Fair, a cultural symbol of the city. As a tribute, a bookstore — a replica of the historic wooden structures that line the slope — has been installed in the heart of the suburb between 11:30 and 3:15 p.m. Authors such as Javier Sierra, Megan Maxwell, Sandra Miro, Lana Corojo, Adriana Murat Konings, Nuria LaBarre, Elissa Fernandez Guzman, Javier Ramos, Ana Jarín, and Cristina Añoro showed off the book this weekend and signed copies for readers.
Friday, now in its third year, was born as a counterweight to the digital consumerism that characterizes these histories. Its slogan, “Meetings without discount,” advocates in-person purchases in bookstores and defends the fixed price of books, a system Spain shares with France that ensures the diversity of authors, small publishers and independent bookstores. For every personal purchase made between November 28 and 30 at one of the 90 participating bookstores – from the recently rebuilt post-Dana one in Valencia to the famous Buquinista on the Seine in Paris – readers will receive a number to withdraw a check for €240 to purchase books before December 30 of this year.
The Book Friday program extends far beyond the metro and central Madrid. There will be activities in prison centers such as Madrid 3 (Valdemoro) and Madrid 5 (Soto del Real), where meetings, readings and workshops will be held as part of the program “Culture in Prisons”, by Solidarios para el Desarrollo. In addition, cultural promoter and bookseller Fran Nuño will take his “The Sound of the Projector” proposal to the Ruiz Ejia Public Library, the oldest in the region; Al-Fanal Library, in Sector 6 of Canada Real, and the Laurel Juvenile Center to implement judicial measures.
This edition weaves once again a vast map of bookstores that resist, from fifteen-century-old stalls in Moyano to modern places like the recently opened Celama in Madrid: Mujeres & Cía, Pergamo, Celama, Los Libros Salvajes (Villaviciosa de Odón), Diógenes (Alcalá de Henares), Azorín (San Lorenzo de El Escorial), Jarcha (Vicálvaro), Gaia (Tres). Cantos)… This Friday book brings together 65 libraries from 35 sites in Spain, some of them also centenary like the Library of Cervantes in Segovia, or Palmes (Lugo), or La Fabre (Barcelona), or Yaya (in Arucas, Gran Canaria), and also 25 libraries of the Kibbutzians on the banks of the Seine in Paris, with their history extending back 475 years.
As every year, Radio 3 was responsible for kicking things off with a special program called “Today It All Begins 2”, directed by Marta Echeverría, from Ward 22 of Moyano, broadcast live on the same Friday from 9am to 11am. Authors such as Sergio del Molino, Berta Vias Maho, Esther Ferrero, and Marcos Geralt Torrente held meetings in museums, libraries, and cultural institutions. Centers for talking about everyday objects in literature: clocks, toys, stationery or kitchens as portals to the material life of the narrated world. Remember, Book Friday continues today, and the full program and literary recommendations can be found at bookfriday.org.