Generation 27 concentrates events in Andalusia for Reading Day

The designation of December 16 as an Andalusian reading festival aims to recall the historic meeting that took place on that same day in 1927 between Federico García Lorca, Rafael Alberti, José Bergamín, Juan Chabás, Gerardo Diego, Dámaso Alonso and Jorge Guillén organized by the Ateneo de Seville, on the occasion of the closing of the tribute. Luis de Gongorawhich marked the birth of the so-called generation of 27. In addition, on December 16, 1902 one of the most eminent poets of the Silver Age was born, the aforementioned Rafael Alberti.

This initiative adds to the extensive program developed by the Ministry of Culture and Sports in favor of the promotion of reading, which encompasses everything from the work carried out by the Network of Public Libraries of Andalusia to support for publishing, including, among other actions, the promotion of the presence of Andalusian publishers in international fairs and markets, such as the Guadalajara International Book Fair (Mexico), the collaboration in the various Andalusian book fairs and the activity carried out by the CAL.

This strategy has had tangible results, as highlighted by the Minister of Culture and Sports, Patricia del Pozobecause “the reading rate in the autonomous community has increased by 5.6 points since 2019, encouraging data that shows a good evolution, but we must continue working to promote reading with the help of the book sector”. In this sense, he highlighted the work carried out by “the public libraries managed by the Junta de Andalucía, which play a completely exceptional role, because people go there to read and study, to borrow books or to take advantage of activities to promote reading”.

The central event of Reading Day in Andalusia will take place on December 16 at the Infanta Elena Library in Seville, where the CAL has organized a meeting with Remedios Zafra (Zuheros, 1973), under the title “Reading and time, reading despite time”, during which the author will reflect on the power of the book in contemporary culture. He will also read the manifesto “(What can) Reading”, in which he highlights the role of books as a transformative element of the individual and which helps to understand today’s complex society. “If people read more and a little more slowly, perhaps we would understand each other better,” he emphasizes in the text.

Remedios Zafra is a researcher and teacher at the CSIC Institute of Philosophy, specialist in contemporary culture and curator of several projects on art, gender and Internet technology. His work, with titles such as “Enthusiasm”. Precarity and creative work in the digital age’ or ‘The invisible loop’, has been awarded various prizes, such as, among others, the Anagrama, the Jovellanos and, recently, the National Writing Award for “The Report.” Intellectual work and bureaucratic sadness (2025).

As a highlight, on December 18, this same space hosts the informative day ‘Reading 27’, which is celebrated on the same day that the journey of these poets to Seville ended a century ago to commemorate Góngora and with which the Ministry of Culture and Sports will continue the programming that commemorates the great poetic generation of the Silver Age.

The event will include the presentation “Andalusia and the generation of 27”, given by the professor, specialist in this literary period and the poet Juan Lamillar, in which he will discuss the importance of the Andalusian authors who were part of this group, as well as other episodes of the Silver Age. After his speech, there will be a collective reading carried out by 27 members of the Seville reading clubs, who will read 27 poems from Generation 27.

Rest of Andalusia

In addition, CAL organized two other activities in its center in Malaga. To begin, on December 16, “A day with Jane Austen”, a session in which, through presentations, conversations and readings, coordinated by the professor from the University of Malaga Rosario AriasWe will remember the universal British writer and the influence of her works on contemporary literature. The initiative is carried out in collaboration with the University of Malaga and the HUM-858 research group of the University Institute for Gender and Equality Research.

The next day and also at the Malaga headquarters, the CAL organizes a meeting with the writer and filmmaker David Truebawho will have a conversation with the journalist Isabel Guerrero about her relationship with books and reading, those titles that marked her or if reading makes human beings better. All this after the publication of “Mi 69”, an autobiographical text in which the author recalls the year of his birth.

That year, David Trueba received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Naples L’Orientale.

Added to this program is that prepared by the libraries managed by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, with activities on December 16. On this day, the Provincial Library of Almería offers its users a ‘Reading stay’ so that they come to Villaespesa with the book they are reading and share their readings.

The celebration at the Provincial Library of Cádiz will however take place “In the key of the blues”an activity in which the narrator Sandra Cerezo will be accompanied by the saxophone and keyboards of Fran Mangas, and the guitar of Philip Pearson, in a show that combines poems, songs and melodies.

The Grupo Cántico de Córdoba library instead offers theater to celebrate Reading Day. It will be hand in hand with the group Barraca XXIwith a montage based on the trip that a young group of poets made to Seville in 1927 to celebrate the tercentenary of Góngora’s death.

A literary route is the activity prepared by the Provincial Library of Granada, focused on Ángel Ganivet, one of the most notable Granadian writers of the second half of the 19th century. The Huelva Library, on the other hand, offers a poetic recital by members of the Tertulia “Nuevo Horizonte” Women’s Literary Cultural Association; while the Provincial Library of Jaén hosts an oral storytelling session led by Blas Rueda.