The Community of Madrid has decided to take another step in its commitment to reading. It has been twenty years since the launch of La Noche de los Libros, the large interdisciplinary event on literature organized by the region every year. … It will develop and transform into Libromad, the Madrid Book Week, a new literary festival that will see the light in 2026 and will transform the entire area into a major cultural fair for four days.
This announcement was made by the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Mariano de Paco Serrano, during a visit on the occasion of Library Day to one of these institutions. He explained that this project “seeks to enhance the activity of bookstores and bookstores in the region, especially promoting the sale of books for four days, where events will be held that, due to their attractiveness, will encourage more citizens to come to these spaces.” “Supporting the book network in the region enhances access to culture,” the advisor stressed, stressing that the new format responds to the suggestions and opinions of booksellers, librarians, editors and cultural managers.
Book Day is scheduled to be celebrated next April 23, and will continue from Thursday to Sunday, compared to the one-day model of Book Night, in order to make it easier for those interested to attend more than one event among all those that will be held. In this way, Madrid residents will be able to enjoy a broader and more diverse programme, with more than 300 activities distributed among at least 60 municipalities in the region.
The program will include meetings with authors, novels, plays, literary meetings, workshops, musical performances, film screenings, and literary trips, in addition to a central event with a festive entertainment nature. Many of these activities will be carried out in libraries, libraries and outdoor spaces. Hence, the aim is to celebrate the passion for reading, continue to bring books to every corner of society and commemorate this habit not just for one day, but for an entire week.
The renewal of this literary festival comes within the framework of the efforts of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and the Spanish Office, and falls within the framework of a set of measures encouraged by the regional government to strengthen the fabric of books and publishing. These include framework agreements for the purchase of books for independently managed public libraries, which benefited 120 institutions, and assistance in library modernization, which allowed the launch of 334 projects across the region. Added to this is a training program in library management developed in collaboration with Uned and the Community of Madrid Booksellers Association, as well as institutional support for the Madrid Book Fair and other literary competitions.
Exceeding the national average
The Community of Madrid consolidates its national leadership in reading habits: 76.8% of Madrid’s population are book readers, compared to 70.3% of the Spanish average. The percentage among young people rises to 85.8%. Furthermore, 72.1% read for leisure in their free time, which is well above the state average, and 28.9% read for work or study reasons, compared to 65.5% and 25.2% of the national average, respectively.
With 392 bookshops – 14% of the national total, and 2,792 establishments across Spain – Madrid is also the region with the highest density of independent bookstores: 5.7 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to data from the Spanish Confederation of Unions and Associations of Booksellers (CEGAL).
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