Half of the pedestrians on Madrid’s Gran Vía “crowd” at the Casa del Libro, as if they were about to catch a plane or buy Christmas dinner, in patient, poorly ordered lines, all attentive and attentive. It’s 10:30 a.m. on a Friday morning, rainy and gray in front of the establishment.
But inside the bookstore, a few very green and neat aprons look like a sun, tied on a dozen writers. These are the stars of Planeta editions in 2025, who change jobs for a few hours, to sell, sign, discuss, be corrected, even reprimanded… all with love and admiration for those who support their inspiration: the readers.
There are of course this year’s Planeta awards, whose sales figures (not yet closed, far from it) are about to exceed the most optimistic forecasts: Juan del Val and Ángela Banzas. Also Inma Rubiales, who has the longest line in the entire store in front of her. Alfonso Goizueta, who is always devotedly asked for his first novel Father’s blood. Luz Gabás, Eva García Sáenz de Urturi, Vicente Valls that made his debut as a bookseller… Each with their own story and motivations.
Juan del Val: “We are extremely happy”
The winner of the Planet with Véra, a love story, He arrives with difficulty, among the crowd, at the corner that the editor has assigned him. He is dressed in black, although his expectations after the controversy that accompanied it are golden. It seems that his readers have risen to the rank of fans, like a rocker. He’s already thinking about the following, but now here we are: “As far as criticism goes, I’ve had better times. What I can assure you is that people already know that I wrote a book and that it made a lot of noise. I don’t like it when people talk badly about the novel, but at least I can say that people have found out that I’m a Planeta winner. The only thing I want is to entertain. At this point, we are all extremely happy to his welcome.”
Luz Gabás: “Readers are my moral support”
The Aragonese Luz Gabás took her readers to the Wild West with an adventure book on the back between history and love, heart of gold. A little fluffy, but feisty, she gathers patient admirers of her work as we chat with her. “If I have to recommend one book that’s here, it’s the saga of the long livingby Sáenz de Urturi, which drove me crazy. Regarding my readers, it’s not that I learn from them, it’s that they are my moral support. Because when you write, you are alone and you ask yourself “who supports me?” Well, them, when they’re excited about what you’re writing and you know you’re reaching someone with your stories.”
Vicente Vallés: “I like writing, but my job is journalism”
The presenter of the Antena 3 television news in its nightly edition makes his debut as a salesman. He wears the matching apron, as well as stacks of his novel, The Executioner’s Hunt, awaiting “owners”. “What I hope to have achieved with this book is to entertain, and if someone has learned, then so much the better. Now I would abandon what I am doing if I learned that there was a motion of censure against Sánchez. My work is journalism, although perhaps one day, when I am not working there, I will be able to say that it is writing. As a reader, I recommend Luz Gabas’ novel, it is wonderful.”
Pedro Mañas and David Sierra: “Readers ask us to put them in our books”
“The author and illustrator of the adventures of Anna Kadabraalready a classic among children, they repeat in front of the counter. They have sold two million copies of their 30 books. “What happens to us is that some readers ask us to put them in the books. And so that the children know everything about them, when they come out, what they are talking about… before their parents. And they correct us things that we take into account later.”
Alfonso Goizueta: “Putting myself in the shoes of a bookseller seems necessary to me”
The one who was a finalist of Planeta and recent author of Troy’s dream He already knows the salesman’s vicissitudes, so he is grateful to have been able to put his uniform back on. “What amuses me about this, more than dealing with readers, as we already have at fairs, is putting myself in the bookseller’s place. It’s very important. The writer is in his ivory tower, but I don’t know how necessary the library is for our purpose.
Angela Banzas: “Without booksellers we couldn’t do this”
The Planet finalist with When the Wind Speaks is enthusiastic about this completely new experience for her. “It helps to understand the role of booksellers, without them we couldn’t do what we do. “My joint tour with Juan del Val was wonderful, an enriching experience.”
A reader, Mariví, a cleaning worker at the hospital, “follows” me into the Maison du Livre. She says she is an accomplished reader and that meeting her authors is a pleasure and a gift. To Angela Banzas, whom he met four years ago through her novel The waves of silencepredicted a success like the one that happened. People like Mariví make possible the dream of many authors of working to be read and admired.
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