BCNegra, Barcelona’s international crime novel festival, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. It will do so from 10 to 16 February, in an edition with the slogan ‘Barcelona – Marseille – Naples’, with the participation of a long list of renowned authors. Paral-lel 62, La Paloma and Mooby Bosque cinemas will be the central venues of a festival in which round tables will predominate, but there will also be time for film screenings, music, theatre, workshops, reading clubs and talks.

An exhibition, a prelude to the festival

Although the festival will officially begin on the 10th, a few days before, on 6 February, Jaume Fuster Library will host the opening of the exhibition entitled ‘Negra in three colours: Barcelona, Marseille, Naples’, curated by Joaquim Noguero and open to the public until 6 April. It is organised by Biblioteques de Barcelona. After the opening ceremony, there will be a round table entitled ‘Barcelona, Marseille, Naples, border cities’, with the participation of Margarida Aritzeta, Jean Poncet and Enrico Lanniello.

These three Mediterranean cities will be the central axis of BCNegra 2025. According to the presentation text by the festival’s commissioner, Carlos Zanón, these are ‘three cities on the shores of the same sea, stateless capitals, counterbalance to official power, cosmopolitan, somewhat chaotic, with social and cultural similarities and problems, and -even in defeat- proud. Their own idiosyncrasy – port cities, south of the north or north of the south, impure – has given rise to an original, permeable and talented crime fiction literature’.

Key figures and various events

More than a hundred authors will take part in some of the 46 events programmed for BCNegra 2025. Many of them – as a result of the motto of the year – come from Italy and France, but also from other countries and nationals. From the extensive list of participants, we can mention Yasmina Khadra, Arnaldur Indriðason, Ivy Pochoda, Benjamin Black, Donna Leon, Chris Whitaker, Sara Barquinero, Ferran Grau or François Thomazeau.

The activities dedicated to the three protagonist cities will offer an in-depth look at their noir literature and its cultural parallels. But the festival will also show the richness of the crime fiction genre by exploring themes such as social denunciation, memory, violence and betrayal.

Many of the sessions will conclude with a special event. For example, the first day will close with an acoustic concert by Quique González, accompanied by guitarist Toni Brunet. On Tuesday, 11 February, the play Coses que només saps quan estàs morta, directed by Anna Güell and performed by Àngels Sánchez, will be staged. On 12 February, Filmoteca de Catalunya will screen Le mani sulla città, a 1963 film by Francesco Rosi. On Saturday, 15 February, Tatuaje, primera aventura de Pepe Carvalho by Bigas Luna, will be shown at Mooby Bosque. Finally, on Sunday, 16 February, the festival will close with a conversation featuring Galician writer and journalist Manuel Rivas, moderated by fellow writer and journalist Llucia Ramis.

The image of BCNegra 2025

The poster for this year’s edition is the work of Núria Garcia Traveria (Furia), an enigmatic design set in a nocturnal sea with a lighthouse, symbols of unity between the three main cities: Barcelona, Marseille, and Naples. With her unmistakable style, Furia uses black and red as an invitation to delve into the true heart of BCNegra: the novel and the people who are part of it. Núria Garcia Traveria is a graphic designer and now also an illustrator who rediscovered her forgotten love for drawing just over three years ago under the name Furia.

The festival events are free admission except for the screenings at the Filmoteca de Catalunya and the concert by Quique González. You can find all the details of the programme on the official BCNegra website.