The second edition of the great fantasy genre event is here!
David Mitchell, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Aliette de Bodard, Tade Thompson, Gareth Hanrahan and Samantha Shannon are some of the participants in Festival 42.
The second edition of Festival 42, organised by the Institut de Cultura de Barcelona (ICUB) through Barcelona City of Literature UNESCO, will be held from 2 to 6 November. Curated by the writer Ricard Ruiz Garzón, the event, dedicated to fantasy genres, will have Fabra i Coats: Fàbrica de Creació as its epicentre, with some activities at the Ignasi Iglésias - Can Fabra Library.
There will be up to 84 proposals — workshops, round tables, interviews, debates, award ceremonies, etc. — with the presence of 225 participants from four continents, including writers, genre specialists and moderators. Just to mention a few names from the long list: David Mitchell, Gareth Hanrahan, Aliette de Bodard, Tade Thompson, Lavie Tidhar, Catherine Dufour, Paul Kingsnorth, Rachel Yoder, Cat Rambo, Rosa Fabregat, Max Besora, Jordi Sierra i Fabra, and so on. The festival will kick off with a conversation with Pep Albanell, writer and master of juvenile and adult literature in science fiction. On the same Wednesday, 2 November, the exhibition 50 anys de Terry Pratchett: el veritable terraplanisme i altres certeses del mestre, where illustrators and admirers of Pratchett's work have designed 13 corporeal sculptures, each showing an image of one of the scenes from Discmon and other universes of the author, will launch.
This is not the only exhibition at the festival: it will also be remembered that 2023 will mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the writer Italo Calvino with the exhibition Italo Calvino (1923-1985), fantàstic, and a visit to the 42 by his biographer, Antonio Serrano Cueto. The festival will also remember the editor and translator Paco Porrúa and the publisher Miquel Barceló and will commemorate, in a very special way, the 50th anniversary of the death of José Mallorquí, an essential figure and pioneer in popular genre literature and science fiction. Tribute will also be paid to Rosa Fabregat, a pioneer of the fantasy genres, especially science fiction, and recognised with the National Culture Award 2022.
This second edition focuses on the psychological consequences of the pandemic. For this reason, one of the main themes of the festival will be mental illnesses and how they can affect artists' creative process, a central theme with a long tradition in genre works. Another focus will be on literature of fantastic genres dedicated to young audiences: in addition to the visit of some of the great authors of the national and international scene, in collaboration with the Barcelona Libraries and the Barcelona Education Consortium, visits to the festival by students from different high schools have been prepared, and there will also be reading clubs and workshops dedicated to young people.
The closing of the 42 will be on Sunday, 6 November at 1 p.m., with a dramatised debate with music and scenographies created specifically for the occasion.
Entitled Dimensions desconegudes: teatre, ciència-ficció i gèneres fantàstics (Unknown Dimensions: theatre, science-fiction and fantastic genres), the show will be a tribute to fantastic genres beyond narrative. Helena Tornero is the director and playwright, and the scenography is by Pablo Huerres Rodríguez and Elisabeth Castells and will have the participation of Sergi Belbel, Jordi Casanovas, Ariadna Chillida, Júlia Genís, Oriol Genís, Pau de Nut, Marc Rosich and Victoria Szpunberg. The author of the poster for the second edition of the festival is Andreu Zaragoza, an illustration that includes references to literary sub-genres, authors and outstanding works, as well as the influence of cinema and television on the genre and alludes directly to mental health.
You can find further information about Festival 42 on their official website.