All set for the third edition of the 42, Barcelona Fantastic Genre Festival
The third edition of the 42, Barcelona’s literature festival for fantasy genres, is being held at the Fabra i Coats Art Factory from 8 to 12 November, with over 70 activities and featuring 174 guest authors. Curated by the writer Ricard Ruiz Garzon and adopting the future of humanity as its main theme, the festival will be reflecting on utopias and dystopias, the change in audio-visual horror and the fantasy epic, and paying homage to the great role-models in fantasy genres.
Notable international visitors to the Festival 42 include Ada Hoffman, Steven Erikson, Wu Ming-Yi, Ann Leckie and Tim Pratt, in addition to figures from the national scene such as Marta Sanz, Remedios Zafra, Maite Ochotorena, Laura Fernández and David Rubín, and the Catalan scene, represented by Maite Carranza, Miquel de Palol, Màrius Serra, Martí Domínguez, Andreu Martín and others.
The festival programme combines discussions, round tables and talks, with workshops, exhibitions and literary routes on fantasy genres, such as the one around the city centre visiting iconic spaces linked to characters, works and authors in the genre.
In addition, as part of the Acció Lectora programme by the city’s library network, activities have been organised with 500 secondary school students, who will be visiting the festival and taking part in reading clubs and meetings with authors. The festival will also be taking an in-depth look at the work Momo, by Micheal Ende, and offering parallel activities with Mariana Enríquez, Inés Macpherson and Mar Bosch.
Five days of reflection
As the main theme for the 42, discussion on the future of humanity will focus on the various non-realist literary genres, mainly exploring possible dystopic worlds. At the same time, the difference between horror literature and audio-visuals will have its own space with an exhibition devoted to the literary side of the Sitges festival, with specialists on this theme present. Similarly, the renewal of the fantasy epic will have a prominent role too. The festival will also be looking at other themes such as maternity, feminism, death and the immortality of comics and illustration.
This year’s festival pays special attention to non-Western literature, and among many other moments, includes an exclusive live reveal of the author who writes under the pseudonym Stalker and who has so far published six works on the monsters of the bloodiest Africa.
Tributes and praise
As ever, the 42 will be devoting a section of its programme to pay tribute to the great figures of fantasy genres, such as Shirley Jackson, Ray Bradbury, Italo Calvino, E. A. Poe and H. P. Lovecraft. This section also includes our classics, such as Jaume Fuster, the pioneering Elvira Augusta Lewi and the disappeared Vicenç Pagès i Jordà, as well as timeless points of reference such as Guilgamesh, Les mil i una nits, Star Trek and The Avengers.
