"It's never too late, and better once alone than never."
William Shakespeare
Since Covid dampened our party, a proper Book Fair hadn't been held. But after the post-pandemic hangover, the Fair became a Beast. And not due to a typo, but thanks to a change in attitude. From April 27th to 30th, thanks to the push of Isla Literaria, the association of booksellers and publishers of Lanzarote, presided over by Mayte Pozo and Tomás Pérez-Esaú, the town of Yaiza experienced memorable days. The location couldn't be better: a wide and wooded square between the Church of Our Lady of Los Remedios and the Benito Pérez Armas House of Culture.
And there we went, to set up our booths. Under a terrible sun, but excited like children. In the shadow of the Centenary of Arozarena (named Adopted Son of Yaiza), under the Watchtower of Femés, in whose restored Casona, an exhibition was inaugurated a week before that will last until the end of September. And the Beast started, in the agora, roaring with the tenths of the master Jaime Quesada, perfect backdrop to the dance show. Immediately, after the opening ceremony, the book presentations began and readers soon appeared.
Thursday afternoon was the windiest and most peaceful. The evening breeze waved the bags. Juli Mesa, one of the authors published jointly this year by the Mapfre Guanarteme Foundation, within the Canarias en letras collection, coordinated by Félix Hormiga, was signing copies of her poetry book Lucio Blanca and acting as a bookseller for a few hours. The experience was wonderful. As she hadn't prepared any poster to announce it, she made it herself, with her perfect handwriting, even though Rafa, from the Diama Bookstore, kindly offered to print one for her. Myriam Ybot had the kindness to go to the mythical Bar Stop (open since 1890) for some beers and a ham sandwich, with which we fed a tabby kitten that came to beg around the booths. A small, famished little beast, the mascot of the fair. Lana Corujo, one of the neighboring writers and illustrators, was feeding her. Surely the cat, if she could read, would have gladly devoured some verses from her Ropavieja. We exchanged a literary bag (with the quote from Albert Camus) for artistic postcards and stickers. Everything went perfectly, although perhaps because it was the first day and during the week, the attendance was not massive. The orange sky of the sunset, with its burning clouds, warmed our pupils.
On Friday morning, before heading south of the island, I stopped by La Madriguera for a few boxes of youth literature. Because, from nine to one, there would be a visit from schoolchildren, buses and more buses of secondary school students. When I parked, some were already there, like Monterroso's dinosaur. And soon, the Plaza de los Remedios looked like the institute's courtyard during recess. Hundreds of teenagers, in the company of their teachers, going from one booth to another. Most without money. Luckily, the teachers, bless them, loosened their wallets to pay for the books. Inma and José Luis passed by, who gave a bag to another teacher and spread happiness by buying copies for the kids. Although there was everything: groups of friends who gathered the money in a kitty and even a fifteen-year-old who even called her mother to make me a bizum and be able to take the four books she wanted. During a break, I was able to escape and take a photo of the Canarian Tales by Benito Pérez Armas, which Ediciones Remotas published last summer, inside his own house, duplicating the image that illustrates the cover. By the way, I also went to the stand of the Cabildo's Publications Service and took a handful of books and prints by Santiago Alemán to enrich my collection of Canarian literature.
We closed shortly after noon and before leaving, I ran into Jordi in front of El Puente's booth. We were exchanging impressions and he, who as a bookseller has much more experience, predicted that we would have to wait until the weekend to assess the scope and impact of the fair. I went to the Itineraria Editorial stand to greet Sergio and Alba, not being able to resist the temptation of Towards the South. Travels through Spain by Virginia Woolf, which narrates the three getaways of the British author in the form of diaries, letters and essays, compiling many unpublished texts in Spanish. Sergio Erro, who in addition to being an editor is an artist, showed me a watercolor of the Beast that he had painted in a hurry. On Friday afternoon, the atmosphere was already noticeable. Emilio Alonso, a poet from Vigo residing in Lanzarote, accompanied us signing his poetry books. Jesús and Mamen, passionate brothers of marathon and Egyptology, made an appearance. I took advantage of Jaime Quesada being nearby to ask him to dedicate Tajorase to me with a two-color pencil, red and blue. There was more movement of people, although still without reaching the levels of Saturday and Sunday. I hugged Javi Rodríguez, from SER, after years without seeing his blond ponytail. He commented that he was coming to the presentation of Miss Raisa's book. I showed him the designs of the new bags and he chose one, in black, with the poem
