"The London Magazine" dedicates a special issue to Catalonia after being invited last year by Catalonia International

The #BooksAndRoses project is an initiative by Catalonia International that, since 2015, has brought together and promoted all events related to books and roses organised on 23 April for Sant Jordi outside Catalonia. A total of 414 events in 223 cities across 45 countries worldwide were organized this year. Laura Foraster i Lloret, Director-General of Catalonia International, explains that one of the aims of #BooksAndRoses is "to take beyond our borders the values inherent in the Sant Jordi tradition, recognised by UNESCO in 1995 with the establishment of World Book Day."

The organisers of these events are usually the Catalan Government's delegations, Catalan communities abroad, organisations such as the cultural Institut Ramon Llull, the Catalan Tourism Agency and ACCIÓ, as well as organisations and individuals with no obvious connection to Catalonia. In this regard, and to give just a few examples, a school on the island of Bermuda is organising a book and rose exchange and sale point for the second consecutive year; the Japan-Catalonia Friendship Association is organising several activities; and the Catalan Government's Delegation to the Republic of Korea, together with the Instituto Cervantes in Seoul, have scheduled a concert and book sales in collaboration with various independent local bookstores.

Furthermore, Catalonia International has for years invited foreign journalists so they can experience the atmosphere of Sant Jordi firsthand and report on it in their respective countries. This year, six journalists from Portugal, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands spent the morning of Sant Jordi in Barcelona and then travelled to Montblanc, which is celebrating its Medieval Week and is a driving force behind the recently created European Sant Jordi Association.

As a direct result of last year's invitation around these same dates and subsequent collaboration with the Institut Ramon Llull, the prestigious literary magazine "The London Magazine" has just published a 128-page issue entirely devoted to Catalan literature. The volume includes poems translated into English by Gemma Gorga, Carles Dachs, Míriam Cano, Mireia Calafell, Adrià Targa, Eva Baltasar, Laia Llobera, Anna Montero and Antònia Vicens, as well as short fiction pieces by Sergi Pàmies, Irene Pujadas, Pol Guasch, Quim Monzó and Mercè Rodoreda. It also features articles by Marina Garcés, Oriol Ponsatí-Murlà, Rowan Ricardo Phillips and Raül Garrigasait.