The Madrid Book Fair, like the Fallas, has been forced to change its date due to the Pandemic. In 2020 it was not celebrated and this year it could not do it on its usual date of May or June; so it was decided for September. The booksellers, who pay 1,670 euros to rent a booth, are divided: to attend or not to attend. They fear that the influx will not be very high due to mandatory restrictions due to covid-19. In 2019, two million people visited the Retiro Car Walk. I, who am in Madrid this weekend, do intend to attend. It opened yesterday and will remain open for seventeen days. I will go as I have done many times. Browse – by eye – the covers of novelties or classic books of a lifetime is a pleasure that I do not change for a television series. The Nobel Prize for Literature Naghin Mazuf said long ago that “television annihilates consciousness and takes vital space from reading.” Now you read a lot, but it is on the mobile screen. This “learning” negatively affects the way they express themselves. All the competition that a good book suffers today is nothing new. Years ago I signed copies of my book The Germans of the New Germany. In the booth next door, Antonio Muñoz Molina signed his book. There were moments when no one approached him or me. However, in a nearby booth there was even a queue. They signed his book Las Virtudes, some girls who had achieved fame thanks to their program on TVE. We both reflect on literary fame: it is much more difficult to achieve than television.
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