ABOUT
The Sant Jordi Book Festival in Barcelona is one of the most beautiful book fairs in the world. Devoted to St. George, who slew the dragon to save the damsel in distress, it is the St. Valentine’s Day of Catalonia. As the legend goes, when Sant Jordi wounded the dragon’s wing a rose bush sprang up from the drops of blood that fell to the ground. In celebration, gentlemen would give their ladies a rose. In the late 1920’s the booksellers’ guild added books into the mix. Today, on April 23rd, the feast day of St. George, the promenades of Barcelona are lined with bookstands and flower stalls, and everyone buys a book and a rose.
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Since 2014, Sant Jordi has been riding and defending literature in translation in New York.
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From 2014 to 2017, we sponsored lit crawls in neighborhoods, or events at bookstores and cultural centers. Translators from many languages and literatures took part, and its popularity grew.
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In 2020 we were planning to do lit crawls in five NYC neighborhoods, when the pandemic shut us down. With artists Laia Cabrera and Isabelle Duverger, we leapt online with this beautiful Madison Square landing page: santjordiusa.org/home2020. Many festivals joined us: Neue Literatur, PEN World Voices, and others. We introduce the web-AR baby dragon, roses, and books that you could bring into your house, like a Pokemon. Good news: the baby dragon—Dragonet—is back this year. Take it home with you!
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The pandemic had lessons for everyone: breadmaking, meditation, self-care, cottage businesses, moving to the country… The lesson for Sant Jordi NYC was that our little festival of literature in English translation could have a world-wide audience. That year we had viewers from Japan, Finland, Iraq, Germany, and many more, and of course our viewers in the U.S. and Catalonia, where Lleida edged out Barcelona as one of the places with the most viewers. We went from 600-700 visitors for a week-long in-person festival to 7,000 viewers online, for 24 languages from 45 countries. It was an epiphany.
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Since 2020 we have continued to be online, and we continue to grow. In 2022, we went hybrid and continued on for the next years, with some editions in Chicago as well.
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This is just a recap and a welcome to the Sant Jordi NYC Festival of Books, Roses & Dragons 2025. We will be bringing you news and updates throughout the festival, April 23 to 25 and May 17, 2025. There will be in-person events throughout the week, online readings each day, a street fair with books, roses, Catalan food, live music and readings on Christopher Street in the West Village, New York... and there will be a baby dragon! Take Dragonet home with you!
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PARTNERS AND ORGANIZERS
The Farragut Fund for Catalan Culture in the U.S. is an American not-for-profit organization (501(c)3) that serves as a catalyst for Catalan cultural initiatives in the U.S. and a vehicle for meaningful artistic exchange between American and Catalan cultures. The Farragut Fund seeks a strong, visible, and permanent presence for Catalan culture in the great mosaic of American cultures.
West Village Business Improvement District (BID) supports the cultural and commercial vitality of one of New York City’s most iconic neighborhoods. Through placemaking, streetscape improvements, marketing, and business support, the BID fosters a vibrant, welcoming environment for residents, businesses, and visitors while ensuring the neighborhood’s distinctive character thrives for generations to come.
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The Catalan Institute of America is an independent, not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to promoting Catalan culture, language, and heritage in New York. Building on a Catalan presence in NYC since 1920, the institute fosters cultural exchange and community through its programs and activities.
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Laia Cabrera & Co. is an award-winning multimedia studio co-founded by filmmaker and video artist Laia Cabrera and visual artist and animator Isabelle Duverger. Based in New York, the studio creates a diverse range of works, including traditional and experimental filmmaking, site-specific projection mapping, visual poetry, and immersive interactive art installations. Their work has been commissioned and presented across Europe, the United States, Asia, and Latin America.