Telde, at the San Telmo Book Fair

Writers and publishers at the Las Palmas de GC Book Fair

by Jesus Ruiz

The world of books, writers, publishers, bookstores and the booksellers’ guild have developed an intense activity during the 34th edition of the 2022 Book Fair in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in the emblematic park of San Telmo, on this occasion dedicated to the Portuguese writer, who lived in Lanzarote, José de Sousa Saramago (Azinhaga, Portugal, 1922-Tías, Lanzarote, Spain, 2010) writer, essayist, journalist, receives the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998 and the Camoes Prize, 1995. From the tents and spaces designated for bookstores and those destined for the interventions and presentations of the numerous works with the presence of their authors, authors, who, interviewed by journalists, writers, collaborators, allowed according to the program prepared with the various activities of the Fair attend to the best knowledge of the work presented, commented, treated with the personality and point of view of the authorship itself and the relationship with the readers.

With the look reflected in the panels of the main presentation tents of the author among other literary works of, The Gospel according to Jesus Christ, Essay on blindness, The intermittents of death, they took place from Wednesday May 25 to Monday May 30, in the General Tent for presentations of the José Saramago cycle 1922-2022, Tent for children’s and youth presentations, Tent for writers’ signature, Tent for Continuous Session, in the one dedicated to the last day of Canarian authors, May 30, which coincided with the Day of the Canary Islands, literary cycles in the State Public Library, institutional tents area, General, Youth and Children’s Literature Bookstores.

Between the animation and good attendance at the Book Fair, on the afternoon of Sunday 29, two commemorative facsimile editions of the work Las Rosas de Hércules, by the poet from Moya, Tomás Morales Castellano (Moya, Gran Canaria, 1884 – Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1921), for the centenary of the death of one of the greats of our Canarian literature, whose acts dedicated to this date were scheduled until August 2022. Presented in the Continuous Session Tent by Dr. Belén González Morales , professor of Spanish Literature at the ULPGC, with extensive experience in research and teaching, and author of the doctoral thesis on invariant proposals and reflections on the poetry of Tomás Morales. Speaker at the Seminar coordinated and directed by the Professor of Literature at the ULPGC, Dr. Antonio Becerra Bolaños, on the poet and writer from Telde, Fernando González Rodríguez, which was given at the Casa Museo León y Castillo in Telde last April, in the relationship between Fernando González and Tomás Morales. And with the scheduled intervention of Guillermo Perdomo Hernández, advisor and documentalist of the facsimile edition, director of the Tomás Morales de Moya House Museum, who for justified reasons could not attend this event.

Dr. González exposes in the presentation of the facsimiles of Las Rosas de Hércules: “The exact facsimile edition as it came off the press in 1919 and 1922, now published in commemoration of the death of the poet Tomás Morales, born in Moya in 1884 and who died in his house on Pérez Galdós street in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where a plaque reflects this event in which Guillermo Perdomo’s grandfather, Pedro Perdomo Acedo, on a plaque reflects the death of the poet on August 15, 1921, – In this house lived the poet Tomás Morales “what his death hurt 1921 only the cabin boy of the voice knows” -.

Centenary that gives the opportunity to reread Tomás Morales, enjoy his work and other acts such as Seminars, Exhibitions, documentaries, and the edition of these facsimiles. The publication of these two books is a long-term project that the Cabildo is carrying out in an effort to publish works by our authors, such as the publication of the Poemas de la gloria, el amor y el mar de Tomás Morales, El lino of the dreams of Alonso Quesada, etc. Book II of the Roses of Hercules in 2019 on the centenary, which could not be celebrated due to the pandemic, and now Book I of The Roses of Hercules, on the occasion of the centenary events. Soon we will also see La umbría, by Alonso Quesada (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria 1886-1925) which is being prepared.

On the afternoon of Monday the 30th, recent literary works were presented by their authors. The writer, journalist, novelist and essayist, Luis León Barreto. He has been deputy director of the newspaper La Provincia and director of the Canarian Press Club. He is the Favorite Son of La Palma and Adoptive Son of Telde, author of 28 books, including Las espiritistas de Telde, a work translated into five languages. Collaborating columnist for Teldeactualidad. His recent work El Volcán and other stories published in the edition of the Center for Popular Canarian Culture, with an excellent narrative written under a feverish state of alarm and a global curfew, throughout his 50 stories there is tragedy, hope, irony, humor and a certain melancholy for the ephemeral life, this world that changes vertiginously. Here is a set of stories that speak of the ability to face crossroads in which we had never entered, because, if we are a product of chance and the future is no longer going to be what we expected, there is no other no choice but to prepare to overcome terrible trials.

León Barreto in his speech accompanied by the writer Rosario Valcárcel, give voice to the reading of selected stories, points out from the first of the stories his reflection in times of pandemic, Exercises for after a pandemic, El Volcán, until the last of the stories, Carpe diem, which are stories set in places on different continents, from sub-Saharan Africa to India, from Israel to Latin America, from London to San Borondón, from New York to the hidden heart of the islands. With fluid dialogues and a highly entertaining writing, the final message is Carpe diem, enjoy the moment now that times seem full of catastrophes. The past is irretrievable, so there is no other option but to cling to the present.

Another of the publications to be discovered by Professor Victoriano Santana Sanjurjo, Doctor of Philology from the ULPGC, official of the Canary Islands Government Secondary Teachers Corps specializing in Spanish Language and Literature, a subject he teaches at IES José Zerpa of neighborhood. With numerous works to his credit, the recent edition, Soltadas [de literatura y…]One, from the Mercurio 80 Collection, edited by Mercurio Editorial, occupies the presentation space of the Continuous Session tent before an amateur public and follower of his literary work at this Book Fair. Santana Sanjurjo, a columnist for Teldeactualidad, has just been awarded in the III Canary Islands Day Short Story Contest 2022, Made in Santa Lucía with the text De la Tierra. Literary contest organized by the Identity and Museum Network area of ​​the Santa Lucía de Tirajana City Council.

With thanks to the reading public of his work, Santana Sanjurjo shares a presentation with the writer Ángeles Jurado and expresses: “Delighted to share these works with the attendees, full of gratitude to each and every one who has made them possible, texts that form a good part of my life, which was published and is now being rewritten, restated again, as a non-final version, but which represents my way of approaching books and a way of giving thanks. Soltadas y…One, a work in two parts, the first dedicated to Literature, developing definitions, terms, neologisms and peculiarities of the process of writing and literary creation, and in which I thank several authors, devoting a reflection on certain aspects in the generations that since school have been forged in literature. I dedicate a part to Canarian literature, to that of Telde, supported by my own experiences and which were very enriching”.

In short, very elaborate texts based on reflections, essays, reviews such as El reloj de Clio, a shining mirror for novelists. Manual to save the books that will be lost. A guy as a mirror for corrupt politicians. Samples for a sadalonic dictionary. 20 literary quipus and a desperate poem. For a Teldense history of Canarian literature. One dedicated to the main axis of his academicism, a great Cervantist in his literary and essay production centered throughout his life as a specialist in Miguel de Cervantes and his work, Para una farewell de Cervantes.

The second part and title of the book, Y…Uno, integrates eleven texts of a variety of themes but related to each other, the author mentions his vocation as a teacher and cannot avoid talking about teaching. As a teacher he shares an interest in politics, sociology, citizenship, and fundamental literary interaction with readers. Texts in which he diversifies the literary action and reflection of him: From prisoner pressures, teachers. Orchestrated neighborhoods [mundo mejor > mundo feliz]. From the dark sea to the affectionate ocean. The Transition, prologue and epilogue of an unfinished story. Where the footprints, the paths. Perennial Saint Gregory. Samper Padilla. Above all, human quality. Extra omnes I. Felipica I of 2020. The road to the quarterfinals. And in his special journey beyond what the gaze reaches and the visible limit, how infinite can the Universe become? A traveling story through our Universe in Beyond, Here. From space: ordered. The work closes with an Onomastic Index referenced in the book’s content.

Two days of unforgettable experiences in the world of books in which I have been able to share time, reading and listening through the authors, editors, writers, writers, who, at this 2022 Book Fair in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in the diversity of its program and from the most intimate of the infinite discovered worlds, there is still much to discover and write to feel the heartbeat of humanity through the pages of a book. Congratulations to the organization of the 2022 Book Fair and encouragement to continue in literary creation from this Atlantic corner of our Archipelago. Thanks.

FREE, YOU MAKE ME

to a book

Aligned like arteries of the same body,

they carry the blood that feeds thought,

cells of primeval tree your words are,

clouds, wind and skies of the same cosmos.

Accents, signals, and paragraphs of the same idea,

blood, sweat and tears of the same heart,

on the stone your first genesis was outlined,

in the wood your remote pages were minted.

What message of millennia to my hands arrive,

what glorious and fateful chronicles semblances,

From Byblos to Alexandria, from the Indus to the Mare Nostrum,

liber, who hugs you, you open your eyes and name.

Nights of stormy flames and fiery cries,

stacked in bonfires shamelessly tore your truths,

your tanned skins defenestrated and broken glass sounded,

hatred, cruelty and death signed those stories.

They caressed your best works, millennia, and civilizations,

In clay and parchment, number and letter, on you they settled,

They carved you in bones, bronzes, ceramics and scales,

and on fine oriental silk your painted writings slept.

Write at the feet of gods sometimes I sit and I dream about you,

I want to shed my entrails and neatly stain your whiteness,

revolutionize the dust particles that my story leaves in the void,

become part of the volume, of the papyrus on the shelf without looking for an owner.

That the key wedge in my dermis the scream, the crying and the phrase,

the date with life, hope, freedom on the sidelines is not left,

that the main line with pen, pen, brush or charcoal figure,

and on the keyboard, although my fingers break, the memory continues.

(Jesus Ruiz Table 2008)

Jesús Ruiz Mesa is a cultural collaborator of TELDEACTUALIDAD.