the days 4, 20 – 22 i 26 – 29 In March, the IV Edition of the Literary Cradle will take place, the festival organized by the Carcaixent Bookstore and the Xàtiva Bookstore in both municipalities and that, this edition has the presence of several international authors.
The festival starts in Carcaixent, at the Ribera Warehouse, the day 4 of March with the presence of Pierre Lemaitre to them 17 hours. The French author, winner of the Goncourt Prize, presents his latest work, The beautiful promises, fourth installment of the historical cycle The Glorious Years. A series of short stories that, as he already did with the triptych on Europe between the wars, shows Lemaitre's sensibility for telling stories that transcend the historical anecdote and for building an attractive and absorbing novel.
In the city of Xàtiva, the festival will have its first date on Friday 20 March March 19.30 of the evening at the Gran Teatre with Nieves Concostrina and Jesús Pozo. Jesus Pozo, journalist, will present his work La mala memoria, a study on “Poverty, “Church and repression in the schools of Francoism”. The interview will be conducted by Nieves Concostrina, who will also tell us about his journalistic work.
on saturday 21 March March 12.00 hours, José Luis Sastre will present his new novel in the courtyard of the House of Culture, titled Lead. After the success of The Stolen Phrases, the journalist and writer once again shows off his exciting and direct style with a novel that narrates the value of those who, during the worst years of lead and from anonymity, they faced silence and injustice at the price of being kidnapped or killed.
sunday 22 In March we will also have two presentations in the courtyard of the Casa de Cultura. To the 11 hours, Bibiana Collado Cabrera presents his new book, Marcelino. The author of Yeguas exhaustas addresses, this time, the skin of an old man, the camp, with a language and an imaginary of the earth, in a tender and provocative gesture, that feels the strangeness of language, that doesn't get to say what it wants to say, who barely manages to point out what hurts. Writer and historian Natxo Escandell will interview the author.
Next, to them 12.30 hours, the musician and writer Pau Alabajos presents Vietnamese Verses, Incomplete anthology of anti -Franco Catalan poetry. Coinciding with the 50 years after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco, in this book the author traces a journey through post-war Catalan poetry, written in Vietnamese times, which were those manual multicopiers that allowed clandestine and subversive texts to be disseminated in an era characterized by censorship and everyday repression. Quite a statement of principles: live every minute as if it were the last, cling to hope with all your strength and defend joy like a trench. The book includes a CD that collects a handful of musical adaptations of poems by Salvador Espriu, Maria Mercè Marçal, Vicent Andrés Estellés, Marc Granell or Joan Margarit recorded by Pau Alabajos himself.
On Thursday 26 from March the Cradle continues in Carcaixent, again at the Ribera Warehouse. To the 19.30 we will have a meeting with Aurora Luque, one of the most representative and important poets in the Spanish language and National Poetry Prize of the year 2022.
On Friday 27 March March 19.30, Zafra Remedies will present The Report (National Essay Award 2025). A lucid and uncomfortable essay where Zafra reflects on intellectual precariousness, the bureaucratization of cultural work and the constant pressure to justify ourselves through evaluations and merits. With clear and critical writing, the author questions how administrative and digital language transforms human experience into data and indicators. A short but poignant book about the creative life in the contemporary world. Writer and historian Natxo Escandell will interview the author.
Saturday 28 of March, to them 18.30, the already traditional poetic evening will take place. This time with the participation of Andres Neuman, Lola Mascarell and Maria Josep Escrivà. Individual or group pre-registration is required at the Carcaixent Bookstore and wine will be served courtesy of Xentdevins.
To end this edition, on sunday 29 to them 12:00 hours we will have the Moroccan writer Abdelà Taia, Goncourt Prize finalist 2024 who will take us on a tour of his work and his latest novel, The bastion of tears. Taia's writing is intimate, direct and deeply courageous. It often starts from autobiography to explore identity, the design, the family and exile, with a vulnerable voice that challenges social and cultural silences. With clear prose but full of emotion, Taia builds stories where fragility becomes strength and literature becomes a space of freedom. The interview will be conducted by translator Lydia Vázquez.
