Sant Jordi book sales reach €26.7 million with Catalan-language titles accounting for majority of purchases

Book sales during this year's Sant Jordi festivities reached €26.7 million, slightly above last year’s €26.1 million, according to final figures released by the Catalan Booksellers' Association (Camara del Llibre de Catalunya) on Wednesday.

A total of 2 million books were sold, covering 71,000 different titles. Of those purchases, 54.7% were in Catalan and 45.3% in Spanish.

The association said the figures reflected "creative talent, publishing strength and the reach of Catalonia’s bookselling network," which it said enabled an offer responding to the broad diversity of public demand.

By genre, fiction accounted for 37.1% of sales, children's and young adult literature 29%, non-fiction 22.3% and comics 11.6%.

Catalan-language books accounted for 52.8% of sales in Barcelona, 65.8% in Girona, 60.3% in Lleida and 53.2% in Tarragona.

Best-sellers

The organisation also confirmed the most popular titles, which represent around 7% of total sales.

In Catalan fiction, the best-selling titles included 'Crispetes de matinada' by Regina Rodríguez Sirvent and 'El joc del silenci' by Gil Pratsobrerroca, alongside works by Albert Sánchez Piñol, Albert Espinosa and Agnès Marquès.

In Catalan non-fiction, Òscar Andreu's 'Manual de defensa del català' topped the list, followed by titles by Oriol Mitjà and Francesc Torralba.

In children’s and young adult literature, Míriam Tirado's 'Em dic Goa 10: Quin embolic, Goa!' was the best-selling Catalan title.

In Spanish fiction, Eduardo Mendoza's 'La intriga del funeral inconveniente' led the rankings, while James Clear's 'Atomic Habits' topped non-fiction sales.

The association said the rankings were compiled using data from LibriRed bookshops across Catalonia and estimates from GfK, with no major changes compared with preliminary figures released on April 23.