Sun, beaches and books: Costa Brava's Calonge to become Catalonia's first full-time book town

Catalonia's Costa Brava is perhaps best known for its sun-soaked coves and small towns bursting with urbanites fleeing the big city every summer. But now, the town of Calonge, population 11,300, is seeking a different claim to fame: books.

'Calonge, poble de llibres' (or Calonge, town of books), is the name of the latest initiative to put the town on the map as a top cultural destination for used book or antiquarian book stores. Calling on booksellers to come and set up shop, the municipality promises "important economic incentives" it hopes will serve to revitalize the local economy "for years to come."

To do so, the local council will provide seven people with €10,000 grants and has made a number of commercial premises available for rent in the town's old quarter. In addition to this, it will also give up to €6,000 in grants to hire staff, as well as subsidize the cost of refurbishing buildings housing bookstores and offer a 90% discount on business license fees. 

"I invite everyone looking for the ideal place to live to be brave and come here," mayor Jordi Soler said on Wednesday morning alongside other local politicians, academics, writers, and business owners from the University of Barcelona's Information and Audiovisual Media Faculty. "Life is for the brave. Come here and start your business," Soler said, extolling the virtues of his town.

According to those behind the program, the pandemic has changed our reading habits. With more and more people escaping the boredom of limited social interaction through literature, independent bookstore sales have skyrocketed.

Marçal Font, the president of Catalonia's Guild of Old Booksellers, believes Calonge must capitalize on this trend now. In his forties, he recalls being "young during the last crisis" in 2008 and maintains that becoming a "hub" for book lovers could help the town find its way out of the current one.

'Calonge, poble de llibres', should not depend exclusively on physical stores to attract business, its proponents explain, but also online stores as well as other literary workshops, fairs, and events in order to be a success.

Examples of other book villages are not in short supply, from the Castilian valley town of Urueña, Hay-on-Wye in Wales, Redu in Wallonia, or Chelopek in northwestern Bulgaria, all of which have made a name for themselves in the niche world of secondhand and old books.

And in light of the "Barcelona bookstore miracle," as famed writer Jorge Carrión describes the abundance of bookshops opening in the Catalan capital over the past year, is there any reason why this phenomenon should not be "contagious"?