UB Editions’ new publications for the Catalan Book Week

University of Barcelona Editions is participating in the 43rd edition of Catalan Book Week, which this year takes place from 19 to 28 September on Passeig de Lluís Companys in Barcelona, from 10.00 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. The books can be found both at the publisher’s own stand (no. 77) and at the Vives Network of Universities stand (no. 1). 
 
The academic year begins with a publishing milestone: the publication of the first two volumes of Literatura catalana de la postmodernitat, edited by Jordi Marrugat, Víctor Martínez Gil and Núria Santamaria, offering the first major general history of Catalan literature from the 1960s to the present day. At the fair, the volumes will be available for the first time in the UB Editions module, and from 1 October they will be available in bookshops. Written by 60 experts, these examine the main debates and processes of constitution, change, development and variation of one of the most fertile periods of Catalan literature. 

These two volumes, Transformacions, marcs i gèneres narratius and Gèneres de no-ficció, poesia, literatura dramàtica, experimentalisme i recepció, are part of the collection Literatura Catalana de la Postmodernitat, and provide an international overview of contemporary literary production written in Catalan. On Wednesday 24 September, at 6.45 p.m., Màrius Serra and the co-editors will present the work on stage 1. 

Another fundamental piece in the catalogue is Canvi global. Crisi ecosocial i perspectives futures, edited by Marc Oliva, Jordi Martín Díaz, Carlos Barriocanal, Juan Ignacio López Moreno and Josep Bonsoms. This is the first title in the Canvi Global collection, which is based on the concept of global change to understand and tackle the rapid transformations in the world today: from climate challenges to the challenges posed at a planetary level by problems such as the loss of biodiversity, the scarcity of resources and accelerated urbanization. With an integrative and transdisciplinary perspective that goes beyond the hegemonic discourse, experts in various fields analyse recent socio-economic changes and their effects on the natural environment, and propose a synthesis of the actions needed to reverse the eco-social crisis. On Saturday 27 September at 10.45 a.m., the co-editors will present the work on the Converses stage. 

The Palestina en Paraules collection, promoted by the Arab and Islamic Studies Section (UB’s Department of Classical, Romance and Semitic Languages) is also inaugurated with the aim of promoting knowledge of Palestinian literature and promoting its translation into Catalan and Spanish. In a context marked by colonial violence and continued genocide, this collection aims to be a space for critical reading, cultural transmission and recognition of the political and poetic power of Palestinian voices. The first book, Palestina, literatura i memòria. Reflexions d’Ibrahim Nasrallah, brings together the vital vision and a sample of the work of one of the most awarded and widely read authors of contemporary Arab literature: the Palestinian poet, novelist, professor, journalist, painter and photographer Ibrahim Nasrallah (1954). Each of the titles in the collection incorporates a work of art by a Palestinian artist, in this case Zaid Ayasa, who was born in 1984 in Nablus and grew up in Palestine. 

Jordi Casasampera’s La filosofia de l’escena teatral en Václav Havel explores the personal evolution of this playwright, who went from dissident in Soviet Czechoslovakia to president of the country and who, with his plays, opens up numerous avenues of reflection on human beings and their situation in the world. The study covers Havel’s activity in politics, philosophy and theatre and looks in particular at the 1975-1978 period, which saw the publication of such important titles as Dear Dr. Husák, the dramatic trilogy Audience, Vernisage and Protest, the manifesto Charter 77 and the essay The Power of the Powerless. 

Through the analysis of these works, the new title in the Filosofia UB collection offers an essential way to approach a key figure in European politics and culture in the second half of the 20th century. The author will be signing copies on Wednesday 24 September, at 12.00 noon, at the UB Editions module. 

In the field of popular science, Per què les neurones? La raó de ser biològica de les neurones i del sistema nerviós, by Josep Maria Ferré, is the latest title in the Catàlisi collection. The human nervous system is the culmination of the increasing organizational complexity of living matter, and neurons, cells with long extensions, serve the biological purpose of transmitting information quickly, accurately, efficiently and plastically in large multicellular organisms. In fact, an individual neuron is a miniature nervous system that handles electrical signals like any neuronal network in the brain. Intuitively and simply, the book explains the rationale behind these intercellular communication mechanisms and helps to interpret complex neuronal functions, such as information storage and thought. 

Also, on Thursday 25 September, at 5.30 p.m., the winning works of the Joan Lluís Vives Awards in the university publishing will be presented on stage 2. This year, three UB Editions pieces have been awarded: Tots els colors de l’Univers. La descoberta de l’espectre de radiació electromagnètica, by Pere Serra Coromina, as best science and technology book; Cuidar-se en comunitat. Una aproximació a les llars col·laboratives per a persones grans, by Marta Pi Martín, as best social sciences book, and Filosofia política. Una introducció, edited by Sergi Morales Gálvez, Elvira Riera Gil, Lluís Pérez Lozano and Marc Sanjaume Calvet, as best book in arts and humanities. 

As for magazines, on Tuesday 23 September at 7.00 p.m., the La Revisteria space of the Catalan Book Week — a meeting place organized by the Associació de Publicacions Periòdiques en Català (APPEC) — will host a dialogue on the “Ciutats” section of Compàs d’amalgama. Teresa M. Sala and Francesco Ardolino, editors of the magazine, will talk to Estanislau Roca Blanch, head of the section, and Ludmila Fuster, author of the article “La ciutat aeroportuària”, which will be published in issue 12 of the magazine.