BCNegra noir literary festival gets underway

Barcelona’s noir and crime literature festival, BCNegra, officially opens tomorrow at the Biblioteca Jaume Fuster, the venue that will host most of the 41 activities in the festival. Until it ends on February 3, there will also be activities in the Aribau cinema, the Apolo music hall, the Antiga Fàbrica Damm, the Fundació de Navegació Oceànica de Barcelona and different libraries.

Last year, 8,500 people attended, with a similar number expected this year, while the budget has risen slightly from €162,000 to €170,000.

Festival curator Carlos Zanón says BCNegra will host “almost a hundred prestigious authors from all over the world.” One is Argentine writer Claudia Piñeiro, who received the Pepe Carvalho prize on Thursday, with others, such as Otto Penzler, John Banville, Leila Slimani, Ken Bugul, Ferran Torrent, David Peace, Bernard Minier, Rosa Montero, Núria Cadenes, Lisa McInerney, and Toni Hill.