This August, El Poble Nou de Benitatxell will be the cradle of literature. From August 11th to 22nd, the municipality will host the first “Literatura a la fresca” Literary Festival. The association Clásicas y Modernas. Association for Equality between Women and Men in Culture, represented by Marina Gilabert and Pepita García, and the Council, through the Culture and Equality councillorshipd, are organising this event, which will feature activities for all audiences: literary evenings, the exhibition “Elles: constel·lació poètica” in the streets of the municipality and book-games for children.
The main event, which will bring the cycle to a climax, will be the literary evening on Friday August 22nd. It will begin at 8 pm at the Social Centre and will consist of several parts. First, the organisation will give a voice to and pay tribute to local writers with “Voces de nuestro pueblo” (Voices of our town). Empar Ferrer, Gabriel Gilabert, Toni Pascual and Josep Colomer will read excerpts from their works, most of which are set mostly at El Poble Nou de Benitatxell.
The evening will continue with the third session—the Library previously had two previous sessions on August 1st and 14th—of the book club “Regreso a la Ciudad del mar” (Return to the City of the Sea) by María Beneyto, writer of the year 2025 of the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua. Finally, the event will conclude with the talk “Closing of the María Beneyto Year”, featuring Carme Manuel, president of the Comissió Maria Beneyto, and Rosa María Rodríguez Magda, philosopher, writer and custodian of part of María Beneyto’s work.
The Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua has dedicated this year to the writer María Beneyto (Valencia, 1920-2011). The tribute to her literary career is part of the programme to recover and vindicate Valencian female authors from the post-war period that the institution has been carrying out for some time, with years dedicated to Carmelina Sánchez-Cutillas (2020-2021) and Maria Ibars (2024).
The event wants to ‘bring the people together’ by involving local associations in reading the texts at the literary evenings. On Monday 18th, the Santa María Magdalena Municipal Music Association, the Colla La Llebetjà and the Grup de Danses Morro Falquí will be collaborating. On Tuesday, members of the European Union of Women Marina Alta (EUWMA) will read texts by Shakespeare, Simon de Beauvoir and Lupe Gómez. They will do so in Spanish, English and French. On Wednesday, it will be the Women’s Association’s turn, and on Thursday, the Association of Retired People and Pensioners.
As well as promoting cohesion and community spirit, the organisation hopes to highlight the history and charm of the old town centre, so each day the literary evenings will be held in a different location. On Monday it will be on Raconet Street, on Tuesday on Molls Street, on Wednesday at the Oratory and on Thursday on Llebeig Street. At these locations, as well as on Pau Street, there will be an exhibition entitled “Elles: constel·lació poètica” (They: poetic constellation), lent by Muro d’Alcoi Library.
Both the Clásicas y Modernas association and the Councillor of Culture, Jorge Pascual, and the Councillor of Equality, Isa Garrido, encourage everyone to participate in the scheduled events and hope to continue this powerful literary event with future editions.
