Uncertainty about the possibility of holding face-to-face events marks again this year the #BooksAndRoses project, which strengthens its presence on social media

With just over a month to go before 23 April, it's clear that the covid-19 pandemic will make St. George's Day 2021 different again. In fact, the first consequence is uncertainty: it is not yet known whether the Catalan festivity of Books and Roses will be celebrated in April, as the Booksellers' Guild defended a few days ago, or whether it will have to be moved to the summer, as last year. What is certain is that the celebration won't be as it used to be before the pandemic.

These unknowns also affect the internationalization project that DIPLOCAT launched in 2015 and has maintained every year. The project is based on the website www.booksandroses.cat, which offers information about the Day of Books and Roses in several languages, an explanatory video and downloadable materials, such as a flyer available in more than 30 languages. This year the website has been renewed, is more accessible and allows you to group events by category. The campaign's presence on social media will also be strengthened.

The #BooksAndRoses project was born to gather and disseminate events outside Catalonia related to the Catalan tradition of giving books and roses as a present on 23 April to your loved ones. In fact, one of the highlights of the website is the map where these events are advertised and promoted. There were usually over a hundred event in the map, but last year the number of activities dropped to 32 and many were virtual literary contests. Starting today, this year's activities will begin to appear on the web.

Laura Foraster, secretary general of DIPLOCAT, is confident that "despite the current circumstances, last year's figure can be surpassed and the values ​​implicit in the tradition of the Day of Books and Roses can outreach our borders".

To compensate for the difficulty of organizing face-to-face events, last year DIPLOCAT created a virtual rose and promoted an action of sending them together with poems and literary texts all over the world. Over 12,100 roses were sent then and the action will be repeated this year.