November of book launches and kids’ storytime at Formentera libraries

biblios-nov-19-xarxes-1-Formentera’s culture department has unveiled local libraries’ November activities calendar—a programme replete with four book launches and as many activities specially-tuned for kids.

Book launches
Tomorrow (Wednesday 6 November), Bernat Joan will be on hand to discuss his book Pedagogia per a indígenes. The Obra Cultural Balear-sponsored event is the first of several book launches in November, and will be moderated by Maria Teresa Ferra. Much like the tales of Pere Calders, the book is an assemblage of microstories, inspired in real events that the author weaves into literature. Joan is in it for the critical pleasure of the writing process, and out to share it with audiences.

Friday 8 November comes with a closeup on De qui venim. The book’s authors, Hermínia Gil and Josep Maria Garcia-Borés (Garcia-Borés also directed and coordinated the project), will be on hand for the event, which is hosted by Formentera’s patrimony office together with Biblioteca Marià Villangómez, with moderation duties handled by Jaume Escandell. A work of psychocultural research on traditional Formentera, the book is an expression of oral history, giving the island’s elderly a voice as they recall details of the way our forebears lived and interacted.

Monday 18 November will bring the second of two book launches focused on Història d’Eivissa i Formentera: des de la prehistòria fins al turisme de masses. Felip Cirer, Benjamí Costa, Antoni Ferrer Abárzuza and Joan Lluís Ferrer wrote the book (Ferrer coordinated), and all four will on hand for the event. The book casts its gaze back 4,200 years to the first human settlements in the Pine Islands, continuing on to a fascinating look at the lives of our ancestors, before concluding with the current process of mass tourism. The work marks an unprecedented attempt to set down a comprehensive history of Eivissa and Formentera; it is the collective biography of the two island's peoples.

Lastly, on Wednesday 27 November, Bartomeu Escandell will present his twelfth collection of poetry, Les incapacitats: Proposta d’argument. Moderated by Maria Teresa Ferrer, the event will also feature readings of poetry by the author and Joan Ferrer as well as a performance by students of the Escola de Música. The event is organised by the Formentera chapter of Obra Cultural Balear and Biblioteca Marià Villangómez.

Book launches will take place at 8.00pm at Biblioteca Marià Villangómez

Storytime and activities for kids
Today, Tuesday 5 November, marks the return of a storytime activity perfect for children ages zero to four. Contes per parlar amb la lluna unfolds from 5.30pm at Biblioteca Marià Villangómez on the first Tuesday of the month until December. Families keen to attend should send an email to biblioteca@conselldeformentera.cat to sign up.

Storytime hits again at the same time and same place on Wednesday 13 November, this time with Myotragus Theatre’s Lluís Valenciano performing El senyor dels contes. “The lord of the tales” is a bookshop owner whose roots in the Balearics run deep: born on Mallorca, he has family on Menorca and lives between Eivissa and Formentera. He recounts the fables, or rondalles, of the Es Vedrà giant (from Eivissa), Mestre Gelabert (Menorca) and Pere festejador (Mallorca), not to mention the legendary tresor de Formentera. Taken together, the stories are a faithful glimpse of the value- and tradition-steeped popular culture of the Balearic Islands. Presented by Biblioteca Marià Villangómez.

On Wednesday 20 November at 5.00pm, the Sant Ferran Punt de Lectura will host a workshop on artistic calligraphy for children aged three to twelve (parents must accompany children under seven). Led by Maria Vila and presented by Biblioteca Marià Villangómez, the event is aimed at spotlighting calligraphy, from composition to expression within the worlds of art and design. In addition to taking part in a theory-based portion, participants will be encouraged to find their own style by trying their hand at a range of calligraphic styles.

The final storytime of the programme, the English-language Goldilocks, comes to Biblioteca Marià Villangómez on Thursday 28 November at 5.30pm. Elàstic Nou Productions’ Mary Ramirez will lead the interactive event, which is geared towards children aged three to eight and presented by Biblioteca Marià Villangómez.

The event features the by-now-familiar Millie Potter, who takes listeners on a trip to the fictional world of Goldilocks. Based on the popular tale, the adventures start when the perhaps too curious Goldilocks steps out for a walk in the woods and stumbles on an enchanting house. Compelled by her obsessive sense of curiosity, Goldilocks barges in and snoops around... and all of a sudden, finds she's not alone. Just who's arrived? A family of bears! The problems are only beginning for our mischievous protagonist.

31 October 2019
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera