Although it seems strange to us now, the Book Fair has not always been held in Badalona. Despite some attempts at the end of the sixties, it wasn’t until the first years of democratic councils (specifically until 1980) that the City Council began to invite the city’s booksellers to join the fair. This activity was supported by the Service of Libraries and Bookstore of the Generalitat de Catalunya.
Already in 1980, a program of activities was built around this day: a ballad of Catalan dances by Esbart Badalona, children’s theater of the Universitat Lliure de Teatre de Badalona, presentation of books by Joaquim Carbó, book signing in charge of Rafael Alberti, Paco Candel, Pilarín Bayés, Víctor Mora etc., a balloon burst and distribution of a monumental cake among the boys and girls.
In the following two years, the activity was repeated in a very similar way, and the Badalona Book Fair took off in its own right and continues to be celebrated today.
The photographs in this galleriy, from the collection of Badalona City Council and from the collection of Revista de Badalona, correspond to the first three years
