Getafe Negro Festival 2016. Ninth edition

From October 14 to 23, the ninth edition of the Madrid Police Novel Festival will take place organized by the Getafe City Council. This town in the south of the Madrid community has already become a benchmark headquarters for one of the most important literary events on the cultural scene. In front, its curator, the writer Lorenzo Silva, once again brings together the best of the national and international black genre. But it will be many more colleagues, filmmakers, journalists, scriptwriters, editors or bloggers who will come together to discuss current affairs, news and new trends in the genre.

This year is Argentina the guest country and will be honored also the figure de who is almost unanimously considered the forerunner of the genre: Edgar Allan Poe. As a prominent part of the program, the actor and theater director Jose María Pou will do a dramatized reading of texts by the immortal American writer. But there is much more ...

Topics and activities

As thematic axes of the programming, this year we will talk about the culture of abuse in today's society. Also, logically, in a round table the figure of a Cervantes unleashed, so described to remove it from the more "official" view. The focus will be on his many other more mundane or less politically correct facets of the author of Don Quixote.

A third theme will be that of the refugees, where the most criminal face of this crisis will be analyzed: trafficking in human beings, the passivity of governments or the increase in xenophobia. And finally they will talk about ideology in the crime novel, its limits or how it can influence when creating.

Among the activities there will be presentations and book signings, workshops, meetings, music, cinema, theater or contests. All in various places in Getafe and Madrid.

Featured Authors

As every year the festival opens a relevant figure of the genre and this time it will be the Scottish writer Ian Rankin. Father of the inspector John Rebus, another great with a long series, Rankin has just been in Spain after winning the X RBA Noir Novel Award for the last title with his famous policeman.

Another recent phenomenon author of Nordic black literature will also present a book. It's about the Norwegian Samuel Bjork that, with I travel alone and now the new The owl, promises another good series of opposing detective couple.

Of course, there will be a good handful of Argentine writers of the stature of Carlos Salem or Ernesto Mallo. And there will be debates as interesting as for example that of the British Lindsay Davis with the national authority in a historical novel that is Santiago Posteguillo. To be able to imagine the Roman hound Marco Didio Falco campaigning in Hispania with Scipio or in Parthia with Trajan is quite an experience.

Another Argentine, Jorge Fernández Díaz, and Arturo Pérez-Reverte will also talk about their respective works. Let us remember that Pérez-Reverte is just presenting a new book, Falco, on sale next day 19, in full festival. And another great couple that will be face to face are Domingo Villar and Ignacio del Valle. From the northern vintage of 71, these two writers are among the most widely read and appreciated by specialized critics.

From Ignacio del Valle I have pending to meet his captain Arturo Andrade. However, Inspector Leo Caldas de Domingo Villar has an outstanding little plot in my heart. In addition, their stories, cases and adventures take place in settings that I know well, such as Vigo, its estuary and its surroundings. So reading it is a double pleasure and I recommend it to everyone, especially if, like me, you feel weak Pola terra galega.

To round off the parade of illustrious national names, they will also walk Víctor del Arbol, Toni Hill, Empar Fernández, Pere Cervantes and Clara Peñalver, which will reflect on the evolution of the genre today.

Anyway, the poster is certainly quite good. It will be worth visiting even one day for the most autumnal and black Getafe. We will see how it turns out, but I have no doubt that it will be a success again.

To consult more in depth the program and different events, you can find the official website of the festival: Getafe Black.