READ Barcelona doubles turnout in second edition
More than 450 publishing houses, magazines and cultural projects from 75 countries gathered in Barcelona from September 16 to September 18 for the second edition of READ Barcelona, according to Publishing Perspectives. Attendance by publishers and magazines nearly doubled compared with the inaugural event in 2025. The growth was fast.
READ Barcelona is an international convention dedicated to essays and critical thinking, meaning non-fiction books and journals built around ideas and argument. It was founded by Simón Vásquez of Verso Libros, Sebastian Budgen of Verso Books, Stella Magliani-Belkacem of La Fabrique éditions and Ole Rauch of Brumaire Verlag. The four founders all work in independent publishing.
The professional heart of the second edition sat in two historic spaces. Meetings and round tables took place at the Convent dels Àngels chapel and Pati Manning in central Barcelona. Those rooms hosted face to face talks rather than public signings.
Mornings from September 16 to 18 were set aside for professional business, with B2B meetings, working assemblies and themed gatherings on the schedule. B2B here means business to business, the sessions where publishers buy and sell translation rights, co-editions and serial extracts. The full listing is published in the event programme at READ Barcelona.
The final turnout beat the advance estimate. Ahead of the fair, the City of Barcelona had said READ 2026 was expected to bring over 400 publishers and journals from 72 countries, as reported by the City of Barcelona. The date for the second edition, September 16 to 18, 2026, with registration opening in the spring, had been set out the previous autumn by Publishers Weekly.
For readers, this means a wider shelf further down the line. Rights deals struck in morning meetings can take a year or more to reach translation and print. A fair built only around essays gives that slower, ideas-led part of publishing a room of its own.
