Love as the protagonist of the 11th edition of the Mot Festival

This week marks the 11th edition of the Girona-Olot MOT Literature Festival , which this year is curated by the writer, philosopher, gender studies specialist, cultural journalist and opinion columnist Montse Barderi . The festival features around thirty national and international authors who will highlight their experience and reflections on love, as they have treated it in their books, from various perspectives and through different types of works (autobiography, autofiction, self-portrait, essay or journalistic chronicle, among others).

With the motto More names for love, the curator proposes an MOT inspired by the fragment of the book Desglaç, 1984-1988, by Maria-Mercè Marçal: “another name, please, for love”. “A verse that tells us that we need other models of love different from the inherited ones, and at the same time claims faith in language to reach new terrains that redefine love”, says Barderi, who also assures that “the MOT 2025 speaks of you, of your life, of your existence. And it is a song to love and to the force of the word”, which highlights the festival's commitment to the transformative power of language and new ways of understanding love.

Exhibitions, talks and many cultural proposals

The conversations with authors, which are the main programming of the MOT festival, will take place in Girona from March 20 to 22 at the Girona Carles Rahola Public Library . They will begin on Thursday the 20th with the British writer Maggie O'Farrell (her attendance at the MOT will be in virtual format), moderated by Montse Barderi. At 8 p.m., the program will continue with the conversation Love and Pain, between the director of the Instituto Cervantes, writer and poet Luis García Montero and the writer Marta Orriols . This conversation will be moderated by Mita Casacuberta , and will reflect on the presence of pain in a world where suffering is often avoided at all costs. On Friday the 21st it will be the turn of Love and Subversion with Alicia García Núñez , and Love and Self-Esteem with Amanda Mikhalopulu and Manuel Jabois , moderated by Marina Porras .

Presentació de l'11 edició del Festival MOT.

The now traditional Ver-MOT , with round tables and authors and authors at vermouth time, will take place on Saturday, March 22 in the Barri Vell. The meeting will revolve around the theme The first time, and will be led by Agnès Marquès , Glòria Gasch and Xavier Grasset , moderated by the curator. The day will continue with Love and Age, by Maria Barbal and Empar Moliner , with Josep Cuní as moderator, and will close with Love and Nobility, with the Chilean Cynthia Rimsky , moderated by Eva Vàzquez .

In parallel, the festival has the complicity of many institutions, entities and associations that, under the umbrella of +MOT , organize activities. Specifically, during this week MOT activities are carried out in Girona bookstores, a screening of Núria Güell at the Truffaut Cinema , express literary quotes —that is, book recommendations in a quick quote format—, the celebration of World Poetry Day with a participated reading of the poem Desamor, by Josep Maria Llompart or the Poetry Slam, a competition of texts and recited poetry that is based exclusively on the voice and the body. This year, the MOT will also have reading clubs (Let's read the MOT), in addition to El Primer Mot , aimed at children and young people.

In addition, two conferences will take place during the following week: the conference on Carnival, by Víctor Català and the conference on Història d'un amor estràn, as well as a show: Analphabet, by Alberto Cortés . Also worth noting is the MOT INS , a space aimed at secondary school students, and the MOT takes to the streets with the MOT trees and the love word puzzle. In short, exhibitions, talks, presentations and other cultural proposals make literature live on the street and from multiple perspectives.