Mari Carmen Ferrer, general director of Librerías Troa: "You are, in part, what you read"

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Mari Carmen Ferrer

came to a Troa chain bookstore for the first time when she was barely a teenager, "by pure chance", she says, but she has never left there again.

She makes that 43 years, "a lifetime", she says to explain why she is so well known in the sector.

"I started as the errand girl and I have become the

of a company that is now 70 years old, with 18 bookstores throughout Spain, a

radical

over the years and a time in which I have grown as a person ", Explain.

And in which she has also been the president of the

a position from which she is currently retiring, after struggling for four years: "Younger people have to come."

His is an unusual story, one of those that no longer happen.

When he was still in high school he attended the literary gathering organized by the

bookstore in Girona, his city.

"I was the typical stupid

who kept saying 'I've already read that'. So later, when they needed a person, they remembered me and called me to work with them. I started because I wanted to have a little money that in my house they didn't give me, and I haven't left yet. Later, without leaving the bookstore, I studied BUP, COU and even the career (Philosophy and Letters, in the specialty of History), "he recalls with a laugh while assuring that he has never regretted of that decision.

"I have

and I have been

thanks to the fact that I have trained as a

, because I have been able to read a lot and knowing makes you free, it gives you the ability to choose.

You are partly what you read, and I've been very lucky."

And she says it bluntly, because being a bookseller has given her the opportunity to

many people, "both professionals in the sector and clients," she says.

"These are more than someone who comes to buy, you

a lot," she says, because what she likes most about her job is "

a book."

And that's where the

is created .

"From being his

you end up having so much complicity that they become friends. There is such a strong and important

that it even moves me."

In these more than four decades, Mari Carmen has seen how the

has been changing .

And it has not been little.

What time is she?

Is it true that in Spain we don't read?, we ask him.

"We are fine. The

has brought about a very important

, because when we were confined we basically did three things: watch series, play games and read. We have become more readers; now we have a percentage of 67% of people who read, compared to a 33% who do not read anything. When it was not possible, through reading we have lived

, we have traveled to other countries, we have laughed, cried... we have done everything that we could not do with others. And we continue reading , because we have understood and

the pleasure of doing it.

Of course, something will be lost, but we will not leave it," she assures, "because

very

are being published right now .

We all have a tremendous desire to go to the bookstore and see what happens."

Mari Carmen Ferrer at the Troa Neblí Bookstore in Madrid.Ángel Navarrete

Bookstores that are another story

And furthermore, he points out, these spaces have been the first to have changed.

Now "things happen in bookstores. We have activities, reading clubs, storytelling, presentations, talks with writers even if they haven't published a book... Going to a bookstore is a tremendous

and social

centers ."

And it is this proximity of literature to the reader that makes the work of the bookseller important, who sometimes even becomes a confidant, especially in the case of women.

"In the world of

there are many women who need to

, they are always the majority in the presentations and gatherings.

Women like it, men don't.

They need a book to give them something and they read everything: romantic, yes, but not pastry;

historical..., any genre.

Sometimes they are

, it is thought that they only want passion, and no, they also want

, "she explains.

That is why they are the main

of books, although it is always easier to sell to a man, "because they don't look at money so much and those who read do it a lot," he says.

"On the shelves you see men looking, but the world of

belongs to women, even when they have small children they are able to take time out to read, it's

," she says.

And it is said by one who, at only 16 years old, had already read

which she reread again at 25. "

hooked me on reading with 'The Adventures of The Five' and 'Malory Towers'. That's where I went to

, I've always read classics, very powerful books with which I've had a great time".

For this reason, he does not stop

, "in small pieces", because he claims not to have "

enough

at eight in the morning he is already in his bookstore in Girona, the same one in which he has spent his life.

"I'm in a queue, I read; I wait for someone for two

, I read..., I always carry a book in my

. At night I do dedicate more or less an hour to it, depending on what hooks me... That's why I have these

...", he jokes.

Trend prescribers

Although the total

of the sector have risen, and curiously the paper book has grown more than the digital one, Mari Carmen Ferrer brings to light the

As the song warns, did the video kill the radio star?, we ask.

"No, in this weakness the digital book is not significant, it is more influenced by the fact that many people are capable of selling books, anywhere, even in a

..., but we professionals are the booksellers, we are the authentic

of trends. Fortunately we are realizing it".

Angel Navarrete

What book do you have on your nightstand now? A couple of galley proofs still unpublished.

And 'Mrs. March', by Virginia Feito.

What a complicated woman, what a difficult life..., so much so that she gives to raise a reading club, I have it in mind.

All your life reading, what are the books that have left a mark on you? Many.

If I have to choose so suddenly, I'll take 'Ana Karenina', by Leo Tolstoy.

I read it when I was 27 years old and I still remember until the day I finished it.

And I was also impressed by 'Las memorias de Adriano', by Marguerite Yourcenar, which I read when I was over 30, but which has left a deep mark on me. What books would you recommend us at the moment? pale blue feminine letter', by Franz Werfel, a delightful book, and 'Flowers for Mrs Harris', by Paul Gallico.

During confinement there was a book that also marked me: 'The summer my mother had green eyes', by Tatiana Tîbuleac, although it is not for everyone.

And of course, 'The Gratitudes', by Delphine de Vigan. How do we encourage children to start reading? We have to take them to bookstores and libraries, and let them look for what they want.

It is not that a child does not like to read, it is that he has not yet found the book that interests him.

Helping you do this is a fundamental job of the bookseller.

And it doesn't matter if he reads something for a younger age, you don't have to tell him.

Reading should always be a reward: "Today you've done so well, you can read in bed." And if I had to encourage someone to visit the Book Fair,

What would you tell him that was incontestable? That personal contact with writers is something extraordinary, that they can advise you on their own books is wonderful.

Also, walking around there is an experience, due to the number of booths there are, of books..., you can even make friends with someone who is looking at the same issue as you.

It is a meeting place between friends.

But you don't just have to go to the Book Fair, you also have to visit the bookstores, because we don't have to buy books just once a year.

The ones she directs -with a volume of copies that in some is close to 200,000- hoard a whole heritage on the shelves, "there is a lot of money, it has to be like that", she explains.

The top sales are unquestionable, '

', by Maggie O'Farrell, and the best-selling writers too:

and

In her passion for reading, Mari Carmen cannot imagine not having in her possession a book that she liked.

That's why her house is also a

-bookstore .

"I have a room full of books, from top to bottom, all the walls."

It is her treasure and part of the magic that the bookstores she runs have distributed for 70 years.

Because, as the writer

who will sign on June 10 at the Troa booth in the Retiro Park, many of the great books he has read "are the unexpected ones, those that the bookseller tells you about and you buy trusting in his word. That's why a bookstore stands the test of time."

Even when time tries to turn its back on paper.

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