Literary Tours through Orwell’s Barcelona
By Charlotte Stace
Routes and activities in George Orwell’s Barcelona invites us to walk through the city through the eyes of Homage to Catalonia. Organised as part of Orwell Day, the programme traces the streets, cafés and political atmosphere that shaped the writer’s account of the Spanish Civil War and revolutionary Barcelona.
The literary routes are led by writers, historians and guides including Fernando Casal, Carlota Canal, Ricard Martínez, Manu Valentín and Nick Lloyd, with versions in Spanish, French, Catalan and English. Alongside the walks, this year’s programme includes a multilingual reading of extracts from Homage to Catalonia, plus activities such as Orwell has coffee at Moka and Camus-Orwell: A Postponed Conversation.
More than a historical tour, it’s a way of reading the city as a political and literary landscape. For Orwell fans, Civil War history buffs or anyone curious about the city’s radical past, it offers a vivid reminder that La Rambla was once a stage for revolution.