Queen Letizia visited this Friday, May 9, the emblematic Permanent Book Fair of Madrid, known as La Cuesta de Moyano, where she has taken the opportunity to acquire at least four books and a facsimile. During his visit, he has declared his love for the radio, with which he wakes up every morning, and for the books, hobbies for which he does not bother him to call him “old man.” “In this 21st century of the takeoff of artificial intelligence, of the algorithms, of the networks, of the screens, being here today in the slope of Moyano, this May 9, 2025, celebrating the book, but also celebrating the radio, it is a fantasy,” he said.
The books that Queen Letizia have taken have been The old book sellerby Stefan Zweig; Monsters and logic, by Gilbert K. Chesterton; Letters from a poet (1826-1849), by Edgar Allan Poe; and Fantastic fablesby Ambrose Bierce. All of them have acquired them in the 27th position of the Permanent Book Fair of Madrid. In addition, he has also bought a facsimile linked to the creation of the centenary of the Moyano Cuesta, as indicated by the booksellers and confirmed sources from the Royal House.
The Queen, who has been accompanied by the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the mayor of the capital, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has talked with the booksellers and honor partners of the Citizen Association Soy de la Cuesta and has been interested in the positions that are currently in disuse. The wife of Felipe VI, and the mother of the heiress to the Spanish crown, has approached “the most read in Madrid”, as defined by the writer Francisco Umbral, also accompanied by about twenty personalities of the literary field.
He has also been able to greet, in addition to all those responsible for the thirties of booths, to the third generation bookseller Carolina Méndez, to María Spain, a widow of Francisco Umbral, and has stopped especially with journalists and writers Mara Torres – in the initial greeting – and Daniel Ramírez – before the group photo with which the tour has been closed.
The founder and director of Soy de la Cuesta, Lara Sánchez, thanked the queen’s visit, which she has described as a gift. “This is the first visit of a member of the monarchy to the slope of Moyano and we are immensely happy that it is precisely the queen, a great defender of the promotion of reading, who goes,” he told Servimedia. At the end of the visit, Sánchez gave him several editions that the booksellers selected for the royal family.
In addition, booksellers have chosen a selection of specimens to give to the queen, which includes the recent limited and illustrated edition of color of The Lord of the Rings, by Jrr Tolkien; and first editions of The young lady, by Emilia Pardo Bazán; and of the Selected works, of the Sisters Carlota, Emilia and Ana Brontë and their father Patricio Brönte.
In addition, the booksellers gave the Queen two first editions of works by Pío Baroja: The world is anxiously and The nights of good retirement. This Spanish writer of the 98 generation was one of the most notable defenders of the Moyano slope since its opening in 1925 and its statue presides over the street.
During the visit, in addition to chatting with the booksellers, the queen, who is also a usual of the Book Fair, has talked with the journalists who covered the event. “I do not wake up with beeps or alarms. I open my eyes with the voices of very friendly people who tell me how life goes,” he said in statements to the SER chain. “The truth is that the radio in Spain has just turned 100 years old and you celebrate 100 years next month, so congratulations to all the people who work in the chain being in Madrid, to all the listeners and congratulations to a means of communication that shows a means of communication. strength and an enviable youth shower, ”said Mrs. Letizia in the special program of Today Madrid.
On the occasion of the Centenary of the Fair, which is celebrated this Sunday, May 11, the Soy de la Cuesta Association has organized, in collaboration with the Madrid City Council, a program of activities that will take place throughout the year. Among those planned, literary routes, guided walks, musical performances, competitions, gathering cycles, recitals, exhibitions and other commemorative actions for all audiences.
The Madrid Permanent Book Fair has exists since 1925, when the City Council of the Capital decided to transfer the booksellers since the site they previously shared with florists and fruit trees in the near market of the Atocha Square. Today, La Cuesta de Moyano shares space with the Museums of El Prado, Reina Sofía and Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid in what has been called the Paseo del Arte of the capital of Spain, World Heritage of UNESCO since 2021.
