World Book Day at One Shot Reina Victoria

World Book and Copyright Day is much more than just a date on the calendar. It is an invitation to pause, open a story and return to the simple pleasure of reading, sharing and discovering new voices.

Moreover, it is not celebrated on this day by chance. 23 April is closely linked to the history of world literature, as it falls near the date of death of great authors such as Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare and Garcilaso de la Vega.

And few places reflect that spirit as well as One Shot Reina Victoria.

Why at One Shot Reina Victoria

Located in the heart of Valencia, One Shot Reina Victoria is an emblematic hotel with a strong connection to the city’s history and culture. Opened in 1913, it was Valencia’s first hotel and still remains a place with its own identity.

What is more, its connection to literature makes it the ideal setting for an initiative like this. The hotel itself recalls that Ernest Hemingway wrote the opening lines of The Sun Also Rises there, and that Federico García Lorca found inspiration within its walls. That is why holding the first edition of the literary club here carries special symbolic value.

In this context, the literary club held at One Shot Reina Victoria comes into being, a proposal created with the aim of turning this emblematic space into a meeting point for those who understand reading as a shared experience.

BiblioCafé and Bibiana Collado Cabrera

To inaugurate this new literary gathering, we worked in collaboration with BiblioCafé, a cultural project in Valencia devoted to writing, reading, and organising literary presentations and events, and invited Bibiana Collado Cabrera, an author with a solid career and a very distinctive voice.

Born in Burriana in 1985, Bibiana is a philologist, literature teacher and writer. Her career spans both poetry and fiction, with titles such as El recelo del agua, Violencia, Chispitas de carne and the novel Yeguas exhaustas. Her work stands out for its sensitivity, the strength of its perspective and its ability to address complex themes through a close, powerful style of writing.

In an interview for The One Shot Hotels Journal, Bibiana spoke to us about her career and her new work, Marcelino.

How does it feel to be at One Shot Reina Victoria, such a special place where figures like Hemingway and Lorca found inspiration for their works?
“For me, it is incredibly moving. It feels as though you can still sense the vibrations or emotions, and I think it is wonderful to reclaim this space for literature, for coming together, and for sharing books.”

What can you tell us in advance about your new work, Marcelino?
“Marcelino is a work centred on an older man, one of those people we do not usually place at the heart of stories, and he also comes from the countryside, tied to those roots that shape us so deeply. He is going to tell us about and explore themes we might not expect from an older person, such as eroticism, sexuality and grief...”

In this way, the first edition of One Shot Reina Victoria’s literary club became an opportunity to share a passion for writing in a close and special way.

We would like to thank everyone who joined us for this gathering and, in particular, Bibiana Collado Cabrera for inaugurating this initiative with Marcelino, as well as BiblioCafé for joining us and collaborating on this first edition. We will be back very soon with new editions of this initiative, designed to continue creating spaces for conversation, culture and shared books.