Support Sant Jordi NYC's Festival of Books & Roses

Please consider a gift in support of our programs. If you have been waiting for the right moment to contribute, your donation today helps reach our fundraising goal for 2026 and begin our planning for Sant Jordi NYC’s return in 2027.

This year's festival brought the West Village to life with families, artists, writers, and performers celebrating a tradition rooted in Catalan culture.

In April, the beloved Catalan tradition of Sant Jordi returned to New York City for another joyful celebration of books, roses, dragons, and world literature. In our second year in the West Village, Sant Jordi NYC expanded as a free, public festival rooted in Catalan heritage and shaped by the literary energy of one of New York’s most storied neighborhoods.

Your gift helps keep Sant Jordi NYC free to attend, supports the work required to produce a larger public festival, and helps ensure that this celebration can continue to return year after year.

Rooted in Legend, Celebrated Through Tradition

The Sant Jordi Festival of Books & Roses is inspired by the enduring tale of Saint George, who slew the fire-breathing dragon to save the king’s daughter and her town, Montblanc, from destruction. As the legend goes, a rosebush sprang from the drops of blood that fell from the dragon’s wounded wing.

In Catalonia, this story blossomed into an annual celebration each April 23, when friends, loved ones, and neighbors exchange books and roses. Initiated centuries ago and revitalized in the 1920s through collaboration among Catalan booksellers, Sant Jordi has become a vibrant emblem of romance, literature, and cultural identity.

Sant Jordi Rides to New York

In New York City, Sant Jordi began with intimate gatherings celebrating Catalan literature and quickly evolved into an inclusive event celebrating literary translation, cultural dialogue, and global voices.

Over the past decade, Sant Jordi NYC has grown from small bookstore events to an online festival to a multi-day celebration that brings authors, translators, artists, musicians, publishers, families, and neighbors together across the city.

Today, Sant Jordi NYC’s West Village celebration carries that spirit into the streets: books, roses, music, food, readings, performances, public art, and community joy in a neighborhood deeply connected to literary history and cultural imagination. What we bring to the mix is the rest of the world.

This next chapter is about more than this year’s festival. It is about helping Sant Jordi NYC take root as an annual celebration of literature, culture, and community in New York City.

Why Your Support Matters

Sant Jordi NYC is free to attend, but it is not free to produce. Your donation helps make it possible to bring ambitious public programming to life while keeping the festival open and accessible to all.

Your support helps Sant Jordi NYC continue to grow as a platform for international literature, translation, Catalan culture, public art, and neighborhood celebration. It helps us welcome more voices, reach broader audiences, and build a lasting annual tradition in the West Village.

Highlights of this year’s festival included:

A week of international literary programming across New York City
From April 21–26, Sant Jordi NYC brought together writers, translators, artists, and thinkers for conversations and performances exploring migration, memory, language, architecture, cinema, post-colonial histories, queer literature, Catalan poetry, and global storytelling.
Catalan tradition in conversation with world literatures
This year's festival honored the beloved Catalan exchange of books and roses while opening space for voices from around the world, including French-Senegalese poetry, Latin American literature and film, Iraqi literature, Finnish and Chinese literary imaginaries, Ukrainian theater, Mongolian storytelling, Icelandic fiction, and more.
A growing West Village celebration
Sant Jordi NYC returned to the West Village for the second year with a public street fair featuring books, roses, music, food, kids’ activities, live readings, bookstands, flower stalls, Catalan cuisine, publisher merchandise, literary goods, and festive programming for the whole community.
A stage for global voices and local community
The street fair program featured readings, performances, and appearances from international authors, translators, poets, publishers, performers, and community partners, bringing the spirit of Sant Jordi to life in the heart of the West Village.
Books, Roses & Dragons: From the West Village to Catalonia
This year’s projection-mapping event transformed the neighborhood through literature, public art, Catalan tradition, and visual storytelling, celebrating the connection between the West Village and Catalonia through books, roses, and dragons.
A celebration of queer international literature
Sant Jordi NYC honored its home on Christopher Street—the home of the Stonewall Inn, a birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ movement—by celebrating a Night of International Queer Literature at the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, right next door to the storied bar.

We also hosted a variety of other creatives, including:

Join Us—Support the Next Chapter

By giving today, you help Sant Jordi NYC continue to grow as an annual West Village celebration rooted in books, roses, Catalan tradition, and community.

No contribution is too small, and all donations are tax-deductible.

Sponsorship Levels

Petal — $25
Just as every petal contributes to the beauty of the rose, your support helps Sant Jordi NYC flourish.
Rose — $50
Your generosity helps this celebration of books, roses, and community continue to grow.
Bouquet — $100
Your gift supports a festival that brings neighbors, readers, writers, artists, and visitors together.
Book — $250
Your support helps bring fresh literary voices, translated stories, and cultural dialogue to life.
Dragon — $500
Your contribution helps carry the spirit, imagination, and energy of Sant Jordi NYC forward.
Heritage — $1,000+
Your commitment helps sustain the cultural legacy and future growth of Sant Jordi NYC.
Legend — $5,000
Your leadership gift provides essential support for the next chapter of Sant Jordi NYC and helps ensure this celebration can continue for years to come.

Your gift helps keep the festival free, joyful, and growing year after year.
Donate today to support the next chapter of Sant Jordi NYC.

Sant Jordi NYC filled Christopher Street with books, roses, and dragons.

There's still time to support Sant Jordi NYC in 2026.