Por Redaccion 
The mayor of Valladolid, Jesús Julio Carnero, announced this Friday the intention to hold an institutional event starting next year at the House of José Zorrilla as a tribute to Valladolid literature, scheduled around April 23rd, World Book Day.
This was stated by the Valladolid mayor during the tribute event where the plaque dedicated to Valladolid essayist Narciso Alonso Cortés was inaugurated, installed at Casa Zorrilla in honor of the centenary of his birth, next to the bust dedicated to the writer.
In this way, the role of Alonso Cortés as the driving force behind the project is recognized at Casa Zorrilla since 1917 when he «convinced» Mayor Leopoldo Stampa of the importance of acquiring the poet’s birthplace to preserve it as a place of worship to his memory.
Furthermore, the mayor announced that the City Council will hold an institutional event at Casa Zorrilla every spring starting next year, as a tribute to Valladolid literature. It will be around April 23rd, a day when the international community celebrates World Book Day and the UN celebrates Spanish Language Day.
The plaque unveiled this Friday by the city mayor, in the presence of the Councilor for Education and Culture, Irene Carvajal, reproduces a fragment of the poem that Antonio Machado dedicated to Narciso Alonso Cortés, during his stay at Venta de Cárdenas (Ciudad Real), at the entrance of Despeñaperros.
The poem has been excerpted by the poet and co-coordinator of the 150th anniversary of Narciso Alonso Cortés (1875-2025), Carlos Aganzo, also director of Fundación Vocento; who, during the inaugural event, will read the entire poem to the attendees.
The plaque installed at the foot of the bust of Don Narciso Alonso Cortés, created in 2018 by sculptor Miguel Ángel Tapia, is also his work as the one in charge of designing and «fitting» the sesquicentennial plaque, in line with the ensemble’s aesthetics.
As recalled by the City Council, for Casa de Zorrilla, Don Narciso Alonso Cortés is an «essential» figure as with his mediation, the City Council acquired the poet’s birthplace in 1917, during the commemoration of the centenary of his birth. Additionally, Don Narciso mediated between the City Council and Doña Juana Pacheco, Zorrilla’s widow, so that she would donate the author’s objects and belongings to the institution to serve as the initial foundation of the planned house-museum.
According to the initial planning, designated coordinators by the Department of Education and Culture for organizing the event program will host a «narcissistic gem» every month of the year that will resonate the name of the master Alonso Cortés in his hometown and project his figure to other locations in the Castilian-Leonese and Spanish geography.
In the coming months, Valladolid residents will be able to learn more about Narciso Alonso Cortés as a historian, researcher, playwright, cyclist, Zorrilla enthusiast, and folklorist, according to the City Council.
The next event in the program will take place on Monday, April 28th, at Casa de Cervantes, at 7:30 p.m. In it, emeritus professor Germán Vega will coordinate the roundtable ‘Don Narciso, memory of Cervantism and Casa de Cervantes’, with the participation of Cervantes scholars Alfonso Martín (UVA), José Manuel Lucía Megías (UCM), and Sagrario Medrano (UVA), who will be welcomed by the director of Casa de Cervantes in Valladolid, Pedro González Díez.
CITY HONOR
The City Council pointed out, in a statement collected by Europa Press, that the institutional event to be held starting next year at the birthplace of Valladolid poet José Zorrilla, will be defined around April 23rd, a day when the international community celebrates World Book Day and the UN celebrates Spanish Language Day.
The City Council will pay tribute to the culture of the book and its protagonists in recognition of the «obvious respect and great consideration that Valladolid and its citizens have towards the realm of literature: narrative, poetry, theater, essay, comics, journalistic chronicles, short stories, and hyper-short stories.»