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This year is Rodoreda Year, a commemoration of the centenary of the birth of Mercè Rodoreda Gurguí (1908-1983), one of the best writers of contemporary Catalan literature.

The event, which began last November, includes a wide range of activities. This week sees the start of one of the highlights: the International Mercè Rodoreda Congress (1-4 October), which will bring together specialists and scholars from here and abroad.

But it's not the congress we're going to talk about here but, rather, another event: the literary tours that take in locations linked to the life of Rodoreda, as well as settings associated with some of her most popular novels such as 'Aloma', 'La Plaça del Diamant' (published as 'Time of the Doves' in English), 'El carrer de les Camèlies' ('Camelia Street'), and 'Mirall trencat' ('Broken Mirror').

We are specifically talking about three literary tours which have been organised in Barcelona by the Mercè Rodoreda Foundation and Itinera Plus. They start on Saturdays and Sundays at 5pm, although tours for schools are also being organised during on weekdays.

Below, we give a broad outline of each of the three tours, 'Sant Gervasi and Childhood Gardens', 'War, Exile and Post-War: the Plaça del Diamant and Witnesses of the Tragedy' and 'Deciphering Rodoreda: the Mark of a Universal Writer on the Heart of Literary Barcelona'.