Just outside the Atocha station in the center of Madrid, very close to el Parque del Retiro, we find a small oasis for bookworms or anyone who is interested in literature. The official name is Calle de Claudio Moyano, but it is popularly known as Cuesta de Moyano, the Moyano Slope. Almost one hundred years after its official opening, the Moyano Slope book fair is going through some tough times and because of a popular initiative in the spring of 2019, the association "Soy de la cuesta" was created. In today's broadcast we speak with Lara Sanchez, director of the association, about the cultural and historical importance of la Cuesta de Moyano. And we also bring you a recap of the winners of the San Sebastian Film Festival, which closed this weekend.

Today we have a foodie broadcast about two things Spain is well known for: its paella -- a dish typical of the region of Valencia -- and its wine, which is one of its biggest exports. To talk paella, we have Javier Blanc, a Spanish chef working in Canada who recently won second place in the Concurs Internacional de Paella Valenciana de Sueca. He tells us about his business 'The Paella Guys'. And for wine, in time for the harvest season, we talk with Adrian McNamus of Northwest Iberia Wine Tours, which covers the northwest regions of Spain and part of Portugal. One of those regions of Spain is Galicia, home to the wondrous Ribeira Sacra. Adrian is also a Knight of the Order of Albariño Wine... Listen to the broadcast to find out what that is!

This second half of the year Spain is holding Presidency of the Council of the European Union and as part of the cultural program to mark the Spanish presidency, an exhibition opened in the Lex building in Brusels, in Belgium. The exhibition shows some of Spain's Europa Nostra Awards, which acknowledge restorarion and conservation efforts. In today's broadcast we speak with Enrique Calderon, general secretary of Hispania Nostra, the association behind the exhibition.

At the end of August, the UK governmet announced new border controls, in this podcast we speak with Miguel Flavián, Head of Foreign Trade at the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, to hopefully get to the bottom of what this all means. Spain's co-official languages are Galician, Basque, Catalan and Valencian, and to celebrate European Day of Languages, we tell you all about their origin and history.

We have a cinematic broadcast today... as the San Sebastián Festival kicks off here in Spain, we head back to the London Spanish Film Festival to talk about its 'Treasures from the Archives'.  In a festival that showcases the best and newest Spanish Cinema has to offer, there's also a section dedicated to Spanish classics. This year, the London Spanish Film Festival features' Embrujo', a 1948 film starring Lola Flores, and the 1972 documentary 'Two Memories' by writer Jorge Semprún... Two films that have little in common, and maybe even clash. The director of the London Cervantes Institute, Victor Ugarte, tells us more.

The first time Ernest Hemingway visited Spain he arrived in Pamplona in 1923 for the San Fermines, the running of the bulls festival. After that, he travelled to the country a few times throughout his life and he even called it "the last good country left". Several of his works are inspired by his trips to Spain:  For whom the bell tolls, The sun also rises, The Dangerous Summer, The garden of eden or The capital of the world... amongst many others.  To celebrate the 100th annversary of his first visit to Spain, on today's broadcast, we speak with Carl Eby, president of the Hemingway Foundation and Society, and with Lara Sánchez, director of "Soy de la cuesta" the association behind the events organized in Madrid to remember the author's visits to Spain.

In today's broadcast, we link up with the UK... first, for the London Spanish Film Festival, which begins this week in the English capital. Premieres, documentaries and treasures from the archives, including films in all of Spain's languages. The festival's founder and director, Joanna Granero, tells us more... And then we talk James Bond, legacy and diversity with Kim Sherwood, the writer of the latest Bond novels, who was recently in Segovia, Spain, for the Hay Festival of Literature and Art.

Algur H. Meadows was a Texan oil financier in the 1950s, when he took frequent business trips to Spain. On these trips, he spent many hours at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain's national art museum, and was inspired to begin his own collection of Spanish art. All these years later, the Meadows Museum in Dallas, Texas is known as the "Prado on the Prairie", and has established it's own cultural institute centered around Spanish masterpieces: the Custard Institute for Spanish Art and Culture. Our colleague Íñigo Picabea talked with the new Institute's director, Greg Warden, to learn more about it.After that, our correspondant in Lebanon, Elsa Yasbek, reports on sustainable tourism in the Mediterranean.

In today's broadcast, after taking a look at the news we talk to Miguel Malla, leader and founder of the Madrid-based jazz ensemble Racalmuto. Besides performing live at clubs and other venues, Racalmuto have released two excellent studio albums, "Racalmuto" (Subterfuge Records) and "De Nuevo En El Infierno" or "Back in Hell Again" (Zakopane Records). A conservatory-trained clarinetist and saxophonist, Miguel Malla talks about his discovery of jazz and, in particular, the refreshingly ear-opening light jazz of Raymond Scott and John Kirby that was all the rage back in the 30's and 40's and that Racalmuto play so well today.

"We cannot know what time will do to us with its fine, indistinguishable layers upon layers, we cannot know what it might make of us." Javier Marías, Spanish author of books such as 'A Heart So White' and 'The Infatuations', passed away a year ago, on September 11th at the age of 70. He was not only a novelist, but a respected newspaper columnist, and an award-winning translator... both of these jobs greatly influenced and elevated his work, and his literature is still regarded as some of Spain's best years after it was first published. To remember him today, a year after his passing, we have with us on the English Language Broadcast Professor Alexis Grohmann, head of the Edinburgh Cervantes Institute and Professor of Spanish Literature.