📚What's on in Madrid: April 25
The Night of the Books, Celebra25 and Paint Malasaña.
Madrid | Issue #95
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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend
It’s Friday again!
Now that He has risen and we’ve all gone back to being miserable because we need to wait another full year for the Semana Santa vacation, the best antidote to this depression may be hanging out with your friends and/or family around Madrid.
Things are slowly reactivating this weekend. The Night of the Books is happening tonight, and also there’s the International Day of Dance happening next week but for some reason we’re celebrating since yesterday. Dance during the day and books at night, got it?
And if you’re into painting the streets (not necessarily red), head over to Malasaña. There may be something for you there 👇.
Enjoy!
1.📚 Literary Takeover: Madrid’s Night of the Books 2025
Ready to put your phone down and read (like, actually read)? Madrid is doing that tonight with La Noche de los Libros (The Night of the Books), the region’s beloved after-hours celebration of literature that’s back this year for its 20th edition.
Nearly 100 cities and towns across the community of Madrid are participating in the 2025 edition, which includes more than 500 free events in bookstores, libraries, museums, and cultural spaces.
There will be author talks, literary debates, poetry slams, theater, activities for children and even live music. Consider it a living, breathing love letter to books.
This year’s theme is all about slowing down. Let’s face it, we’re all getting tired of living online, and this edition is a throwback to a simpler kind of reading—you know, the one in which you’re not constantly interrupted by notifications.
It’s a tribute to that pre-smartphone era when opening a book was the easiest way to disconnect.
This year’s edition is extra special as it forms part of the Centenary of Cuesta de Moyano (1925–2025), Madrid’s iconic open-air book market. To celebrate the occasion, a special event called “A la caza de libros” will take place at 5 p.m. in the Moyano stalls—Madrid’s unofficial national sport of book-hunting made into an actual tournament.
🖥️ What: The Night of the Books 2025
📍 Where: Multiple locations throughout Madrid
📅 When: April 25 (yes, tonight). Check website for schedules.
🎟 Tickets: Free admission
2.🎨 Pinta Malasaña: A Street Art Takeover in the Heart of Madrid
One of Madrid’s most exciting street festivals is back: Pinta Malasaña returns this Sunday and it’s celebrating a decade of (literally) painting the town.
Malasaña is already colorful. But two days from now it will become a living canvas, as 100 artists transform storefronts, shutters, walls, and public spaces with live art.
The event is a celebration of urban creativity, where locals, artists, and visitors get together to enjoy a full day of painting, free workshops, surprise activities, and a massive community vibe.
What makes this fest so special? Probably the fact that it’s hyper-local. Artists are selected through an open call, and all the spaces are donated by neighborhood businesses, associations, and residents. (That means your favorite coffee shop or corner store might be getting a full-blown makeover right in front of you.)
There’s a guided route through the highlights of past editions, revealing some of the festival’s most iconic interventions over the years and free, hands-on art workshops about painting techniques used by festival artists (stuff like acrylic painting and tote bag customization).
It’s a fun excuse to explore Malasaña and one of those uniquely Madrid experiences.
🖥️ What: Pinta Malasaña
📍 Where: Multiple locations around Malasaña.
📅 When: April 27. Check website for schedules.
🎟 Tickets: Free admission
3.🎭 House: Amos Gitai brings Jerusalem to the stage
Acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai brings his theatrical creation House to Madrid’s Teatros del Canal in collaboration with the French company La Colline.
Based on his documentary trilogy House (1980), A House in Jerusalem (1997), and News from Home/News from House (2005), Gitai’s new play transforms 25 years of real-life testimonies into a poetic, multilingual performance about conflict, memory, and the fragile hope for coexistence.
The stage becomes a metaphorical house in West Jerusalem, inhabited over time by Arab and Jewish, Palestinian and Israeli families whose stories intertwine, mirroring the region’s long history of trauma, dislocation, and attempts at reconciliation.
House is performed in English, Arabic, Hebrew, French, and Yiddish (with Spanish subtitles) in a play that is an artistic dialogue between actors and musicians from across the Middle East. Together, they create a powerful, moving meditation on shared memory, identity, and the urgent need to find common ground.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to witness a work that speaks directly to one of the world’s most complex conflicts through human stories, artistic collaboration, and the universal language of theater.
🖥️ What: House
📍 Where: Teatros del Canal, Calle de Cea Bermúdez 1, Madrid.
📅 When: April 25 & 26, 8 p.m.
🎟 Tickets start at €9
4.💃🏻 Celebra25: Matadero celebrates International Dance Day with movement and music
Did you know that it’s International Dance Day next week? Neither did we, but apparently it’s a thing.
The Centro Danza Matadero (CDM) is bringing contemporary dance to all audiences in honor of International Dance Day on April 29 with a four-day program that blends workshops, performances, live music, and roundtables to showcase dance in all its creative forms.
The Cuerpo Romo Festival takes over the space this weekend. Now in its 10th edition, this hybrid of contemporary dance and live music transforms Matadero into a playground for choreographers, dancers, musicians, and visual artists. Expect live sets, dance jams, experimental collaborations, and professional workshops led by international artists like Suka Horn and Sarah Baltzinger & Isaiah Wilson.
The Celebración25 event on Saturday invites amateurs and professionals alike to come together and dance. Hosted by legendary choreographer Dani Pannullo, a pioneer of Spain’s clubbing and street dance scene, the evening will honor the spirit of dance with performances and lots of energy.
If you like to dance, Matadero’s dance week has something for you. Step in, spin out and celebrate movement in all its forms.
🖥️ What: Celebra25
📍 Where: Centro Danza Matadero (CDM), Paseo de la Chopera 14, Madrid.
📅 When: April 24-27, check website for schedule.
🎟 Tickets start at €22
5.🎪 Swan Lake, but make it circus: Circa lands in Madrid
Get ready to see Swan Lake like you’ve never seen it before as the Teatro Circo Price in Madrid welcomes Circa Contemporary Circus, one of the world’s most acclaimed performance companies, with their dazzling reinterpretation of the world’s most romantic ballet.
Titled Duck Pond, this retelling brings the iconic tale of swans and unlucky princes into the realm of circus magic, with sequin-flippered ducks, a burlesque black swan, and a whirlwind of physical theater, humor, and heart.
Directed by Yaron Lifschitz, Duck Pond is a combination of jaw-dropping aerial stunts and inventive choreography in an emotionally charged spectacle. Expect soaring acrobatics, quirky surprises, and a full-on explosion of feathers.
More than just a reinterpretation, this is a story about identity, transformation, and discovering your true self, told through the physical language that has made Circa famous across more than 45 countries and festivals from New York to Berlin.
Come for the ballet, stay for the circus.
🖥️ What: Circa
📍 Where: Teatro Circo Price, Ronda de Atocha 35, Madrid
📅 When: April 26 to May 1, 7 p.m.
🎟 Tickets start at €18
👨🏻💻 Viral Stories of the Week
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🔔 A Message From Our Sponsor
Secret Kingdoms is your English bookstore in Madrid. It specializes in Spanish history and literature, contemporary and classic novels, books for children and young adults of all ages, history and historical fiction, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, poetry, biographies and much more.
Located on Calle de Moratín 7 — a few blocks away from the Prado Museum — and with over 20,000 new and used books, Secret Kingdoms has something for everyone.
Find out more at www.thesecretkingdoms.com
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