The Diplomat
Several publishers from Spain and Latin America called this Thursday in Arequipa, Peru, within the framework of the 10th International Congress of the Spanish Language (CILE), for the creation of “a common market for books.”
The meeting, organized by the Instituto Cervantes in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, was held at the Vargas Llosas Library and featured speakers such as Luis García Montero, director of the Instituto Cervantes; Ernest Urtasun, minister of Culture; Santiago Herrero, director of cultural relations for the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID); Pilar Reyes, literary director of Penguin Random House; Jeannette L. Clariond, founder of the publishing house Vaso Roto; and Johann Page, editorial director of Penguin Random House in Peru.
The roundtable focused on book circulation in Spain and Latin America, with the aim of contributing to a dialogue about the different perspectives and experiences of publishing on both sides of the Atlantic.
“Teaching Spanish is more than just a vocabulary, and therefore, it is committed to the dissemination of books and culture,” stated the director of the Cervantes University. Regarding the state of the publishing market, García Montero stated that, “in recent years,” there has been an “improvement in publishing relations between Spain, Latin America, and the world in general, and the work of the major publishing groups in this regard has been fundamental.”
For his part, the Minister of Culture celebrated the “increasing access and awareness” in Spain of what Latin American authors are writing, but warned that this connection could be “much stronger” and, to achieve this, it is necessary to “create common publishing spaces.”
Random House’s editorial director, Pilar Reyes, noted that although the Spanish market grew by 35% in book sales from 2019 to 2024, it is important to focus on the “exchange of readings.” “We speak the same language and we should do justice to that, so I ask the minister to discuss how to create a common ground for books,” she added.
Finally, Santiago Herrero, director of cultural relations at the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), highlighted the current “intense competition abroad” in the book market. “We have a roadmap for good book circulation on both sides of the Atlantic: to ensure that books are published in Spanish, but that they sell, that is the challenge,” he concluded.