Críticas Magazine

Adriana V. Lopez

Australian Radio's Interest in Books in Spanish
February 15, 2008

That recent The Economist article about Spanish-language publishing continues to spark curiosity worldwide. So much so that I received an invitation to talk to Australian radio on the topic this week.

The program’s focus you ask? The fact that the market for books in Spanish is thought to be the second-largest in the world. And as per The Economist, “It is the biggest for books in translation, which account for about a fifth of the 120,000 Spanish titles published each year.” So, the Australians wanted to know: ‘How can Australian writers get their book to readers of Spanish and would Spanish-language readers be interested in them?

The folks at The Book Show  were hoping that I, and fellow invitee, the Barcelona based literary agent Antonia Kerrigan, could give them some answers and an overview of the global market in the United States as well.

And while I couldn’t think of any Australian writers off the top of my head except of Schindler’s List author Thomas Kenneally (published by Ediciones B in the mid 90’s) that had been translated into Spanish, both Kerrigan and I were encouraging to Australian writers. We both pointed out that readers of Spanish, quite used to translation, aren’t concerned with nationality, just good literature.  I mentioned Ken Follett, the Welsh, again, as an example.

We talked about Latin American writers having a lot of literary weight in the States and in Spain and also discussed the differences in the markets and tastes in books according to region: Latin America, Spain, the U.S.  I, a bit more optimistic about Spanish-language publishing in the States, Kerrigan a bit more hesitant about sales and distribution. Nonetheless, we both agreed about the power of U.S. libraries in supporting books in Spanish and its readers.

So here’s a link with a little radio for you, via the Internet. We’re the second program of the three, so just push the bar to the middle. That’s where the segment begins.

Posted by Adriana V. Lopez on February 15, 2008 | Comments (0)