Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
Juan Poblete
Universidad de California-Santa Cruz
Introducción
Promover la alfabetización y ios libros entre los Latinos es bueno tanto pa-
ra ios negocios como para las comunidades. Es fundamental servir a este
segmento de la pobiación pues es el de más rápido crecimiento en los Es-
tados Unidos. El Mes dei Libro Latino brinda un énfasis y una serie de re-
cursos a los libreros, bibliotecarios y otros que intentan promover los li-
bros y ia lectura en sus comunidades por la vía de organizar grupos de
lectura, iecturas bilingües de ciertos iibros favoritos, muestras en las librer-
ias u otros eventos^ (PLVA).
Conclusión
inglés se pueden leer ahora en español. Todo ello nos habla de las
diversas formas a través de las cuales ese público latino más com-
plejo con el que soñaba López hace sentir su capacidad de influir
sobre la oferta cultural.
Tal vez la trayectoria que va de un Osear a otro -de Osear Hijue-
los que ganó el primer premio Pulitzer obtenido por un escritor latino
en 1990 con una novela estereotipante llamada The Mambo Kings
Play Songs of Love, al Oscar Wao cuya vida entre la República Do-
minicana y New Jersey nos cuenta Junot Díaz, ganador del Pulitzer
en 2008 con su magnífica novela The Brief and Wondrous Lite ofCs-
car Wao- sea una buena medida de las posibilidades y limitaciones
de aquel progreso. Lo que está en juego es si el texto latino va a en-
cajar con las categorías etno-raciales y literarias nacionales que el
mercado dominante monolingue en inglés le ha reservado o si, por el
contrario, dentro de un universo transnacional, bilingüe y pluricultural
se va a atrever a expandirlas o a hacerlas explotar.
NOTAS:
1. "By 2050, half of America's popuiation will be minorities. The future of this
industry lies in finding out who they are and what they wanf'Jim Powell,
experto internacional de marketing en ia Christian Booksellers Association"
(citado en Clemens)
2. Ouiero agradecer a mis colegas de la Universidad de Caiifornia en Santa Cruz
(Norma Kiahn, Lourdes Martínez-Echazábai, Catherine Ramirez y Kirsten Silva-
Gruesz) la lectura crítica dei manuscrito de este ensayo. Para nuestro trabaio
coiectivo véase: http://clrc.ucsc.edu/lit/conference.htmi
3. Para una excelente crítica de este paradigma nacionalista y monolingue, véase
Shell.
4. Karin Kiser, citando ai Departamento (Ministerio) de Comercio de los Estados
Unidos reportaba un valor de 368 miilones para este Mercado en 2000 (Kiser,
2000: 47).
5. Lo que existe de dicha esfera pública literaria es precario: Ei Andar fue una de
ias publicaciones que sin éxito comercial se propusieron ilenar este vacío. Re-
cientemente ha aparecido ia Primera Revista Latinoamericana de Libros (PRL)
que, a la manera del New York Review of Books, reseña en español libros lite-
rarios y académicos publicados en ingles y español. Una alternativa emergente
la constituyen sitios electrónicos como La bloga que ofrece "Chicana, Chica-
no, Latina, Latino, & more. Literature, Writers, Children's Literature, News,
Views & Reviews", http://labloga.blogspot.com/
6. "elevated bookseiling from a business to a campaign in support of underser-
ved populations. Martinez' unique brand of entrepreneurship and advocacy is
an important complement to institutional and program efforts to enrich and an-
chor the lives of a iarge and growing population in America."
190 JUAN POBLETE
7. "Throughout the month of May, booksellers, librarians, and others in the book
industry are encouraged to promote reading among Latinos in their communi-
ties, and to raise awareness of the rich variety of books authored by Latinos
that are available, in both English and Spanish" (PLVA Task Force)
8. "Promoting books and literacy among Latinos is good for business and good
for communities. Serving this segment of the population is critical, as the Lati-
no population is the fastest growing in the United States. Latino Books Month
provides a focus and resources for booksellers, librarians, and others who
wish to promote books and reading in their communities by hosting reading
groups, bilingual readings of favorite books, in-store displays, and other
events."
9. "The main claim of this book is that historically, Ohicano/a literature has been
defined as much by its readers as by its texts and authors. Expanding the main
hypothesis, I was interested in researching how writers and audiences interac-
ted in different periods, from colonial times onward. (...) Chicano/a literature
has manifested different characteristics based on who its intended readers we-
re, what the material conditions of publication and distribution were like, the
linguistic choices available for literary communication, and the geographical
mobility of writers and readers. Others factors, both literary and extra-literary,
have played a role in shaping Ohicano/a literature as well, including class sta-
tus of its ¡deal readers (...) gender differences in access to both reading and
writing, and literary tastes acquired in Mexico or in other countries by readers
of Chicano/a literature."
10. "Adriana López [...] placed Spanish-language book sales in the United States
at $400 million in 2001. Impressive, but she can only guess about sales of La-
tino books written in English. "I am dying, everybody's dying for those num-
bers" she said. [...] "When the (book) industry gives us [Latinos] special atten-
tion, they tend to give us Spanish language sections" Lopez said. "There is still
confusion over what language we speak. I think that hurts us in that it divides
our market. If I ran a book store, I'd line up the Latino books in English or Spa-
nish side by side like a platter of enchiladas. That brings up the question: What
is a Latino book?"
11. "Few American literary critics work on the vast multilingual literature of the Uni-
ted States. Most simply raise up English-language works writen by members
of America's various ethnic and racial groups -often in the name of multicultu-
ral diversity—even as they dismiss American literary works writen in languages
other than English. Thus they encourage reading English-language literature by
Americans of Chinese ethnicity but ignore Chinese-language American literatu-
re."
12. Alberto Sandoval y Frances Aparicio, por un lado, y Frauke Gewecke, por el
otro, proporcionan excelentes y amplios panoramas sobre la literatura Latina
en los Estados Unidos.
13. "books authored by Latinos that are available, in both English and Spanish."
BIBLIOGRAFÍA:
AAP. Association of American Publishers. Disponible elctrónicamente en:
LITERATURA, MERCADO Y NACIÓN 191
http://www.publishers.org/press/releases.cfm?PressReleaseArticlelD=193
Clemens, Luis. "Christian Book Market Grows With Followers", 1 de Mayo, 2005.
http://www.marketingymedios.com/marketingymedios/search/article_display.js
p?vnu_content_id=1000902244
Alonso, Sarah. "The Hispanic Market for Book Publishing". Publishing Research
Quarterly, 21: 3, Septiembre, 2005, pp. 46-76.
Danford, Natalie. "How Do You Say: 'Growing Pains in Spanish? Spanish-Lan-
guage Publishing's Awkward Coming-of-Age". Publishers V\/eekly, 17 de enero
2005. Disponibie eictrónicamente en:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA496161 .html
Dávila, Arlene. Latinos Inc. The Marketing and Making of a People. Berkeley: Uni-
versity of California Press, 2001.
Flores, Edward y Harry Pachón. "Latinos and Public Library Perceptions". Tomás
Rivera Policy Institute, Septiembre, 2008.
Garcia Canclini, Néstor. Culturas Híbridas. Estrategias para entrar y salir de la mo-
dernidad. México: Grijalbo-Consejo Nacional para ia Cultura y las Artes, 1990.
Gewecke, Frauke. "De Identidades, territorios y fronteras que se cruzan: la(s) litera-
tura(s) de los Hispanics o Latinos en los Estados Unidos (1)", Iberoamericana,
1:3, 2001, pp. 205-227.
—. "De Identidades, territorios y fronteras que se cruzan: la(s) literatura(s) de los
Hispanics o Latinos en los Estados Unidos (2)", Iberoamericana, 1: 4, 2001.
Kiser, Karin N. "Courting the Spanish Reader". Publishers Weekly, Enero 16, 2006,
pp. 24-29.
—. "Spanish-Language Publishing in the U.S. Nears Critical Mass". Publishers
IVeeWy, Septiembre 18, 2000, pp. 47-52.
—. "Selling to the Spanish-Language Market in the U.S.". Publishers Weekly, Sep-
tiembre 13, 1999, pp. 35-38.
Los Angeles Times. "The Plight of Librería Martínez", Mayo 13, 2008. Disponibie
eiectrónicamente en:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-martinez13-
2008may13,0,15027.story
Macarturos. "Latino Genius: Reuben Martínez". Disponible electrónicamente en:
http://macarturos.biogspot.com/2007/10/latino-genius-reuben-martinez.html
Martín-Rodríguez, Martín. Life in Search of Readers. Reading (in) Chicano/a Litera-
ture. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003.
PBS. "Now", Enero 28, 2005. Disponible electrónicamente en:
http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcriptNOW104_f Uli.html#martinez
Pew Hispanic Center. "Survey Brief. Assimiiation and Language", Marzo, 2004.
Disponible electrónicamente en http://pewhispanic.0rg/files/factsheets/i 1 .pdf
PLVA Task Force (The Association of American Publishers' Publishing Latino Voi-
ces for America). Disponible eictrónicamente en:
http://www.publishers.org/main/Latino/latino_02.htm
Poblete, Juan. "Literatura, heterogeneidad y migrancia trasnacionai". Nueva Socie-
dad, 2QA, 2006, pp. QO-105.
—. "Lo Trasnacionai y los imaginarios nacionales: ios Estados Unidos y América
Latina". Iberoamericana, V, 17, Marzo, 2005, 131-142.
Portada, "Book publishers focus efforts on Latino kids", 1 de enero, 2006.
—. "Bookstores and Libraries, Major Points of Sale for Subscription Shy Latinos?"
1 de enero, 2004.
—. "Libros y más libros". Noviembre 1, 2003.
192 JUAN POBLETE
Ricci, James. "Sowing Literacy Brings Windfall". Los Angeles Times, Septiembre
28, 2004. Disponible electrónicamente en:
http://articles.iatimes.com/2004/sep/28/locai/me-bookman28
Rodríguez Marín, Nataiia. "Who is Who in U.S. Spanish-Language Publishing: The
Internationai Piayers". Críticas, Octubre 15, 2006. Disponibie electrónicamente
en http://www.criticasmagazine.com/articie/CA6382599.html
Rosen, Judith. "Recession... Proof? The State of the Spanish-Language Book
Market", Críticas, 8:5, Mayo 2008. Disponible electrónicamente en:
http://www.pubiishersweekly.com/article/OA496161 .htmi
Shell, Marc. American Babel. Literatures of the United States from Abnaki to Zuni,
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2002.
Taylor, Sally. "Books Across the Border. In Search of the Spanish Market", Pub-
lishers Weekly, Agosto 25, 1997, pp.36-47.
U.S. Oensus Bureau. "Facts for Features. Hispnic Heritage Month 2008". Disponi-
bie electrónicamente en:
http://www.census.gov/PressRelease/www/releases/archives/facts_for_feature
s_speciai_editions/012245.html
—. "Growth of Hispanic-Owned Businesses Triples the Nationai Average", Marzo,
2006). Disponible electrónicamente en:
(http://www.census.gov/Press-
Release/www/releases/archives/business_ownership/006577.html)
—. "Household Income Rises, Poverty Rate Unchanged, Number of Uninsured
Down". Agosto, 2008. Disponible electrónicamente en:
(http://www.census.gov/PressRelease/www/reieases/archives/income_wealth/
012528.html).
—. "The American Community. Hispanics: 2004", publicado en Febrero del 2007
y disponible electrónicamente en http://www.census.gov/prod/2007pubs/acs-
03.pdf
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