Gothenburg Book Fair opens tomorrow

[Eric]

The Gothenburg Book Fair in the western Swedish city of Gothenburg / G?teborg opens tomorrow. We've discussed book fairs before on this forum, and how they can be overwhelming. I like them in small doses, but after a few hours you do want to get out into the fresh air. Sometimes there is gigantomania: 442 seminars and 1,200 accredited journalists at Gothenburg. No one can attend 442 seminars, not least because of parallel sessions.

But spare a thought for small publishing houses that have to be there for the whole week. There's one called Tranan (i.e. The Crane, in the bird sense). From the English bit of their website:



Tranan Publishing House issued its first book in 1992, and has since published some hundred titles. We are specialized in translated fiction from Africa, Asia, Latin America and other language areas often neglected on the Swedish book market.

Among our flagships is the storytelling series, in which new, interesting short stories from all parts of the world is presented for a Swedish audience. So far ten countries have been represented, three of which are Poland, Vietnam and South Africa.

In 2006, Trasten [The Thrush] was created as an imprint for children?s literature.

We welcome your viewpoints, ideas and suggestions concering possible cooperations and publications.

In an article in the Uppsala daily, Upsala Nya Tidning, you can read the following (my translation):



Risk of drowning

While the large publishing houses Bonniers and Norstedts are satisfied with bringing one or two big foreign names to the book fair, the small quality publishing house Tranan no doubt holds the record for the number of foreign guests it has invited. Apart from three Spanish-speaking authors, there will be visits by Czech, Angolan, Romanian and Indian authors.

- We run the risk of drowning in the book fair as we simply don't have the same marketing resources as larger presses. On the other hand, we always run such risks anyway, says Johan S?derb?ck of Tranan. He points out that having Spanish as a theme has help keep the costs down since, for instance, the Mexican Embassy pays for Mexican authors' visits.

- For us, very much depends on the book fair. It is stressful to have to spend the whole spring and summer in preparation for the event. Afterwards we are exhausted. But this is our chance to make ourselves visible.


I like to see small presses bucking the trend, and going their own way. Their website:

Tranan l?sning fr?n hela v?rlden (http://www.tranan.nu/)

[Eric]

P.S. The Gothenburg Book Fair is officially from 24th to 27th September

It will be opened by Rosa Montero.

This year's theme is literature written in Spanish.

Other writers participating include Bernardo Atxaga, Isabel Allende, Javier Marias, Guillermo Arriaga, Lydia Cacho, Helle Helle, Trude Marstein, Jan Guillou, Kerstin Ekman, Unni Lindell and Fredrik Skavlan.

[Bjorn]

And I can report that so far, our stand is looking good and everyone else's is still a complete mess. :D Well, not quite.

Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing Horacio Castellanos Moya. And a few others if I can spare the time.

[Daniel del Real]

P.S. The Gothenburg Book Fair is officially from 24th to 27th September

It will be opened by Rosa Montero.

This year's theme is literature written in Spanish.

Other writers participating include Bernardo Atxaga, Isabel Allende, Javier Marias, Guillermo Arriaga, Lydia Cacho, Helle Helle, Trude Marstein, Jan Guillou, Kerstin Ekman, Unni Lindell and Fredrik Skavlan.

Can't belive that Lydia Cacho is going over there. Please keep her guys, we don't want her back in Mexico. Could you? Please please

[Eric]

Daniel, if you're badmouthing someone most of us have never heard of, you must dare to give details, however libellous, about why you hate her guts. I'd never heard of Lydia Cacho Ribeiro before in my life, but from the wicked Wiki I now understand that she is a feminist and doesn't like child pornography, drugs and prostitution. But she likes human rights. She may be self-centred, but she doesn't strike me as a witch.

Her blog is:

lydiacacho.net (http://www.lydiacacho.net/)

You could tell her there that you think she is not your cup of tea. Is she a kind of Mexican Politkovskaya, or just a nice middle-class girl who likes grandstanding?

[Eric]

As far as SvD reports, the Mexican author David Toscana said something interesting about the distribution of Spanish-language books in Latin America:


? P? 1960-, 70- och 80-talen skickades mexikanska b?cker fritt ?ver hela Latinamerika. Men sedan k?ptes alla f?rlag av ett stort spanskt f?rlag och fl?det stoppades. Om en mexikansk bok ska till Argentina i dag m?ste den ta v?gen ?ver Madrid, sa David Toscana.

i.e.



- In the 1960s, 70s and 80s, Mexican books were distributed freely all over Latin America. But then all the publishing houses were bought up by a large Spanish publishing house and the flood of books stopped. If you want a Mexican book in Argentina today, you have to get it via Madrid, says David Toscana.

He will have said this in Spanish or English, but I read it in Swedish. Hence the translation.

[Daniel del Real]

Well Eric, my mother told me that if you're not going to talk good about a person you'd better remain quiet, but I here I go, I'll try to be as impartial as possible:

Lydia Cacho is a journalist that also writes books (that hardly makes her a writer). She writes non fiction and has published several works about drug dealing, child abuse and feminism. What everyone criticizes about her is that she is always publishing in a sensationalist manner, always tagging the problems that are in the eye of the hurricane at the moment, and this way, gaining popularity not by what she?s trying to say, but for the controversy and the right time. She?s not a journalist with a serious working line; She?s the typical ?writer? that wants to be a bestseller and stay in the eye of everyone, no matter how.

I think there should be many people like that in each country. This is one of ours. Nothing that I?d like to show from my country, so I apologize for every nonsense commentary she might add.

[Eric]

Your mother was well brought up, sensible and civilised, by the sound of things. But once you say half, on this rather rough & tumble forum, you've got to take the next step and tell us the rest.

I see your point now. Yes, the world is full of journo wannabes who are desperate for recognition and are quite happy to walk over corpses to become famous, using fiction, faction, or fuction to achieve their aims.

The trick is to get yourself on a delegation of national authors, and then travel to a country where no one knows you. Interestingly, one Uppsala academic, Leonardo Rossiello, originally from Uruguay, manages to write about the book fair without mentioning Lydia Cacho at all.

[Eric]

Lustful Daniel's favourite lady. Hot from the Swedish press and book fair:

http://img.unt.se/Article_Images/510_0925926Fotostation2.unt.adlydia_cacho_1.jpg (http://www2.unt.se/articlelink/1,,959876,00.html)

[Daniel del Real]

It's the first time in my life I'm glad for not speaking Swedish, I really don't want to know what nonsense she said about my country. I know you have translation in your veins Eric, but please, not this time!

What Toscana says it's truth and I'm glad he is saying it so everybody knows that one of the reasons reading in Latin America is very little, is because the prizes from the books are ridiculously expensive. Editorials like Anagrama, Tusquets, Alfaguara and Mondadori have captured the market and are choking him to death. It doesn't matter that his titles are very good (which in fact they are) if they are not affordable for a normal reader in such countries where for the economical situation, unfortunately culture is not a priority.

[Stiffelio]

It's the first time in my life I'm glad for not speaking Swedish, I really don't want to know what nonsense she said about my country. I know you have translation in your veins Eric, but please, not this time!

What Toscana says it's truth and I'm glad he is saying it so everybody knows that one of the reasons reading in Latin America is very little, is because the prizes from the books are ridiculously expensive. Editorials like Anagrama, Tusquets, Alfaguara and Mondadori have captured the market and are choking him to death. It doesn't matter that his titles are very good (which in fact they are) if they are not affordable for a normal reader in such countries where for the economical situation, unfortunately culture is not a priority.

The situation is exactly the same in Argentina. The terrible paradox is that the average educated person who is willing to buy a book (and I'm not even talking about a big majority who are semi-literate!) earns 1/3 of the salary of somebody from the developed world and the have to pay 3 times as much for a book.

[Eric]

Despite Spanish being a huge language in Latin America, it is very sad what the article, Daniel, and Stiffelio say, which seems to be: publishers are cutting off their nose to spite their face, by making Latin American literature ridiculously expensive, so that so serious authors are pushed out of the market. Is this all the fault of the Spaniards buying up your presses, or are there also endemic local problems?

I'll look out for things by Toscana.

[Eric]

If you've never been to a book fair, just look at this YouTube clip (you need no complex Scandinavian language skills):

YouTube - Bokm?ssan 2009 - The Experience (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjWsMXA9844&feature=youtube_gdata)

The short film is not of Bergman quality, but is telling, very telling. I've never been to the Yerterborry Book Mess (G?teborg Bokm?ssan) but the atmosphere in the London one is virtually identical.

Those of you that do go frequently to book fairs should watch it every year before they book their expensive hotel and prepare to do business with others in the book trade.

[Daniel del Real]

Despite Spanish being a huge language in Latin America, it is very sad what the article, Daniel, and Stiffelio say, which seems to be: publishers are cutting off their nose to spite their face, by making Latin American literature ridiculously expensive, so that so serious authors are pushed out of the market. Is this all the fault of the Spaniards buying up your presses, or are there also endemic local problems?

I'll look out for things by Toscana.

It's both of them but the endemic problems give more weight to the Spanish acquisitions of editorials. I'm not a valuable source of information here, but one big problem is that people in Mexico don't read at all. I think the year average per person is .5, yes! a half! What this means is that if you are not a bestseller, the print of your book, will consist only in a few copies. So, as it is no big business for the editorial, the cost will impact on the final prize. And of course if your book doesn't sell out to have a second edition, (almost all the first editions are print out in Spain), then there's no chance the books can be printed here in Mexico, so we end paying for the distribution a logistics in euros. All of this makes a new edition, that in America is between 10 and 20 bucks, go from 20 to 40 here in Mexico.
I think this situation is similar in all the Latin American countries. It has become a Mafia!

[Johan]

I could stand about two hours of human-powered sauna before I absconded. Found some interesting books, though none by Spanish/Latin writers. Despite this years theme Swedish publishers persist in almost completely ignoring that part of the world.

[Eric]

I saw a YouTube clip of the crowds at the Gothenburg Book Fair several weeks ago, and posted it here on 27th September. Here it is again:

YouTube - Bokm?ssan 2009 - The Experience (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjWsMXA9844&feature=youtube_gdata)

I think this sums up book fairs very well.