New Spanish-Language Magazine on Libros en español

By Aída Bardales -- Críticas, 9/1/2007

A new Spanish-language literary magazine is scheduled to launch later this monthly in the United States. Tinta Fresca (“Fresh Ink”), an online publication for the general Spanish-speaking market, will review Spanish-language titles available in the United States and Puerto Rico. This new literary magazine is geared towards Spanish-speaking consumers looking for information on the newest Spanish-language titles available or difficult to find in the United States. According to Leylha Ahuile, founder and president of PromoLatino, a marketing and publicity agency, and the publisher of Tinta Fresca, “most [literary magazines] are academic [in nature] or focus on what is being published in Mexico or Spain,” and even then, only a summary of the book and not an actual review is provided. The monthly online magazine will offer general readers full reviews of Spanish-language books available in the United States, information on literary events, a list of national book clubs, including the Tinta Fresca Book Club, and the opportunity for readers to start their own club. With the assistance of the American Association of Publishers (AAP), Ahuile has compiled a list of basic tips and advice to help readers start a book club and thus promote literature among Spanish speakers.

With this new publication, Ahuile hopes to aid Spanish speakers in growing immigrant communities in the United States where Spanish-language books aren’t readily available. “This is not necessarily a problem in urban settings or key Hispanic markets,” explains Ahuile, “but with the current shifts of where Hispanics reside, finding a book in Spanish isn't always easy.”

A native of Chile, Ahuile came to this country when she was eight years old. As with many immigrant families, Ahuile says her “mother wanted my brother and me to continue learning Spanish as we learned English in school,” but finding materials in Spanish proved to be a difficult task.

Finally, after years in the publishing industry, first as vice-president and publisher of trade for Santillana USA (Alfaguara, Miami) and later as a literary agent at Carol Mann agency, Ahuile grew frustrated with the lack of book coverage in Spanish-language media. “Mainstream media provided less and less coverage of books in Spanish,” even though the Spanish-language book market continued to grow, she told Críticas, “especially if not written by a celebrity [author].”

Ahuile says her goal with the magazine is to highlight “books and writers that might not necessarily” get any publicity in mainstream media outlets and “whose works are often of the highest quality.” She also said she hopes Tinta Fresca helps “bridge the gap between the publishing industry” and Spanish-speaking consumers in this country. “We have done a great deal to improve on the quality and quantity of publications [and] distribution” of Spanish-language books, she says, “but the missing link is communicating this to the consumer, the end user.”

For more information on Tinta Fresca, go to http://www.tintafresca.us/.