Let’s Create Readers!

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

Last month, an extraordinary event took place in Colombia: a generation of authors under 40 met in Bogotá, the so-called World Book Capital, to talk publicly together about books and literature and culture. For a literature lover like me, it was complete torture to have to read about Bogotá39 in many Latin American papers and only experience the occasion vicariously through a friend who was there. Aside from being Latin American and published before hitting 40, it was difficult to find a common link among the works produced by the authors at Bogotá39. The folks at the Bogotá World Book Capital and the Hay Festival could have come up with a variety of lists, and it wouldn’t have mattered what criteria they settled on because their goal was to get people talking about authors they’d never heard of and reading works published elsewhere in Latin America. It was an historic event—how often do 39 authors with so many and so few things in common come together to talk about literature? Now that it’s over, I can’t help but wonder why we have to wait for the next generation of Latin American authors to be of age to repeat the occasion. Or do we?

In the United States, we publish and import many books every year. However, most author events center on one writer—one author, one book, one all-too-often-little audience. I always take pleasure in seeing how the public embraces book fairs in Latin America. There, in general, several professional days precede a week in which book lovers line up just to get in. Once inside, the public has the opportunity not just to purchase books but to sit in on awards ceremonies or panels of world-renowned writers. It’s invigorating, exciting to see how many people share a love for literature and books, and it makes me wonder why we don’t have more events like them in the United States, or at least in New York City, the publishing capital.

If we created innovative and clever author lists—not necessarily with the intention of replicating Bogotá39—but simply to gather contemporary writers together around some context (the political season, real immigrant life, etc.), I suspect even those that don’t start out as fans of the authors on the list would be intrigued and would attend, and maybe become fans and buy books.

Of course, it is critical to have books for sale at every single author event planned. The idea for and the execution of Bogotá39, while inspiring and simply cool, were not perfect. Books were not available for sale at most of the events. I’m not sure why, but I suspect it was because not all of the works by the Bogotá39 authors are available outside of the country in which they were published. That was a major mistake. If you want to create readers, you have to get books into their hands.

The bottom line is we need more events that promote reading, literature, and books to help foment a love for all three. Public libraries could organize in every branch an event with two or three authors to discuss a variety of topics (culture clash, literary influences, politics); bookstores could sign up “backlist” authors to interview an up and coming writer; publishers could reach out to high schools and have young authors read their works and discuss obstacles they faced. The possibilities are endless. The key is to create the kind of energy the Bogotá39 did.

As a first step, the Bogotá39 authors will be present at this year’s Guadalajara International Book Fair. This is a great opportunity for U.S. editors to go down to Mexico and not only meet some of these young talents but also explore the possibility of introducing some of them to the English-language book market.

Aída Bardales
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