Nicolás Kanellos Wins Tejano Association for Historical Preservation Award
The Tejano Association for Historical Preservation has selected Nicolás Kanellos, founding director of Arte Público Press and the University of Houston Brown Foundation Professor of Hispanic Studies, as the recipient of its award for excellence in literary preservation. Kanellos received the honor for his work with the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage Project, a national effort to locate, rescue, evaluate, disseminate and publish collections of literary works written by Hispanics in what is now the U.S. that date from the colonial period to 1960. Started in 1990 with initial funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, it’s the largest project undertaken to study Hispanic culture and literature in the country and highlights Hispanics’ significant contributions to American literature. Earlier this year, the project received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to conduct a survey of organizations in the Southwest that are likely to contribute literary pieces that can become part of the project.
The broad scope of the research includes recovery of conventional literary forms such as books, letters, diaries, oral lore, and popular culture artifacts by Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Spanish, and other Hispanic residents of what is now the U.S. As a result, hundreds of thousands of literary texts—including essays, autobiographies, diaries, and letters—will eventually become accessible to the public. The project, centered at the University of Houston, is making some individual literary works and collections available now. In addition, more than 40 books of findings from the project have been published by Arte Público Press.
HCCP Expands Its Focus on Spanish Bible Publishing
HarperCollins Christian Publishing is making moves to expand its presence in Spanish Bible publishing through its Grupo Nelson and Editorial Vida imprints. The new initiative includes growing Spanish-language product while increasing distribution and awareness of the NVI (Nueva Versión Internacional) Bible, which is the Spanish translation of the NIV (New International Version) Bible.
David Coyotl, formerly marketing director at HCCP’s Bible and reference department, has been promoted to associate publisher, Spanish Bibles, and will lead the new program. He will be responsible for product acquisition and development, as well as growing the company’s Bible business.
“Since the formation of HCCP in 2012, this is the most concentrated effort we have ever put into action around Spanish Bible product,” Coyotl said in a statement. “It is exciting to be able to create new ways to draw the Latino readers towards Jesus Christ.” HCCP, which houses Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, also expects to add staff to its Spanish Bibles imprint in marketing and editorial management.
Plans for New ‘Bogotá39’ Announced
Hay Festival last month announced publishing plans for Bogotá39—2017, a selection of the best fiction writing by authors under 40 from across Latin America. The anthology features authors representing 15 countries, including Frank Báez (Dominican Republic), Carlos Fonseca (Costa Rica), Eduardo Rabasa (Mexico), Cristian Romero (Colombia), Juan Pablo Ronconce (Chile), and Mariana Torres (Brazil).
A jury composed of Carmen Boullosa (Mexico), Leila Guerriero (Argentina), and Darío Jaramillo (Colombia) selected the 39 featured writers from among 200 nominations. The anthology will be published across Latin America by various independent publishers and translated and published in the U.K. by Oneworld in January 2018. It comes 10 years after the first Bogotá39 collection was made to mark Bogotá as World Book Capital in 2007. Many of the writers included in the 2007 edition went on to achieve global renown.
