Cristóbal Pera has been tasked with relaunching Grupo Planeta’s publishing program in the U.S. Planeta, the largest Spanish-language publisher in the world, first opened a U.S. office in Miami in 1994. While the Miami office still imports and distributes some 600 titles a year, its U.S.-based publishing program closed in 2008 after operating for eight years.

Pera, who most recently served as the editorial director of the Vintage Español imprint at Penguin Random House and as a literary agent at the Wiley Agency, will build a new publishing program, though details about when its first list will be published will be released at a later date. Before heading Vintage Español, Pera served as an editor with Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial in Mexico City, where he worked with Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Ramos, Lydia Cacho, Sandra Cisneros, among numerous other notable authors.

"Expanding the selection of quality Spanish-language books in all categories and adapting ourselves to the diversity of our audience are some of the greatest challenges in this market," said Pera. "As a publisher, it will be an exciting task to connect Spanish-speaking readers with Grupo Planeta's books and open the doors to new authors in the United States."

José Calafell, Grupo Planeta´s CEO for Latin America, said the double-digit sales growth the company posted last year make this the right time to expand in the U.S. “The market for books in Spanish in the U.S. has undergone a profound transformation. Today it is more diverse, with a greater degree of maturity and a growing demand for quality content. For Planeta, it makes perfect sense to resume our operations in the U.S. and bring the best authors and books in Spanish to the reading communities that make up the American tapestry."