Contemporary Production of US Latino Literature in Spanish
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Contemporary US Latino literature in English has received considerable boost and academic attention in the last half century due to active demands of the Latinos to be heard, arising from the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and systematic research done on this literature by academics housed in non-Spanish programs such as English, American Studies, Ethnic Studies, Chicano Studies. That is to say that US Latino literature in Spanish remains understudied, not because there is no literature in Spanish, but because of a lack of investigative studies. Some major strides have been taken to recover pre-1960s US literature in Spanish especially by the University of Houston’s Recovery Project, but there is no major study beyond this decade.
This paper looks at the contemporary production of US Latino Literature in Spanish. Arte Público Press, Santanilla USA/Prisa Ediciones, Sub Urbano Ediciones, Rayo of Harper Collins, Vintage of Random House are some of the leading publishers of Spanish books in the United States. This study intends to understand the market forces that have determined publications and see how Spanish titles have fared given that there is a growing Spanish readership in the United States at this moment. This paper also looks at how some authors choosing to write in Spanish find avenues to be published given that there are so few publishing houses that print and market Spanish books.
