In Bogota's Fair
‘Otra Mirada’ meeting at the Bogotá Book Fair, organised by the Cálamo bookshop of Zaragoza and Acción Cultural Española (Spanish Cultural Action). At the table, four publishers of children’s books: María Fernanda Paz Castillo (Cataplum), María Francisca Mayobre (Ekaré), María Osorio (Babel), and Vicente Ferrer (Media Vaca). We were asked to discuss ‘utilitarian’ stigmas in children’s literature. That is, whether imagination should be put at the service of a simplistic idea of education and the transmission of values. The four of us agreed: no, we should not do that, we must make literature. (Also, we could not care less about stigmas.) We also agreed that we have no problem identifying ourselves as publishers of children’s and young adult books, although we would have been happy to take part in any other table along the ‘non-children’s literature’ professionals who usually address enchanting topics.
