From Publisher’s Weekly:
A range of factors are leading U.S. bookstores to expand their Spanish-language offerings. Driven by language-immersion schools and bilingual families, many stores are now specializing in bilingual books for young readers. Others serve heritage-language customers who want to practice their Spanish, as well as language learners seeking cultural immersion.
Booksellers often flag their Spanish-language selections with bilingual shelftalkers, encourage handselling and promotion on social media, and ask book clubs for buzzworthy bilingual picks. At Cellar Door Books in Riverside, Calif., a Latinx book club plans to read Desideria Mesa’s Bindle Punk Bruja and Tehlor Kay Meija’s We Set the Dark on Fire, and store owner Linda Sherman-Nurick sees potential in Spanish-language editions of Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s Not “a Nation of Immigrants”.
“Either because they are more comfortable reading in Spanish, or they want to read books in their original language as the author intended, or they are learning Spanish, people want access to good-quality Spanish-language books,” said Veronica Johnson, who operates Libros Bookmobile in Hutto, Tex. “Many Latinx folks are bilingual, and we want materials in both languages,” yet “even non-native speakers and non-Latinx folks ask for Spanish-language titles.”
While classics from Jorge Amado, Jorge Luis Borges, and Pablo Neruda remain popular, readers are also gravitating toward Isabel Allende, Sandra Cisneros’s new Mujer sin vergüenza, and bestsellers like Erika Sánchez’s Yo no soy tu perfecta hija Mexicana. Several stores, including Tía Chucha’s Centro Cultural and Bookstore in Sylmar, Calif., reported strong sales of Los cuatro acuerdos by Don Miguel Ruiz.
At Palabras Bilingual Bookstore in Phoenix, owner Chawa Magaña said readers love well-known authors Laura Esquivel, Elena Poniatowska, and Samanta Schweblin, along with “Latinx authors who consistently translate their work from English to Spanish and make it easily available here in the U.S.,” such as Julia Alvarez, Pat Mora, and Yung Pueblo.
General-interest bookstores are increasing their Spanish-language offerings, too. Claudia Vega of Whose Books in Dallas said she’s “looking to expand our adult section” because bilingual kids’ books do so well. And at Elliott Bay Book Co. in Seattle, general manager John Duvernoy called Spanish-language fiction “our most reliable selling foreign-language section.”
Curious customers may not have an author or a title in mind, yet “they want titles to peruse,” said Susan Post, co-owner of BookWoman in Austin. Post singled out local favorites: Liliana Valenzuela’s bilingual poetry book Codex of Love: Bendita ternura, as well as Honduran Colombian creator Kat Fajardo’s graphic novel Miss Quinces.
Link to the rest at Publisher’s Weekly
‘most reliable Foreign language section’ what does that mean in that context??? Is their russian, swedish, Finnish, or Portuguese just having an off year? Or is this like the steak house saying the side salad is their ‘most reliable’ veggie side because its also the only vegetarian option?
I’m going to make a bold prediction. If the book store in Seattle is banking on Spanish titles to stay in business we may be able to get them dirt cheap as consumers when they are bankrupt. I remember making a killing getting many military history titles when borders went bankrupt. Sadly when Barnes and noble does their selection is so bad I won’t be making a killing again. And I won’t be traveling to Seattle to get titles in a language I can’t read.
I would put it in the ‘gringo-created abomination’ category. My large bicultural family on both sides of the border would never use it.
The correct way is to use the male form unless it is a group of ALL women (however sexist). But the world keeps doing things without asking for my permission. And I will, shudder, find it in a dictionary soon if it isn’t already there.
KNOWING how to do things ‘correctly’ still has value when working with people who have money, power, and influence – disproportionately. But they’ll never tell you why they are discounting you. They just will. They always have. The nouveau riche never understand why.
Don’t you just love nuance?
Hate to tell you this, Alicia – but Oxford already has it in their “Advanced Learners Dictionary.”
(I absolutely and categorically disown those other gringos that created the word. I bear no responsibility whatsoever.)
I wonder whether any of the people quoted here actually used “Latinx.”