At the Guadalajara International Book Fair, Anagrama director Jorge Herralde spoke as both a champion of Latin American work and as a survivor in publishing.

Described as “a mythical figure” among Spanish-language publishers by Marisol Schulz, director of the Guadalajara International Book Fair, Jorge Herralde was one of the most anticipated speakers at the fair this year. The director of the Spanish publishing house Anagrama, Herralde created the company in Barcelona 1969. It was sold to the Italian company Feltrinelli in 2010, and Herralde remained in place to oversee its work. “We founded Anagrama back in the days when we were frenzied and wanted to change the world,” Jorge Herralde told his audience at the fair in Mexico, recalling the era of the Franco regime. “As a publisher, I thought I could contribute to creating a more just society.

“At the beginning,” he said, “I published left-wing books, from heterodox Marxists to a Trotskyist critique of Moscow, and introduced the counterculture and the underground into Spain. We were pioneers in publishing feminism and supporting LGBT writers and the use of drugs.” And during that era, as many as 10 of Anagrama’s books were confiscated by the authorities.

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