Javier Molea is the manager of the Foreign Language (Spanish and French) Books division of McNally Jackson Books in New York. He is also co-owner of the publishing house DíazGrey Editores and co-founder of the Unknown University in Brooklyn.
Hi Javier, tell us about the Universidad Desconocida (Unknown University).
The “Universidad Desconocida” in Brooklyn is a series of writing workshops and seminars that we began with the Spanish professional María Bordallo at the end of last year. Basically, we bring together great writers who live in the city, with persons who want to develop a writing project or who are interested in the work of an author (for example, Bolaño) or in a specific subject.
What other activities in Spanish do you hold with McNally Jackson?
For the past seven years, we've held workshops in Spanish every Saturday. We also sponsor a monthly book club, La Tertulia (The Art of Conversation) and special events. We have close to 50 writers participating between February and July.
You recently reached an agreement with Visor to distribute their poetry books. What does the agreement entail?
It is a very beneficial agreement for both parties in that it allows us to obtain the books with very generous financing terms and then we do what we do best: launching the publishing house in the USA with excellent promotion and product placement in key sales points.
And as a publisher, what projects are you working on?
At this time we're stopping the presses. We will continue to publish bilingual books but we want to dedicate ourselves fully to marketing this year, although we will publish at least two or three more books, and there are two already scheduled for publication in 2015.
For those interested in learning more about your activities with McNally Jackson, where can they find and obtain more information?
They can come by the bookstore any day of the week, or they can contact us by e-mail at javier@mcnallyjackson.com. Information about our activities in Spanish is available at the following websites:
