At the Chilean National Library. Image: Publishing Perspectives, Richard Charkin
By Richard Charkin | @RCharkin
‘The Best Place To View the Milky Way’
Shamefully, until last week, I knew little about Frankfurter Buchmesse‘s 2027 guest of honor, Chile, this hugely long and thin country squeezed between the terrifying Andes mountain range and the Pacific Ocean—not much beyond Mrs. Thatcher’s favorite dictator, Augusto Pinochet, the novelists Isabel Allende and Roberto Bolano, earthquakes, and some excellent red wines.
Richard Charkin
Courtesy of a workshop organized just before this week’s London Book Fair by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) with support from Chile’s book-loving ministries of culture and foreign affairs, I was able to learn rather more.
Several publishers I met described their country as the Great Britain of Latin America. That was slightly baffling. Was it a compliment to me or a rebuke to Chile?
In any event, I went in search of data. How big is the local market? How much do Chilean publishers mean and to whom? How much of the market is textbooks, children’s books, fiction, academic books, ebooks, digital audio?
I’m none the wiser, not least because there are four local publishers’ associations and very little coordination, as yet. There’s a strong literary tradition. Still, the book industry feels like it’s struggling to be heard.
With approximately 20 million people in the 500-million-person Spanish-speaking market dominated by a few mega-publishers headquartered in Spain or even Guetersloh, Chile’s is a small voice.
A bookstore in Santiago. Image: Publishing Perspectives, Richard Charkin
The government has been supportive through purchases of books for school, public, and university libraries. The industry itself is trying to rid itself of the evil of piracy. Signs in bookshops tell their own story with signs that read No se sacan fotocopias: No photocopying.
Its position is not unlike those of Ireland and New Zealand in the anglophone world, punching well above their weight in the quality and reach of their authors and publishers. Chile can do the same. Frankfurt 2027 will emphasize the strengths and opportunities of the Chilean publishing and creative sector.
The local talent is enormous. There seem to be more graphic designers and translators than anywhere outside of Japan. Books are being published and even some poetry titles find a decent audience.
So as Chile prepares to follow Guest of Honor Philippines (October 15 to19) and the Czech Republic (2026), what do the rest of us need to know? More accurately, what have I learned about this beautiful country? It’s the best place in the world to view the Milky Way. Chile also has wonderful food, mainly fresh fish often as ceviche; a grape variety, Carménère; and a gorgeous climate.
Their bookshops survive without the artificial protection of retail price maintenance. The national level of creativity is high but size and distance are formidable obstacles to growth. Long-term planning is tough when governments might change.
Notwithstanding the obstacles, determination and innovation make for some spectacular publishing, for instance from the small independent house Claraboya Ediciones.
I leave Chile amazed at what a long thin country at the far end of the world can achieve .
And I vaguely wonder whether the United Kingdom could be viewed as the Chile of Europe. Not a bad epithet.
From the Chilean flight, over the Andes. Image: Publishing Perspectives, Emma House
Richard Charkin’s trip to Chile was organized by WIPO, and its acting director of the creative industries division Dimiter Ganchev. Join us monthly for Richard Charkin’s latest column. More coverage of his work from Publishing Perspectives is here. Richard Charkin’s opinions are his own, of course, and not necessarily reflective of those of Publishing Perspectives.