December 2009
Recap: Feria Internacional del Libro
Thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Children’s Book Press was able to attend this year’s Feria Internacional del Libro (FIL) in Guadalajara, which took place in late November. The FIL is the second largest international book fair in the world, spanning 9 days and attracting both book industry professionals and the general public. When the fair started there were over 600,000 ticketed attendees, and the total attendance was expected to reach well over 1 million.
We were amazed at the level of energy at the fair, which showcased a vibrant Spanish-language publishing scene and an enthusiastic reading public. It seemed like the entire city of Guadalajara anticipated the arrival of the fair, and crowds lined up outside to get in each day.
Every year the fair designates a “Guest of Honor” and highlights books, authors, and publishers from that region. This year, the Guest of Honor was the city of Los Angeles. Children’s Book Press was included in the Los Angeles delegation along with other California-based nonprofit publishers: Heyday Books, Getty Publications, University of California Press, Tía Chucha Press, Red Hen, and the nonprofit distributor, Small Press Distribution. The NEA also sponsored many LA-based authors, poet, and filmmakers. The Los Angeles Pavilion included a display of low-rider cars and tricked-out bicycles, short films commissioned by Los Angeles filmmakers, as well as a bookstore pavilion where attendees could browse and purchase books brought to the fair by the publishers in attendance.
The FIL offered many more readings, panels, performances, and other activities than we can describe here, so we thought we’d share a little slice of our experience of it in the following photos and video. ¡Que los disfruten!
Dana Goldberg, Executive Editor at Children's Book Press, gives a short introduction to the Feria Internacional del Libro in Guadalajara.
From Tia Chucha: author Luis Rodriguez with wife, Trini.
John and Bobby Byrd from Cinco Puntos Press; Janet del Mundo and Dana Goldberg from Children's Book Press.
Janet and Dana in front of an imitation of a Diego Rivera mural in Tlaquepaque.
Author Lucia Gonzalez tells the story of Pura Belpre
Children's Book Press author Lucía González talks about the life of New York City librarian Pura Belpré in a video interview done by AtYourLibrary.org. Watch the video below.
CBP shout out on showtheLOVE.com
We were pleasantly surprised today when we discovered that showtheLOVE.com, a site that is dedicated to making the world a better place, had highlighted CBP and our books! The site strives to make "tomorrow's earth a place our children will enjoy." We heartily support that goal, and are honored to be touted on their site!
Bohemia in Mexico - MY PAPA DIEGO AND ME in ARTnews
My Papa Diego and Me is featured in the December issue of ARTnews! Read the review below or pick up a copy at your newsstand.
ARTnews, December 2009
Art Talk column, page 34
Bohemia in Mexico
by Gail Gregg
Once upon a time a little girl in Mexico, nicknamed Pico by her father, grew up in a bohemian world that few children of the early 20th century could have imagined. After their parents divoced, Pico and her younger sister lived first with their mother and stepfather, then with their father and stepmother, then with all four adults in the same compound. Revolutionaries all, her parents and stepparents hosted activists, writers, and artist in their flower-bedeched home.
Pico ("Little One" in Spanish) is the daughter of Diego Rivera and Guadalupe Marín--and stepdaughter of Frida Kahlo and poet-chemist Jorge Cuesta. Now 85, Pico (Guadalupe Rivera Marín) has written a children's book that evokes both the particular nature of her upbringing and the universal experience of childhood.
My Papa Diego and Me, recently out from Children's Book Press, is a kind of collaboration with Rivera himself, whose paintings serve as illustrations. Profits from the book support the Diego Rivera Foundation, which the author heads. Published as a parallel text in English and Spanish, My Papa Diego and Me is Rivera Marín's sixth book about her father and her first children's book. A retired law professor living in Cuernavaca, Mexico, Rivera Marín has written several law books as well.
Rivera, who died in 1957, is best known for his murals and his fiery relationship with Kahlo. But Rivera Marín wants people to understand how much attention her father paid to children in his work--Mexican children especially. Describing A Poor Family in the Street (1934), Rivera Marín recalls how, after a mother and her children arrived in Rivera's home on Mixcalco Street in Mexico City, he took them in and painted their portrait, and gave the painting to the mother to help finance a new life in the city.
Rivera Marín also remembers the tedium of posing for her father at a young age. Once, to keep her occupied, Rivera gave her an orange--the work became Pico with an Orange (1925). "He got really annoyed with me," she confesses, "because I ate the orange before he finished the painting!"
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