For his deep commitment to freedom of publication, his tireless work to promote the organization of independent publishers in Central America, as well as a career spanning more than three decades as editor and founder of the publishing house F&G Editores, Guatemalan Raúl Figueroa Sarti will receive the Tribute to Editorial Merit 2022, recognition that the Guadalajara International Book Fair awards each year to highlight the vision and craft of an editor who has dedicated his life to the benefit of the publishing industry and reading. The delivery of this recognition will take place on Monday, November 28, in the Juan Rulfo auditorium of the FIL Guadalajara.
In a telephone interview, the director of the publishing house F&G Editores comments that he felt very moved when he found out that he would receive the Tribute to Editorial Merit; In addition, he “very proud to be on a par with such outstanding editors from all over the world. It is no small thing to be on a list of publishers that includes Arnaldo Orfila, Marcelo Uribe or Jorge Herralde, director of a publisher that is a great symbol of independent publishing in the world”. For Raúl Figueroa Sarti, the importance of FIL Guadalajara is substantial for publishers and publishers in Central America, since he assures that “FIL Guadalajara is the Fair that has allowed us to take our books outside our borders.”
For the also writer, the act of publishing books goes beyond the edition itself, and he considers it as “an exercise in the struggle for freedom of publication, freedom of expression, and in general the freedom of the human being.” He considers that publishers are an “instrument for these ideas to reach audiences beyond the author”, and more so at this time when, he says, “the world is experiencing a regression in terms of freedoms, but particularly in Central America , we are experiencing an authoritarian regression”. He acknowledges that in “Guatemala freedom cost a lot, and now it is being lost,” and denounces the harassment suffered by his book fair: “They want to take away our freedom to hold a book fair where there is no censorship.”
Raúl Figueroa Sarti maintains that F&G Editores will remain as an “independent” publisher, that does not submit to censorship, that does not submit to authoritarianism, and admits that “publishing on the periphery of the periphery is an exercise in optimism”. Full of enthusiasm, he assures that, despite the pandemic, the current economic recession and even the political repression that his publishing house has suffered, “many books await us. We are going to continue publishing, we are going to continue publishing what Guatemalan and Central American writers write, and we hope that our books transcend outside of Central America.”
Figueroa Sarti is editor and founder of the independent publisher F&G Editores. He has served as external editor at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences; the United Nations Development Program; the Óscar Arias Foundation (Costa Rica), and for the San Carlos University of Guatemala, as coordinator of the University Publishing House. He was also director of the International Book Fair in Guatemala. Currently F&G Editores is one of the most prestigious independent publishers in Central America. He publishes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Recovering historical memory and disseminating the crimes committed in Guatemala during the 36 years of civil war are the main reason why Figueroa’s work has been threatened by groups with economic and political power, who seek to prevent the publication of these texts. He is the author of special editions of the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code of Guatemala, each with multiple editions.
The Tribute to Editorial Merit was instituted by the FIL Guadalajara in honor of Arnaldo Orfila Reynal from Argentina —who was director of the Fund for Economic Culture in Mexico and founder of Siglo XXI Editores—, with the intention of highlighting the vision and craft of this figure. essential in the world of books. The verdict is the responsibility of an international committee composed of publishers recognized in previous years and leading figures in the contemporary publishing world.
carefully
“Think and Work”
“2022, Guadalajara, Home of the International Book Fair and World Book Capital”
Guadalajara, Jalisco, September 15,
Text: FIL
Photography: Courtesy FIL
