Introduction
The collection, Catalina’s Bells, is a community development project that consists of the publication of 150 copies for each of five books demonstrating some of the panorama of new Latin American poetry. Each of the five of these bilingual books (Spanish and English) will have a distinct artistic concept, and each book will have its own cover, as they will be made of recycled materials in art workshops by youth and adults.
Each book will present the poetry of three authors of a particular country. For this first collection we have chosen Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Mexico. The works will be translated by academics and writers from the United States.
The books will be distributed in public libraries, bookstores and universities, and presentations will be held at poetry festivals and cultural centers in various countries of the American continent.
Catalina´s Bells is a project of Cardboard House Press
Background
The workshop for craft and art books was born in Bloomington in June 2012 when Giancarlo Huapaya and Cristian Medina organized the first space for processing cardboard into books in Bloomington, Indiana. Giancarlo came with experience conducting workshops to implement cartoneras libraries in communities of Peru, and a few years ago, he participated as an author at the Cartonero Fair Book Mercosur in Asunción, Paraguay, which brought together all cardboard book publishers (“cartoneras”) of Latin America. Meanwhile Cristian is a connoisseur of contemporary poetry and of the phenomenon of independent publishing. They, along with the poet and critic, Paul Guillen, researcher of new Latin American and American poetry, decided to form The Cardboard House Press, a publisher that not only thinks of the end result of the product book, but also of the production process as a vital aspect of community development. Our project, then, consists of developing unique products with artistic values through participatory and educational processes.
Goal
To edit, produce and publish five books that demonstrate a panoramic view of contemporary Latin American poetry through processes that generate educational and social development .
Why art books?
In times where everything has been digitized and people are commonly connected to an electronic device, the art book project proposes to create the bonds of ownership, appreciation, and revaluing of the physical book, of the book that can be felt with the senses, that through its production educates and offers social development to its community and region, made by the hands of authors, translators, producers and artists for the hands, spirits, and minds of hundreds of people.
