The Bolivian publishing industry occupies the last places in the context of Latin America due to the absence absence of public policies that stimulate the sector, assured Fernando Barrientos, director of Fairs of the Departmental Chamber of the Book of La Paz, which is preparing to inaugurate the 26th International Book Fair.
In an interview with Lobbying Digital, he said that compared to the rest of the countries in the region “the Bolivian publishing industry has a historical lag, it is small, and one of the factors for this situation is the lack of state support and book policies.”
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The publishing industry in the country is in the hands of small and medium-sized companies that coexist with public sector initiatives, especially the state publishing house created in 2017, and initiatives by authors who introduce their own works under the self-publishing modality.
According to the report The Ibero-American Book Space 2018, prepared by the Regional Center for the Promotion of Books in Latin America and the Caribbean (Cerlalc), per capita spending on reading material in Bolivia is one of the lowest in the region. While in Argentina each person spends an average of US$11.38 on books each year, in Bolivia this figure is US$1.3.
THE BOOK LAW
More than nine years after its promulgation, in April 2013, the Book and Reading Law is virtually a dead letter, because in Fernando Barrientos’ opinion it has not been fully applied and public policies are not promoted to guarantee its implementation.
He detailed that “There are many things that were not done. The National Council for the Promotion of Reading is not in operation, the Fund for the Promotion of Reading has no budget, a policy of state purchases is lacking, that the State buys books from Bolivian publishers through bidding, we lack a National System of Libraries and other minor but very necessary actions so that the publishing industry is healthy and has a role –in alliance with the State– in the educational system, so that students read texts and books produced by Bolivian writers and published by Bolivian publishers. Support texts have been neglected, which are complementary in educational training, there is a free stone and each teacher decides what should be read, but there should be an alliance to define the contents”.
When Law 366 on Books and Reading “Oscar Alfaro” was enacted, the then Ministry of Culture reported that of 332 municipalities, only 166 had municipal libraries, half of them in the department of La Paz. The validity of the law has not changed this situation and the mayor’s offices have not complied with the mandate to build libraries or, at least, set up spaces so that children, adolescents and their families have books and can meet to read. The paradox is that, when enacting the law, Evo Morales said that the rule intended to promote the habit of reading, but admitted that “I have that problem. I do not like reading”.
Barrientos said that the scope of the law has been reduced to the release of the value added tax (VAT) on the sale of national and foreign books and the transaction tax of three percent.
STATE DUTY
The entities in charge of the implementation of the Book and Reading Law must assume their responsibility, said Fernando Barrientos and, to do so, he suggested a state alliance with publishers, booksellers and readers.
“The Book Chamber has the experience to do that, we have approached the State because we believe that only by working together can we resolve various issues, for example, guarantee democratic access to books, with content that has to do with our reality.”
He said that there are ongoing negotiations to activate the Committee for the Promotion of Reading, the Public System of Public Libraries, among others that are indicated in the law, and assured that these measures will not generate an imbalance in the general budget, but also “it is time to understand that promoting access to books should not be considered an expense but an investment with a great multiplier effect on the development of the country”.
Bolivia is not a country of readers, Barrientos admitted, “the numbers play against us, precisely there is the issue related to education, it seems to me that the creation of the reading habit is fundamental, it is fundamental in the school, it is where teachers they should support the promotion of reading, that is something complex to do but that is a policy that we lack, there would be more readers if we had an education aimed at promoting reading, but I see that this has not happened yet, I want to believe that if we organize ourselves , that seeing the importance of the book as an educational instrument, we can improve our human development index, because there is a relationship between how much is read and how we arein terms of development”.
According to Barrientos, although the publishing industry is small, “no more than 15 or 20 publishers registered in the book chambers of La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, we are the only country in the publishing industry in Spanish that is not under pressure from the two most important players in the region, which are Penguin Random House, with international headquarters, and the Spanish giant Grupo Planeta, that has more pros than cons, because between these 15 or 20 publishers we cover the demand for national books, if those two big ones the competition would be tougher”.
He assured that, “despite many difficulties and piracy, the publishing industry” is experiencing a good moment, there are new small publishers that promote new writers, new proposals and new genres, quality production, an increasingly diverse offer of books, and a creative and proactive participation in various spaces, such as book fairs, which allow the promotion of reading, the appreciation of literature and knowledge and access to books”.
He stressed that one of these spaces will be the 26th International Book Fair of La Paz 2022, which will take place between August 3 and 14 at the Seguencoma fairground under the slogan “Festival of literature, festival of culture” and will feature with more than 160 exhibitors and nearly 400 activities.