[LMB] (News) TSK goes to Spain

[Irene Delse]

Lois McMaster Bujold wrote:
> Irene Delse irenedelse at neuf.fr
> Mon Dec 18 10:51:45 GMT 2006
>
> Lois McMaster Bujold wrote:
> >    I am pleased to report that _The Sharing Knife_ (both volumes) has
> > sold for translation in Spain.  It's to a publisher who is new to me,
> > Libros del Atril in Barcelona.  As is not-uncommon, I know nothing
> > about them.  It'll be interesting to see what they do with the books.
> >
>
> So it's a translation in Spanish, not Catalan, even though the publisher
> is in Barcelona? I'm curious about that.
>
*** All my Spanish contracts seem to be "for the Castillian language".   
I believe it is the larger market.  Barcelona seems to be more the 
publishing center for Spain than is Madrid; I don't know to what extent 
local or regional politics or culture play in this.  I suspect something 
like the relationship between St. Petersburg and Moscow at work, but I 
don't know enough to say for sure.  If we have any Spansih listees, 
perhaps they could chime in.

Ta, L.

***

Ah, yes, it's for Castillian (=Spanish), not Catalan. I'm not Spanish 
myself, though I know a bit about regional politics and culture in 
Spain. Here's a brief summary (I apologize in advance to all Spanish 
readers for probable inconsistencies and errors).

Barcelona is the capital city of Catalonia, the semi-autonomous region 
of Spain. There are others, the Basque province being probably the most 
(in)famous, but also AFAIK Galicia and the territory of Valencia. Each 
is the homeland of a "nationality", regional historic entity with it's 
own language and culture. It's a politically loaded subject, so they 
prefer to avoid the word "nation". But Spain has 4 official languages in 
addition to Castilian, including Catalan. And Catalonia has its own 
parliament, and self-government in matters of culture, education, 
health, local administration... They are very vocal in Spain and abroad 
about their regional differences: rich cultural heritage, prosperous and 
dynamic economy, a prominent part played in the opposition to the former 
dictature, during the Franco years...

So I was curious the language of this Spanish publisher based in 
Barcelona. It's interesting to learn that the city is in fact a 
publishing center for the Spanish language market.

-- 

Irène Delse

http://www.irenedelse.net/