Who are we

Señalibros is an annual series of online audiovisual meetings with booksellers from Latin America and Spain. This initiative aims to raise awareness of the network of bookstores, essential cultural venues in our societies, by exploring the circulation of books and the reach of reading.

Señalibros aims to be an observatory of current Spanish-language literature through exceptional readers: booksellers, who will introduce us to the voices of authors from their countries whom we urgently need to read beyond the mainstream.

This first Señalibrosseries, held monthly, will feature six dialogues of which two independent bookstores will be present known for their work as book sellers, promoting reading, supporting bibliodiversity, and cultural management.

The project is aimed at readers, teachers, researchers, students, and publishing professionals. Participation will be conducted via an open Zoom link,
which will be posted on the Instagram account of the Providence Ibero-American Literature Festival (FLIP), within which this project is being developed.

The meetings will focus on each bookstore's projects and local challenges related to book circulation and reading promotion.

In addition, we will dedicate part of the discussion to each bookseller presenting three or four authors from their country or region whose works have not yet crossed borders or achieved wider international dissemination.

he language of this project will be in Spanish. The Señalibros sessions will be recorded and freely available on the YouTube Channel of Brown University, with Spanish subtitles and automatic English translation.

Agenda

The Señallibros meetings will take place from November to April (with a break in January) via Zoom and will include a 45-minute discussion, followed by a 15-minute Q&A session.

The following independent bookstores will participate in this first cycle of the project:

1st Meeting - Introduction to the Bookstore

Wednesday, November 13, 2024
12PM ET/ 11AM CT/ 9AM PST
Librería SOPHOS (Ciudad de Guatemala) y Librería Wilborada 1047 (Bogotá)
Philippe Hunziker y Alberto Gómez

2nd Meeting - Bookstore around a river

Wednesday, December 11, 2024
12PM ET/ 11AM CT/ 9AM PST
Librería Céspedes (Buenos Aires) y Librería Puro Verso (Montevideo)
Cecilia Fanti y Soledad Viera

3rd Meeting - Microuniverse and bookstores

Wednesday, January 8, 2025
12PM ET/ 11AM CT/ 9AM PST
Librería Tolstoi (Quito) y Librería Polilla (Ciudad de México)
Karina Sánchez, Cecilia Castro Pellat y Daniel Flores Álvarez

4th Meeting - Bookstores between exiles and resistance

Wednesday February 5, 2025
12PM ET/ 11AM CT/ 9AM PST
Librería Alberti (Madrid) y Libreria del GAM (Santiago de Chile)
Lola Larumbe y Berta Concha

5th Meeting - Women’s Bookstores

Wednesday, March 5, 2025
12PM ET/ 11AM CT/ 9AM PST
Librería Placeres Compulsivos (Lima) y Librería Mujeres (Madrid)
Verónica Villarán e Izaskun Legarza

6th Meeting - Bookstores as cultural managers

Wednesday, April 16, 2025
12PM ET/ 11AM CT/ 9AM PST
Librería Cálamo (Zaragoza) y Librería Albatros (Ginebra)
Paco Goyanes y Rodrigo Díaz

Participating Bookstores

Philippe Hunziker

Philippe Hunziker is the General Manager of SOPHOS in Guatemala, a bookstore that has become a reference in bookselling and culture in Central America for its bibliographic selection and extensive cultural agenda.

He has participated in numerous forums dedicated to the world of books and written articles for the magazine Trama & Texturas.

In 2016, he was awarded the Order of Arts and Letters, Knighthood, by the French Ministry of Culture.

Between 2018 and 2021, he was President of the Guatemalan Publishers Association, which organizes the International Book Fair in Guatemala (FILGUA), and since 2018, he has been Vice President of the Ibero-American Publishers Group.

He is a member of the advisory board of the Centroamérica Cuenta literary festival.

He is a co-founder of the SOPHOS Foundation, responsible for managing La Teca, a library for everyone,in the historic center of Guatemala City.

Alberto Gómez

Wilborada 1047 is a bookstore founded in October 2014 by Yolanda Auza Gómez, located in the Quinta Camacho neighborhood, in the heart of Bogotá. Conceived as a neighborhood bookstore, over the past 10 years it has become a space for ongoing conversation and a meeting point that draws as much from its neighborhood as it nourishes it. Its name pays tribute to Saint Wilborada, patron saint of librarians and bibliophiles, in whose powers its booksellers faithfully believe.

The bookstore has a team of six booksellers, all with different backgrounds and interests, allowing visitors the opportunity to engage in quality conversation. This diversity translates into an excellent catalog and a constantly evolving curation. In addition, Wilborada 1047 offers book clubs and cultural activities that enrich the experience of its visitors, consolidating itself as a welcoming and dynamic space in the city's cultural life.

Photo Gallery

Past Meetings

Visual design of the project: Iris Woo (iwoo@risd.edu) | Soundtrack: Seba Otero