Zaino: the new Colombian publisher coming to FilBo

I found out quite recently that they existed, after I saw some posts on Instagram about a couple of books that caught my attention. I went straight to their account and wrote them a message. They answered me, to my surprise, almost immediately. So we agreed to talk to Carlos Ospina, one of the people behind this project. He told me about the two books they had published and how they had done in their first presentation. I told him that they caught my attention a lot, rather than by the names, by the way they looked. Zaino is a publishing house that presents itself with a strong and captivating aesthetic proposal. Your books are seen! They stand out among others and that is a factor that adds up too much, because all readers, when we go to a bookstore, the first thing we look at is the covers. If we like the way it looks, we venture to decide if we are going to like reading to it.

On the publisher's website there is an interesting review about who they are and what they are looking for. Zaino is an independent publisher founded by writers. Zaino intends to publicize young authors from Latin America. Zaino with new voices, fresh tones, rare rhythms. Zaino needs his resistance, his discomfort, his shamelessness, his ingenuity and his game. Zaino wants literature that makes people feel, that invites us to think, but above all that confuses. It is, perhaps, a way to seek freedom. Zaino written in the present. With iconic tilde. Zaino seeks expression in language as a center. Zaino leaves him the responsibility of explaining himself to his books; narrators of the problem. Because an editorial line cannot, however specific, precede literature. The story is better to show it than to tell it. Zaino is also a brown horse. Or its difficult light reflected on the paper.

Zaino is so many things, and all good. It is impressive how, with so little time left, they have managed to generate a firm and innovative proposal. That was one of the reasons for contacting them. After a lot of trying to see each other and that our agendas complicated the meeting, we decided, Carlos and I, to use the chats to hold this interview in which I ask him about so many things and that I write with the aim of understanding the horizons of the label and its future, as well as to tell me how he reads these tremendous books that he has published until now.

When and how does the idea of having a publishing house begin?

Initiate, from me at least, Juan José could give you another answer, in 2019, in a class of the master's degree in literary creation in Barcelona. The teacher explained the reality of the publishing industry in Spanish, in which the writer is the one who, almost always, does the worst. This led me, that night, to write in the chat of those who were doing the master's degree with the proposal to launch a publisher for writers and writers. The idea came to fruition just last year (2021) when I was in Colombia, with Juan José Ferro, a writer friend, understanding how difficult it is for a writer or for a writer to publish that first manuscript. A drama that we know firsthand. So we got together with Juan José and defined that the sole criterion of our publishing house would be marked by finding those new voices, almost always unknown and giving them a chance. We determined that we would focus on young, almost always unpublished authors from Latin America. Always with the very present idea of rescuing the old figure of the editor who works hand in hand with his author, who cuts out, removes, suggests and builds, with him or her, the best manuscript possible. Rather, with the criterion of dedicating enough time to books to be published. We decided to participate in the Idartes Emerging Publishing Fellowship that year with two novel manuscripts. And we won it, so there was no turning back for Zaino. I like to use a football figure and it is that we decided, with Juan José, to build the Envigado of independent publishers. Let's see when we get a James or a Juanfer.

Is it difficult to undertake in the Colombian publishing sector?

It has nuances. First, the publishing sector must be divided into two: on the one hand the large publishing houses that need not be mentioned and, on the other, the independent ones. About the second one I can speak with a little more knowledge. I would say that today the budgetary issue (which is the main one) is marked by the high prices of paper, which is an issue of scarcity in world production following Covid. But I don't think I would talk about difficulty, as questions, but that in Colombia (because the case is different in Spain or in Mexico or Argentina) there is still a long way to go. I think that, one, more independent publishers are needed in the country and that they can exist, that we have to take risks, that they are necessary; I also believe that, among these, there should be no competition but collaboration and that the growth of the entire sector should be promoted and not of a single publishing house (I take this opportunity to count on that with Zaino we are part of a collective of independent publishers called Huracán (where there are wonderful projects); and I think, finally, that there should be more incentives from public policy for this sector: it is not enough with the grants that mayors or the Ministry of Culture can give, but that policies must be built that reduce costs that today prevent the competition with what independent publishers do in other countries, especially in Spain. I answer, now it is: it is not easy, because you need to make an investment, of course, but it is not difficult either. To get out of the dichotomy: I feel that entrepreneurship in the independent publishing sector in Colombia is necessary.

What is the essence of the seal? Where does the name come from?

The essence of Zaino lies in the quality of the literature we propose. Because we want to publish that, good literature, and that we like it, and that it can go from poetry to chronicle. In this sense, our readers will find books in which there are, on the part of the author and the publisher, a lot of dedication, many readings. Books in which every word has a reason for being, a meaning. But we also want them to be visually striking works, which is why working with the covers is key for us.

The name comes from zaino, without tilde, which is a color of horse fur. We add the accent, which is also valid, as if looking for a balance in the word. Juan José Saer, Argentine writer and reference of our publishing house and, I dare to speak for Juan José Ferro here too, about us as writers, has a novel Nadie nada never in which there is a zaino horse. Maybe it's coming from there, I don't know. Although any of the meanings given by the dictionary ends up being valid.

What hands are behind this editorial? Who are they?

We have an editorial committee with Juan José Ferro, me and, always, an ad hoc guest. The fact that the committee is always made up of writers is key. There we choose the manuscripts to publish based on discussion and deliberation, never, hopefully, on the basis of the vote. It's literature, in the end. The first novels, A Toy Sky and The Bicephalous Centipede, were worked with the editorial designer Natalia Mosquera.

We have an intern who studies industrial design, is an illustrator and a tremendous tattoo artist: Nicolás Mejía.

And, of course, collaborators come and go, because this is impossible to do it alone.

What were the first publications?

A toy heaven by Chilean writer Sofía Carrère

and The Bicephalic Centipede by Mexican writer Carlos Ferráez.

Both novels have young storytellers to look for or try to make that difficult leap from childhood to adolescence. That is the first force of his voice. But they find themselves, both in Mexico and Chile, surrounded by complex contexts that lead them to further explore their relationship with their family, friends and society. There are infatuation, decision making, bad decisions, and contradictions to face. They are voices that have to develop within violent societies, without losing their childhood innocence. Although they are different storytellers and contexts, a male voice in The Centipede and a female voice in Un cielo, both narrators are in constant search and, I would say, almost in an initiation. As it is for its authors, too. I would say that strength is in the voice. Built in the first person. Original, credible and very much from their countries, but, at the same time, suitable for any reader on the continent.

What can writers and, of course, readers expect?

Writers and writers can expect a publisher that will read their manuscripts in detail, that is the least. From then on, the path is one of patience. And the readers, as I said before, literature worked, carefully edited, rigorously edited. We want there to be a literary exploration from language, which innovate, create and surprise from there. The question for the author arriving in Zaino will always be how, with his manuscript, he transforms or plays or challenges language. That's why Saer is a great reference.

It will be your first book fair in Bogotá, what sensation does it produce?

Emotion, of course. Great expectation to see how the novels are received by an audience that leaves the close circles that we have been able to reach so far. But a lot of emotion. Yesterday Juan José presented the book of a poet friend and said that in literature there are many moments of frustration, as a writer and as an editor, but that they are easily overshadowed by the few, but much stronger, moments of sincere happiness. Being at the Bogotá International Book Fair is going to be one of those moments.

What are they working on now?

There is, for now, a novel by an author from Medellín. Possibly by June. And we're working on another manuscript by the end of the year. And, of course, we're reading manuscripts. But we don't count much more so as not to kill the expectation.

Carlos tells me: “Details are passed, but I think it's the central thing.” Your answers leave me wanting to read to you everything you get in Zaino. What a good bet they're making. Hopefully, in this new edition of FilBo people will come and see what they are doing. Let us hope that, over time, they will continue with that momentum and that they will not, hopefully, fall with the same force with which they have started. His books can be obtained through the website and in most independent bookstores in Bogotá.

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