In a seaside town just east of Havana, there’s an old colonial house where writers, artists and volunteers have been publishing handmade books for nearly three decades. This publishing collective calls itself Ediciones Vigia, or the Watchtower Editions.
Since materials and money are scarce, Vigia repurposes discarded materials paper from a local butcher: cardstock, yarn, fabric, leaves, lace and even tin foil. They craft and publish no more than 200 issues of each book, and manage to keep their literary independence in one of world’s most most repressive societies.
To learn more about this unique publishing house, Global Journalist host David Reed was joined by two guests with a deep knowledge of Ediciones Vigia.
Juanamaria Cordones-Cook has produced a series of documentary films about the evolution of the press and the production of Vigia books. She’s also a professor in the Department of Romance Languages at the University of Missouri.
Nancy Morejon is one of Cuba’s most distinguished poets, and has had work published by Ediciones Vigia. This year, the Latin American Studies Association awarded her the annual Prize of Excellence.
