There are publishers that compete and there are others that collaborate with each other. Sometimes both at the same time. And while it is not new that from time to time they join forces to publish a series of titles, it is not so common for the project to crystallize in a collection or a new label. This is what the publishers Raig Verd and Mai Més have announced, which as a result of the good understanding with the publication of the science fiction classic Dune, by Frank Herbert, have baptized their new shared editorial brand Duna.
Laura Huerga recalled a few weeks ago, during the Raig Verd 10th anniversary celebration party, that there had been a lot of complicity with Mai Més and the move had turned out so well that they had been left wanting to undertake new projects that perhaps separately they couldn't reach. Their joint commitment is strong both in the proposed titles and in the planning, with seven titles in the next two years, starting with the second volume of Herbert's great series, The Dune messies, and a classic of the height of Isaac Asimov and his Foundation trilogy, which will just be published next year, when the 1930s dystopia La nit de l'esvàstica, by Katharine Burdekin, two stories by Arthur C. Clarke, Cita amb Rama / La fi of childhood, and to round it off a rarity like Un món resplendent, by Margaret Cavendish, which, written in 1666, is considered one of the forerunners of science fiction.
Judit Terradellas, from Mai Més, agrees, and insists on the character of classics and cult books that the label wants: "We want to bring out works that leave their mark and that should be in any library, but many are not available in Catalan or not have been translated” (such as La nit de l'esvàstica, which has never been published in Spanish either). In addition, he points out that separating them into a new brand demonstrates the will to give them importance and differentiate them from the respective catalogs, it also allows them to maintain the life of each publisher, as well as maintain careful editions, and that "it is noted that they are special".
They are not the only ones with this way of doing it. Las Altres Herbes is the joint project of L'Altra Editorial and Males Herbes, which a couple of years ago put into circulation Flors per l'Algernon, by the North American Daniel Keyes, and they have been followed by La pomera i altres contes, by Daphne du Maurier, El somni del poble Ding, by Yan Lianke and, a few weeks ago, L'home que es va enamor de la lluna, by Tom Spanbauer. In his case it was not a book that brought them together, but an author: Stephen King. When in 2018 they published Torn de nit (Males Herbes) and Escriure (L'Altra) at the same time, they saw that they shared enough goals to release a couple of titles together every year.
A similar case is that of the Dedalus Library, where Periscope and the Bloom literature school converge, a collection of essays from Bloom's seminars. They started with Calla and pay. Encounters between politics and psychoanalysis, by Inés García López, and Plagia millor! by Manel Ollé, and they already have books by Sebastià Jovani, Emily McBride, Ramon Mas, Iris Llop or Marina Garcés scheduled.
In the Catalan market, co-editions are not, of course, a novelty, be it with projects such as Història de laliteratura catalana (Enciclopèdia and Barcino, in addition to the Barcelona City Council), or LaButxaca, from Grup 62, which incorporates titles from other publishers, or the collection promoted by Empúries and Anagrama, with more than 90 titles between 1997 and 2014, and which was in fact the seed of the Anagrama collection in Catalan (it has already reached 100 titles, and they have just been added in Catalan the first Compactes). In Spanish, a few months ago Anagrama has teamed up with Cliff to recover the work of Georges Simenon, be it Maigret and beyond (Navona, by the way, is also publishing the curator's books with translations by Emili Manzano).
In Spanish, four publishers stand out that jointly publish titles, with few but selected works. Errata Naturae and Periférico have shared two annual titles since 2016. “Everything was born thanks to the discovery of a fundamental book for us, our first collaboration, You are not like other mothers, by Angelika Schrobsdorff, which fascinated us. From then on, we began to concoct a way to collaborate to publish it together. A friendly and experimental impulse pushed us to try the collaboration. We sensed that, by joining forces, it would be possible to achieve goals that were almost unattainable alone”, the editors Irene Antón (Errata Naturae) and Paca Flores (Perisfera) explain by mail. “We always choose titles that could fit into the two catalogues, that fit what the two publishers want to offer. Most had been listed for years; other times they are ideas that arise along the way”.
Further back go back Nørdica and Captain Swing, who began publishing together in 2013, with Judith Schalansky's Atlas of remote islands. But the joint adventure of these two editors is earlier: Diego (Nørdica) and Daniel Moreno (Capitán Swing) are brothers. "First it was a way of paying homage to our mother, it was about reflecting the two souls of publishers, one more narrative and illustrated and the other more essayist," explains Diego. He adds that with that book they saw that “we understood each other, we liked each other and on top of that it was profitable. But I think we are right not to create a single label, because it also marks exceptionality”. In 2019 Nørdica also co-edited Vigdis Hjorth's The Heritage with Mármara. And he concludes: “When you are small the sum is exponential and it usually goes well because each one contributes the best that he has”.
Catalan version, here
