In a context of crisis for the editorial sector, Bonaerenses editions proposes a public model that defends the book as a common good and guarantees the right to reading, articulating identity, access and cultural policy since the province of Buenos Aires.
In Argentina, the editorial sector is going through a critical situation. Book production fell 24% and sales in bookstores, 40%. The average roll was reduced from 2,900 copies to 1,700. In addition, the price of paper doubled inflation, more expensive costs and deepening the crisis of a central industry for culture.
The International Book Fair starts with 800 titles of Buenos Aires industry
In that adverse context, there is a project that goes to the contrary: Bonaerenses editions, a state publishing house created on May 18, 2020. Its bet is clear: to conceive the book as a public good and guarantee the right to reading. Through its catalog, it seeks to tend bridges between the past and the present, between the tradition and the new cultural expressions of the province of Buenos Aires.
The proposal is not limited to publishing books. It also articulates with other public policies and seeks to reflect the complexity of Buenos Aires identities. “Among the purposes of the editorial is the idea of building a dialogue between the present and the past appealing to the identity of a territory, with the complexities that that entails,” explains its editorial director, the sociologist and essayist Guillermo Korn.
According to Korn, it is not based on a closed identity, but from a rich and diverse quarry where multiple languages and sensibilities live together. Within that framework, the publisher promotes the work of narrators, poets, historians, essayists, photographers and illustrators of the province.
‘Bonaerenses etcuertes’ by Roberto Arlt, one of the titles of Buenos Aires editions.
Identity and access through a public proposal
The Bonaerenses editions catalog is broad, plural and democratic. It allows readers to approach both current authors and works from other times, which still move for their originality, their aesthetic proposal or their testimonial value.
Figures such as Marcelo Luis Vernet, Roberto Arlt, Sonia Budassi, Natalia Molina, Haroldo Conti, Lorena Curruhinca, Leopoldo Brizuela, Claudio Panella, Julieta Novelli, Juan José Becerra, Eva Murari, Manuel Puig, Antonio Berni, Tomás Calandroni and Luis Beneit, among many others and others.
The editorial has eight collections that cover diverse issues and genres: territories and identities, rescues, works and documents, new narratives, mirrors and windows, where there is a need and Buenos Aires classics. Fiction, essay, poetry, research, chronicle and historical bailouts are printed in the Official Printing of the Buenos Aires State, shaping a comprehensive editorial project.
“Each book is thought of as a unique piece within that always incomplete puzzle that means composing a catalog,” Korn says. Editions are designed with aesthetic and political criteria: many covers carry works of the provincial heritage, original illustrations or file photographs. Thus a collection is built that articulates history, art, new voices and old echoes.
They call to participate in the ‘Hebe Uhart’ Prize for novel 2025
Recent titles, new voices and shared experiences
Among the most recent titles are in the plain, with texts by Marcelo Díaz, Fernanda Mugica and Arturo Carrera, emerged from a call promoted by Ana Porrúa; Diego de Fiorito, a book of stories and chronicles focused on the beginnings of Maradona; and Buenos Aires Menu, which runs through the provincial identity through 68 recipes selected by chef Juan Braceli.
Soon the Hebe Uhart Prize -winning novel, the poisonous visions of Fermín Eloy Acosta, will be published next to the poetic anthology on the Pampa line, which brings together voices of the Buenos Aires Northwest.
This model is not an isolated rarity. It has a history of emblematic experiences such as the Economic Culture Fund in Mexico, the Quimantú publishing house in Chile, Eudeba, the Municipal Editorial of Rosario or that of the National Library in Argentina. All share a common principle: understand the book as a right, not as a luxury.
Multiply readers, not compete
In this sense, Korn emphasizes that the existence of a state seal does not compete with independent projects, but complements them. “Publish Brizuela in different publishers at the same time does not divide readers, but multiplies reading opportunities. We have made coedments with seals from the province that allowed to expand the circulation,” he explains.
While the editorial market is smoothed, Bonaerenses editions opens new possibilities. It does not pursue economic profitability or responds to a logic of consumption. His premise is another: defending access to the book as a law, as a public good and as a collective construction tool. On your website, books are available for free download in digital format or can be purchased from your virtual store.
Related news :