From Publishng Perpectives:

Reading Brazil

By Edward Nawotka

RIO DE JANIERO: Last week's news that Rio de Janiero will host the 2016 Summer Olympics raised cheers across South America, a continent that is sometimes misunderstood and often underestimated. The setting for an Olympic games could not be more stunning: the city abuts both the ocean and the forest, with roads cut through mountains that majestically jut into the sky, and beaches famous for their beauty. Of course, behind the beauty, Rio is also a city with tremendous poverty and crime.

So it will be interesting to see how the city fares when, just like the Corcovado that is the symbol of the city, it opens its arms to embrace the world. If the annual Bienal do Livro, which took place in September, is any indication, it will do just fine.

The Bienal do Livro is Brazil's premier book show, and alternates each year between Rio and São Paulo. This year brought some 600,000 visitors to the Fair, which is located at the Riocentro Convention Center the edge of the city (indeed, the parking lot appeared to end at a forest). (read on ...)

Bonus Material:

Penguin Brings Its Classics to Brazil

By Edward Nawotka

Brazilian book publishing is full of surprises -- one of them being that many classics of Western literature have never been translated into Portuguese. Stephen Morrison, Associate Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Penguin Books in the United States saw the opportunity to bring his company's long line of classics to this emerging market and last month penned a deal with Sao Paolo publisher Companhia das Letras to publish a line called Penguin Companhia Classicos and Penguin Companhia. "The Brazilian market is a very good match for Penguin," said Morrison. "There's such a focus on education and the classics are very well suited to that in terms of a cultural education." (read on ...)