Were it not for the endeavour of a small, independent publisher that grew from a Mazatlan coffee shop, lost and forgotten novels and tales of Mexican history would never again be discovered by English-speaking readers.
Richard Grabman, a writer and historian from the United States who runs Mexico’s only English-language book publisher, was among the many literary enthusiasts drawn to Guadalajara by the International Book Fair (FIL) this week.
Grabman is project director for Editorial Wisemaz, a publishing house based in the popular coastal resort of Mazatlan, Sinaloa. Founded in 2008, it began life as a coffee shop and second-hand bookstore for tourists, founded by David Bodwell, the author of “Enjoy Spanish in Mexico.”
The parent company of Editorial Mazatlan – which publishes non-fiction works encompassing research, language, history and culture – Editorial Wisemaz has recently announced the inauguration of a second imprint, Valor Books, which will publish fiction set in Mexico and even children’s books.
Driven by an interest in history, a passion for literature and a growing curiosity of Mexican culture, Grabman explains how he was first drawn south of the border. He grew up in northern New York state, in “a rural, agricultural area” he describes as “similar to Lake Chapala.”
After studying English literature, Grabman “worked as a technical writer for several years, wrote poetry and worked on and off in small presses.” Throughout his career, he found himself moving to the mid-west and then to the south of the United States. “I figured if I’d gone that far south, I might as well keep going,” Grabman says with a grin.
“I had what I like to call a ‘creative mid-life crisis.’ I needed a change and (moving to Mexico) turned out to be a good one. I’m interested in history and I’d worked on and off in publishing so it went well. The big challenge has been learning Spanish.”
The idea of a publishing house came to Grabman while living in southern Texas, as he “grew more interested in the history and culture” from across the border. As he read up on it, he “realized so much of this was not written for the common person, but for graduates. There was a need for this to be written in simple English” to make it universally accessible.
Having been in Mazatlan for over three years, and previously lived in Mexico City for four years, Grabman says, “This is my home now.”There is something about Mexico that inspires foreign writers, with literary greats such as Jack Kerouac, William S. Borroughs and Graham Greene all having written about their experiences in the country.
“In Mexico there is a real respect for the rights of others, and I think that’s liberating to a lot of writers,” says Grabman. “There are great opportunities and a lot of folk culture so many people come here wanting to work in cultural fields.”
Grabman was driven to write his latest book by the desire to redress the bias and historical inaccuracies inherent in “Cristiada,” a recent Hollywood film about the anti-clerical Cristero rebellions which sprung up in and around Jalisco in the 1920s.
“The movie was right-wing, Catholic propaganda. I started writing because I saw the trailer and I thought ‘this is not the Mexican history that I know.’ So I got kind of carried away researching and writing every night, and that’s where this book came from,” the author explains.
His interest in history affords Grabman an interesting sense of perspective on the Cristero Wars: “Not a lot of people know there was a big Catholic terrorist movement here. There were insurgencies, terrorist attacks, assassinations, and a lot of it was to do with control of oil. It was very similar to what you see now, this has been going on forever. Nothing really changes, these trends repeat themselves, we just keep redefining how it happens.”
One of several of Grabman’s works available from Editorial Mazatlan, “Gorostieta and the Christiada: Mexico’s Catholic Insurgency 1926-29” is predominantly on sale as an e-book and has a limited mail order distribution in Mexico.
Another of Grabman’s books offers an insight into the fascinating life of a forgotten Mexican hero. “Bosque’s War” is a translation and analysis of an interview that Mexican diplomat Gilberto Bosques gave at the age of 100, on his experiences during World War II.
A Schindler-esque figure, Bosques rented castles in France during the war, then declared them Mexican territory and used them to shelter tens of thousands of Jews and Spanish exiles from Nazi Germany and the Franco regime respectively.
“Part of the reason I wrote it is that people don’t realize Mexico played an important role in the war, offering refuge in Europe and supplying labor to the United States,” says Grabman.
Aside from Grabman’s work, Editorial Wisemaz will soon publish a book by Richard Finks, a professor from the University of Guadalajara. Grabman describes Finks’ “Brave Blood” as a “definitive history of bullfighting that we hope to get out early next year.”
Other works in the pipeline on the new Valor imprint include the novels of the late Ethel Stockton. Grabman explains that Stockton “moved to Mexico in her eighties and wrote five novels that were self-published. We were able to contract reprint rights from her son.”
With “a light and very honest” writing style, Stockton described “aging gracefully” and how it felt to be a “Gringo woman moving to Mexico against the wishes of her family.” She discussed physical issues, such as having a stroke, but was “more afraid of returning to the United States than having a stroke,” says Grabman. “She died aged 96, a tough old broad.”
Grabman says most of his publisher’s clients live in expat-friendly Mazatlan, Chapala and San Miguel de Allende, while others are found as far afield as Oaxaca and Merida.
In Guadalajara this week to attend the FIL for the second year in a row, Grabman will also give a talk at the Lake Chapala Writers Club on Saturday, December 3 on the problems of self-publishing. “Every other person in Chapala is writing a novel and some are well worth publishing, but reviewers are not going to take self-published works seriously,” he says.
Then on Monday Grabman will meet with aspiring authors interested in submitting manuscripts for editorial consideration at the Lake Chapala Society, 16 de Septiembre 16-A, Ajijic on Monday, December 5, from 10 a.m. until at least 2 p.m.
To order books online or for more information, visit http://editorialmazatlan.com.