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Senate House Library hosts first ever London Cartonera Book Festival this September

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Senate House Library is hosting the first ever London Cartonera Book Festival this September in partnership with four leading cartonera ('cardboard') publishers from Mexico and Brazil. The festival will consist of a series of cartonera book-making workshops over four days from 17 to 20 September 2019.

Cartoneras are a community publishing initiative that emerged in Latin America in the early years of the 21st century. They take their name from the waste-pickers who supplied and still supply discarded cardboard (cartón in Spanish) for the creation of unique hand-made and hand-painted books. Working at the intersection between literary production, artistic practice and community action, there are more than 250 cartonera publishers throughout Latin America and beyond.

Each workshop will be a hands-on event, providing a unique opportunity for you to learn more about the cartonera publishing movement in Latin America, and to walk away with your own copy of a cartonera book - and you will also have the chance to win your very own 'cartonera kit'! The workshops will explore different facets of cartonera arts-based activism, which relate to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Examples from Senate House Library’s own cartonera collection will be on display during the events.

The workshops will be coordinated by Dr Lucy Bell (University of Surrey), Dr Alex Flynn (University of Durham) and Dr Patrick O'Hare (Manchester University), who have been working with these publishers over the past three years on their collaborative Cartonera Publishing project. Senate House Library is one of the project partners in this collaboration and will host three of four workshops. The fourth workshop will be held at The British Library.

All materials for the workshops as well as tea, coffee and refreshments will be provided.

To book your place please see details of each workshop below:

Workshop 1 – Cartoneras for Peace & Justice   

Tuesday 17 September 2019, 14:00-17:00 pm

Garden Halls (Room 3A & 3B), 1 Cartwright Gardens, London WC1H 9EN

This workshop will be facilitated by La Rueda Cartonera and Viento Cartonero from Guadalajara, Mexico. They will focus on their recent work with women prisoners and communities facing high levels of violence.                                                                 

The workshop will begin with a presentation by the cartonera publishers Sergio Fong and Israel Soberanes, followed by a practical book-making session where you will get to bind Wind and Mirrors, the translation of a literary collection by women from Puente Grande Prison in Mexico. This is a unique opportunity to learn to make your own cartonera book, and share your own ideas for arts-based action for peace and justice in the UK and Latin America.

Workshop 2 – Cartoneras for Sustainable Communities

Wednesday 18 September 2019, 14:00-17:00 pm

Garden Halls (Room 3A & 3B), 1 Cartwright Gardens, London WC1H 9EN

This workshop will be facilitated by La Cartonera from Cuernavaca, Mexico, and will focus on their recent work on the reconstruction of homes and local histories in the indigenous community of Xoxocotla (Morelos, Mexico).

The workshop will begin with a presentation by the cartonera publishers Nayeli Sánchez and Dany Hurpin, followed by a practical book-making session where you will get to bind a collection of photographs and some testimonies from the Xoxocotla commemorative building project. This is a unique opportunity to learn to make your own cartonera book, and share your own ideas about arts-based action for sustainable community-building in the UK and Latin America.

Workshop 3 – Cartoneras for Housing & Social Justice

Thursday 19 September 2019, 14:00-17:00 pm

Garden Halls (Room 3A & 3B), 1 Cartwright Gardens, London WC1H 9EN

This workshop will be facilitated by the cartonera publishing collective Dulcinéia Catadora, from São Paulo (Brazil), and will focus on their recent work on access to housing with the Frente de Luta por Moradia (Movement for Just Housing).

The workshop will begin with a presentation by the collective members Lúcia Rosa, Andréia Emboava & Maria Dias da Costa, followed by a practical book-making session where you will get to bind one of Dulcinéia’s most recent projects, the book Moradia. This is a unique opportunity to learn how to make your own cartonera book, and share ideas about arts-based action for housing and social justice in the UK and Latin America.

Workshop 4 – Cartoneras for Education & Environment

Friday 20 September 2019,14:00-18:00 pm

The Story Garden at The British Library - entrance at 60 Ossulston Street, NW1 1EX 

This workshop will take place at The British Library and will be facilitated by Catapoesia, a cartonera collective based in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Catapoesia focuses on working with young adults in rural communities particularly through their Conto que conta (Tale that Tells) methodology.

The workshop will begin with a presentation by the cartonera publishers Solange Barreto and Júlio Brabo, followed by a practical book-making session where you will get to bind the book 'Buriti-Dão’, a text written collectively by the Riacho dos Ventos community that addresses themes of their landscape - the ‘sertão’ - extractivism and environmental degradation. This is a unique opportunity to learn to make your own cartonera book, and share your own ideas about arts-based action for education and the environment in the UK and Latin America.

This page was last updated on 30 July 2024