A group of York faculty members, based primarily at Glendon College, has launched a new tri-lingual publishing company specializing in the language, literature and culture of the Spanish-speaking world. The group, led by Professor Emerita Margarita Feliciano, has formed Antares Editorial and will publish works in translation from and into Spanish, English and French.
Right: Gathering at the Antares launch event at the Consulate General of Mexico in Toronto are, from left, Carlos Pujalte, Mexican consul general; Margarita Feliciano; Scarlett Salazar, Venezuelan consul general; and Alex Geiger, Chilean consul general (photo courtesy www.torontohispano.com)
The launch of the press was announced at several venues including the Consulate General of Mexico in Toronto on April 21, and at a meeting at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) organized by York's Spanish Resource Centre on April 23. The Canadian Hispanic Chamber of Commerce also announced the launch of Antares at the Amigo Conference, held in Toronto on May 15. The project is a joint effort of the Cultural Celebration of the Spanish Language (Celebración Cultural Del Idioma Español/CCIE), the Association of Canadian Hispanists and York's Spanish Resource Centre.
Feliciano, founding member and general director of CCIE, which is also based at Glendon, said the idea for a new press that would celebrate Spanish culture grew out of her work as organizer of the CCIE's annual festival. After 13 years, the CCIE Festival of Images and Words dedicated to Spanish culture has evolved into a publishing effort in order to leave a more lasting record of its activities and also to spread the work out by holding more conferences on a smaller scale throughout the year that would also serve as launch events for new publications.
Antares' areas of publication cover a broad spectrum of material including novels, short stories, publications on linguistics and language acquistion, books focused on cultural studies, scholarly publications and translated works. The publishing company will produce a variety of works about Spanish culture, written in Spanish, English or French.
The group also plans to first offer new books aimed at primary and secondary school students and has two representatives from the Toronto District School Board, Lucy Delcheva and Mari Carmen Romero, on the editorial board to work on these books. Most high-school texts have not been re-edited for the past 18 years, said Feliciano, who also noted the category is one of vital importance for the preservation of the Spanish language and culture for future generations.
The board will make use of considerable Glendon expertise. Jerzy Kowal, professor of linguistics in Glendon's Department of Hispanic Studies, will also work on the school texts, which meet Antares' mandates to publish books on linguistics and language acquisition as well as on literature for children and youths. Kowal specializes in the use of technologies in foreign language teaching and in Canadian, European and Asian Hispanism. His work on Web site development has made Glendon the "virtual centre of Hispanic Studies in Canada," said Feliciano.
Ann Hutchison, Chair of Glendon's English Department whose areas of interest are early English and Renaissance literature, will review English submissions on literary criticism and scholarly subjects. Her department colleague, Marcia Macaulay, a specialist in discourse analysis, pragmatics, interactional sociolinguistics and stylistics, will oversee articles on linguistics written in English. Macaulay's current research interests include narrative theory and the relationship between language, sex and gender.
Feliciano, a faculty member in the Hispanic Studies Department at Glendon, teaches stylistics, advanced composition and Spanish-English/English-Spanish translation. She is also an Italo-Argentinian poet whose works are well known in Hispanic-Canadian circles. She will serve as editor for poetry and creative writing submissions and coordinate English to Spanish translation of articles.
High-quality translation will be an important focus for the group, says Feliciano. The board also includes several members with translation expertise. Rosalind Gill, director of Glendon’s School of Translation whose areas of interest are ecological and ecosemiotic approaches to language teaching and the pedagogy of translation, will also work on translation of both Spanish and French into English. Alicia Urteaga, who teaches the theory and methodology of translation in the Glendon Hispanic Studies Department, will work on English to Spanish translations.
Esther Raventós-Pons, Chair of the Department of Hispanic Studies, and Caridad Silva, faculty member in the department, will be responsible for works of literary criticism with an emphasis on Spanish Latin America. Raventós-Pons' specialties include contemporary peninsular literature, visual arts, women's literature and critical theory. Silva's interest are Spanish and Latin American literature specializing in contemporary narrative and Latin American women writers.
Raymond Mougeon, a professor in the French Studies Department and a specialist in French immersion, minority languages, bilingualism and sociolinguistics, will review scholarly articles in his field and use his wide network of colleagues in French studies, acquired over a 30-year career, in the search for French language material.
For more information on Antares Editorial, contact Margarita Feliciano at 416-487-6787 or e-mail feliciano@glendon.yorku.ca.