Mayda Colón and Zayra Taranto, founders of Trabalis Editores, will speak about their singular approach to publishing in Puerto Rico (they own their own printing press and use the royalties ceded by their world renown authors to publish new writers). In the aftermath of Hurricane María they organized several readings and published a series of books of historical importance (Bitácora de una transmisión radial, transcripciones de una histórica transmisión radial durante el Huracán María desde Wapa radio, Sandra Rodríguez Cotto; Huracanada, Mayra Santos-Febres, amongst others).

Trabalis Editores started publishing in 2014. Their collections include poetry, fiction, essays, children´s, young adult and art books. Their catalog is composed of eighty titles of international (Claudia Hernández, Rafael Courtoisie, Ana Lidia Vega-Serova, José Cozer) and Puerto Rican writers (Ángel Lozada, Alejandro Álvarez Nieves, Mónica Lladó).

Mayda Colón was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her poetry books are Dosis (2006), Prosac (2010), Recuentos y Volteretas (2016) and La casa del vacío (2018); her poems have been included in several anthologies. She is currently the editor of the poetry collection of Trabalis Editores.

Zayra Taranto was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. She is a writer, editor, photographer, graphic artist and videographer. She is currently the Executive Director of Trabalis Editores.

Sponsored by the Stone Center for Latin American Studies.