Cartonera is a social, political and artistic publishing movement that began in Argentina in 2003 and has since spread to countries throughout Latin America and, more recently, to Europe and Africa. The founders, Washington Cucurto, Javier Barilaro and Fernanda Laguna started Eloísa Cartonera in Buenos Aires in response to the 2001 economic crisis in which the Argentine peso plummeted to one third of its value. The difficult economic situation led to an increase in the number of cartoneros, people who make their living collecting and selling salvaged materials to recycling plants.
Cartonera books are made from cardboard bought from cartoneros at three to five times more than the price set by recycling plants. The cardboard is then used to create covers for short books of prose or poetry. Each book cover is hand painted and sold on the streets at the cost of production in order to increase access to literature. This method of publication has provided the opportunity for unknown authors to be published and for renowned authors to reach a more diverse audience. Beyond selling affordable books, the Cartoneras promote literacy and democratization of literature throughout workshops and book fairs. The Cartonera publishers also involve the community in the process of book creation and distribution through a cooperative learning experience, putting aside educational and socioeconomic divides among participants. The books are generally published in small amounts of 100 or fewer; however, popular texts are kept in print or printed through neighbouring Cartoneras.
Although the Cartoneras publish books in print form, information about the publishing houses is often available electronically through their webpages, blogs and wikis, or through online newspaper stories, interviews and journal articles. While digital media are often used to write about Cartonera, the books themselves are art-objects steeped in the smells and smudges of tempera paint and rough scissor-cut edges. Some Cartonera books are now being preserved, most notably through the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Cartonera Publishers library collection and database, but the majority of the editions continue to circulate (as they are intended to do) and will disintegrate within ten years due to acid in the cardboard. As with other digitized databases and guides, the list below includes some of the presently known Cartoneras, a number that is constantly changing.
List of Cartoneras by Country
Argentina
Barcoborracho Ediciones
Cartonerita Solara
Cieneguita Cartonera
Eloísa Cartonera was founded in 2003 by a group of artists and writers. The founding cartonera in the movement, Eloísa, continues to be the leading publisher of Cartonera books with a catalog of over 100 editions. From their inception, Eloísa has been a collective working with cartoneros, artists and community members to make books and grow vegetables in Buenos Aires. Everyone who works for Eloísa is paid for their work and contributions in the book-making process. In 2012, Eloísa was awarded the Premio Principal Príncipe Claus which recognizes individuals or organizations that have positively influenced society through cultural action. La Sofia Cartonera Ñasaindy Cartonera Textos de Carton
Vera Cartonera
Bolivia
Madragora Cartonera was established by Aruzamen, a professor of Literature and Philosophy at the Universidad Católica de Cochabamba. Mandrágora Cartonera is a non-profit social and cultural project that fights against the dehumanization of neo-liberalism, though not from a Marxist or Socialist perspective. They publish Bolivian and Latin American literature with an emphasis on a principle of making literature available to all people. Yerba Mala Cartonera was founded in 2006 by Darío Luna, Crispín Portugal and Roberto Caceres. The Cartonera is named Yerba Mala, or weeds, to show their persistence in disseminating innovative and overlooked Bolivian literature while attempting to eliminate illiteracy in Bolivia. Nicotina Cartonera