In March 2015 my monograph on the contemporary Mexican multimedia writer Ana Clavel was published. Writing The Art of Ana Clavel: Ghosts, Urinals, Dolls, Shadows and Outlaw Desires (Oxford, GB, Legenda (Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures, 6) has been a particularly pleasurable experience given that I have had the privilege of having a very close working relationship with Clavel who has been extremely helpful in providing me with, for example, useful material, wonderful feedback on my manuscript and even creating an image for the book cover of the monograph. But what has been rather exceptional is the media visibility Clavel has given my book, which is quite rare for academic books to receive. For the past two or three years, each time Clavel has been interviewed in Latin American newspapers or TV or writes journalistic pieces, mention of my book has been made (e.g. El Universal, La Estrella de Panamá, Tropo). She regularly updates her Twitter and Facebook entries with news about my book and even the main page of her official website includes an image and references to my book.

Clavel has also been and will be displaying my book alongside her fiction in a number of book fairs including the London Book Fair, the Panama Book Fair, the Los Angeles Book fair and Guadalajara Book Fair.

Only this month I was invited to give a Skype interview about my book by Mexico’s leading cultural channel Canal 22 México (12 June 2015) which reaches millions of viewers and readers both in Mexico and the USA. The British Council, the Mexican Embassy in partnership with the Guardian invited Clavel and I to give a talk about her work and my monograph in the context of the rather provocative question: ‘Multimedia: a Threat to Written Culture?’ (London, 19 June 2015).

Finally, Clavel and I are currently negotiating the translation of the book into Spanish with various publishers of international repute (Penguin Random House Mexico, Conaculta and UNAM).

Relevant links:

‘Multimedia: A Threat to Written Culture?’:

https://membership.theguardian.com/event/multimedia-a-threat-to-written-culture-17341443725

http://www.domingoeluniversal.mx/columnas/detalle/Prohibido+pasar-3732

http://www.legendabooks.com/news/2015/04/25/breaking-news-in-panama/

http://www.legendabooks.com/news/2015/05/12/ah-la-magia-digital/

– Jane Lavery