Creciendo Juntas: Narrativas de Empoderamiento de las Mujeres is an anthology of stories by women sharing their struggles, losses, revelations, and how they have rebuilt their world after significant challenges and changes in their lives. What was the process you used to collect the stories for this collection, and how did you decide which ones to include?

We came into this anthology with a spirit of openness. We were looking for diversity and honesty—to portray women in the rawness of their lives, with no intention other than to state that they are here and that their lives are valuable and rich. In that sense, we allowed the manuscripts we received to shape what the anthology would become. We did not want to preassign any boundaries that might prevent writers from crafting their work from the truth of their own experiences.

In most of the anthologies we’ve produced over our twenty years as publishers, there are specific criteria that must be met for a story to be included. This project was different. Here, it was the writers who shaped the anthology, not us. We deliberately gave up control and entrusted it to those who have lived the experience of being a woman in Latin America, as it should be. The guiding questions were simple: Are you a woman? Are you a writer? Do you understand that literature carries an ethical responsibility not to harm the reader? If so, you were in.

Have you received any feedback from readers that surprised or moved you?

Not directly, but the authors themselves have surprised us with the passion and commitment with which they have embraced, endorsed, and promoted the anthology. I think this speaks volumes about what the project has meant to them and, in turn, to their readers. It has been deeply moving to see how this book has differed from our other publications—it feels like a must-read for everyone.

The promotion of the anthology has not been directed toward a single type of reader, as is often the case with most books. Instead, it has reached across audiences, reinforcing the sense that this is an important work—one readers recognize as necessary. Seeing that response has been incredibly rewarding.

Will you be compiling a second collection of inspirational and motivational stories sharing the enduring spirit of women?

If the context allows for it, and if it once again feels like a necessity—as it did this time, when the first woman president in Mexico was about to assume office, and it felt essential for women to speak about the experience of being women—then it would be both lovely and exciting to do so.

At the same time, we are also interested in pursuing other projects. Women are always present in our work—talented women, talented writers—and that talent extends far beyond inspiration or motivation expressed only through stories explicitly about womanhood. The enduring spirit of women, like any enduring human spirit, is also revealed through creation, through writing, whether fiction or nonfiction, whether the work is about womanhood or about any other aspect of the vast human experience.

So in that sense, yes—we are planning to compile many collections that share the enduring spirit of women. They may not always be explicitly about the experience of being a woman, but they will be a testament to it nonetheless.

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