Mapping the Spanish Literary Ecosystem in NYC: Community, Data, and Future

A gathering of Spanish-speaking readers, writers, and editors in New York

On March 26th at El Clemente (107 Suffolk St), a diverse group of Spanish literature enthusiasts came together for an unprecedented event: “Mapping the Spanish Literary Ecosystem in NYC: Data for the Book Industry in the AI Era.” This gathering, part of NYC Open Data Week 2025, marked the first time an event conducted entirely in Spanish was held within this framework dedicated to open data in the city.

The room, informally divided between those who arrived through community connections and those who learned about it through social media and data outreach, provided the perfect setting for the convergence of two worlds that rarely meet: the Spanish-speaking literary community and data technology.

An invisible but vibrant community

“Have you ever wondered why it’s so difficult to find certain Spanish books in NYC? Where are the other Spanish-speaking readers in the city? How could access to literature in our language improve?” These questions opened the conversation and resonated with everyone present.

The panel, moderated by Laura Rojas Aponte (journalist and audience creator), featured Viviana Castiblanco (editor at HarperCollins in Spanish), Sara Casanovas (communicator and co-founder of La Cova), and Ulises González (editor of Los Bárbaros magazine and publisher at El Chato Sin Manos). Each shared their perspectives and frustrations from different angles of the publishing world.

“Everyone who approaches this universe of Spanish books asks how much they sell. Nobody knows, there is no answer,” expressed Ulises González, pointing to one of the main frustrations: the lack of concrete data about the Spanish book market in New York.

The data paradox: We know the big numbers, but not the people

During the event, Juan Pablo Marín Díaz, data scientist and founder of Datasketch, presented some surprising findings:

• Approximately 2.5 million Hispanic/Latino people live in NYC, of which about 500,000 have limited English proficiency
• An estimated 65% read at least one book a year, with an average of 2-3 books annually
• Between 2020 and 2022, the Spanish book market grew by 43%, more than the English market
• The potential market in NYC alone could be around $15 million annually, a significant figure for an underserved niche

However, these general data contrast with the almost total lack of knowledge about specific preferences, purchasing habits, and detailed profiles of readers, which greatly hinders decision-making for authors, publishers, and booksellers.

“When I came to try to make Spanish books in the United States, I faced this wall of ‘I don’t know who my readers are’ because I didn’t know the culture, I didn’t grow up here. Obviously in Latin America, we’re very exposed to American culture, but Latino culture in the United States is very different, and I feel I’m still learning and discovering every day,” shared Viviana Castiblanco, reflecting a common reality for many publishing professionals.

“As an author, the question was always in my head: who is the reader? That’s the big question mark,” commented Sara Casanovas, reflecting how this lack of information affects even creative decisions.

Civic technology as a bridge between communities

One of the central proposals of the event was to demonstrate how technological tools can help articulate and make visible this dispersed community. Examples of data visualization instruments, information query chatbots, interactive mappings, and other solutions that could be specifically applied to the literary context were presented.

“We want to reduce access barriers so that this information reaches more democratic spaces like the cultural sector, where digital transformations tend to arrive late,” explained Juan Pablo Marín.

During the session, a community survey was launched to begin collecting more granular and specific information about Spanish-speaking readers in NYC. The preliminary results, visualized in real-time, already showed interesting patterns about preferred genres, reading frequency, and purchasing channels.

Particularly innovative was the “opinion map,” a tool that uses artificial intelligence to analyze open survey responses and group users with similar interests, potentially facilitating the creation of book clubs and personalized recommendations.

Building community: beyond the data

If anything became clear during the event, it’s that the Spanish-speaking literary community in NYC needs meeting spaces, both physical and virtual. “What brings people together, what I believe moves and grows the market or the community—I love the term community more—is events,” affirmed Ulises González.

Several participants shared existing initiatives, such as reading clubs in Queens, events at the Whitney Museum, and independent publishing projects. A collective discovery was the fragmentation of these efforts: many people carrying out similar activities without knowing each other.

Among the proposals to strengthen the community, several ideas emerged:

• Create a collaborative list of bookstores with good Spanish collections
• Document the historical presence of Spanish-speaking authors in NYC
• Establish a shared calendar of literary events in Spanish
• Form alliances with public libraries to promote Spanish literature
• Take advantage of New York in Spanish being designated as the guest of honor at the upcoming Madrid Book Fair

“When there’s a community and they know there’s an audience, the audience are consumers or potential consumers, which creates space for greater visibility,” noted Sara Casanovas, pointing to how making this community visible can generate a virtuous circle.

An invitation to participate

This event was just the first step in what we hope will be a sustained effort to map, connect, and strengthen the Spanish literary ecosystem in New York. We invite you to join this initiative in several ways:

1. Complete the community survey Help us better understand who the Spanish readers in NYC are by completing our survey. Each response brings us closer to understanding the needs and preferences of this community.
2. Join the WhatsApp group A group has been created to stay connected, share events and resources, and continue building together. You can request access by writing to hi@datasketch.co with the subject “NYC Literaria Group.”
3. Share information about events and spaces Do you know bookstores with good Spanish collections? Do you organize or participate in Spanish literary events? Share this information to enrich our collective mapping.
4. Participate in upcoming events We will be organizing more gatherings to continue strengthening this community. Follow our social media @datasketch.lab to stay informed.

A future of collaboration

What began as an experiment bringing together technology and literature has revealed enormous potential. New York’s Spanish-speaking community is diverse, numerous, and passionate about literature, but it has remained fragmented and invisible to many.

As one participant noted: “The issue isn’t supply; the people are there. On one hand, there are exceptional authors, and on the other, of course, there are people who want to read them. The issue is what happens in the middle. How these authors communicate, the work of publishers, marketing, dissemination, distribution.”

By combining community passion with accessible technological tools, we can begin to weave the necessary bridges to strengthen this literary ecosystem. Data, in this context, is not cold numbers but the map that helps us find each other.

We invite you to be part of this story that is just beginning to be written in the streets, bookstores, and screens of New York. Because, as panel moderator Laura Rojas Aponte said: “There is a thirst to talk about a book… to meet, and chat about how stimulating it is.” And that, perhaps, is the most important thing of all.

This blog post is part of a series of initiatives to map and strengthen the Spanish literary ecosystem in NYC. For more information, contact hi@datasketch.co or follow @datasketch.lab on Instagram.