Ediciones de la Flor publishing house closes after 60 years

The historic Ediciones de la Flor publishing house, which for over half a century published the Mafalda comic strip starring an irreverent kid worried by world crises, has closed down after 60 years of existence.

"The news is exactly right and the reasons are multiple," the company’s director Kuki Miller confirmed to AFP news agency.

The end was signalled via a brief text placed in the Ediciones de la Flor stand at the 50th International Book Fair running from April 23 to May 11, with no announcement made on social media.

"This is our last fair and our last year of activity," read the statement, which noted changes in the publishing industry, technology and the domestic economy.

The blow from which the independent publishers could not recover was the loss of Mafalda, its crown jewell. 

The company lost the rights last year after the heirs of the comic strip’s creator, humorous cartoonist Joaquín Lavado – otherwise known as "Quino” – decided to move all the artist’s work to the multinational Penguin Random House, seeking wider regional distribution.

"Our most important authors have belonged to our family but their heirs chose other paths," said the statement.

The publishing house was founded in 1966 by Daniel Divinsky, together with his partner Oscar Finkelberg and editor Jorge Álvarez. Its first published title was an anthology featuring stories by Julio Cortázar, Rodolfo Walsh and David Viñas.

Divinsky – who was detained for four months in 1977 by the military dictatorship for publishing an alleged “subversive” German children’s book – passed away last year, dealing another fatal blow to the publisher.

Kuki Miller was Divinsky’s long-term romantic and business partner. They separated in 2009 but continued to work together until 2015, when Divinsky stepped down.

Ediciones de la Flor began publishing the Mafalda comic strip in 1970 and for 55 years compiled versions of various lengths and subject matters, with the brand becoming the firm’s biggest and “longest” seller.

The publishers also carried Quino’s other work, as well as cartoon strips by Caloi, Liniers and Maitena and narrative texts by writers including Rodolfo Walsh and Roberto Fontanarrosa.

It was also the first home in Argentina of Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose, among other titles, which – like Mafalda – transformed the publishing house. 

Mafalda was originally published between 1964 and 1973 but remains in print. An animated series will start on the Netflix streaming channel next year, directed and produced by Argentina’s Oscar-winning filmmaker Juan José Campanella.

– TIMES/AFP/PERFIL