Planeta buys 'Tintin'

BarcelonaMore significant moves towards corporate concentration in the publishing world. Grupo Planeta has announced the incorporation of the historic Barcelona-based publisher Joventut, a benchmark in comics and children's and young adult literature since 1923, which has in its catalog classics such as The Adventures of Tintin, The Famous Five and Pippi Longstocking. As Captain Haddock would say: "Thundering typhoons!"

"This strategic alliance opens a new stage for the Barcelona-based publisher, with the aim of preserving and enhancing its extraordinary literary legacy and expanding the reach of its catalog," they announced in a statement. The operation reinforces Planeta's commitment to a growing sector such as children's and young adult literature, and at the same time guarantees Joventut the expansion of its scope of action, because the group led by Josep Creuheras will reinforce its distribution, commercialization, and visibility, including in Latin America. It is also a commitment to "the formation of new readers," they affirm.

For Planeta, Joventut is "a publisher that has played an important role in the discovery of reading, with works that are part of the collective memory and that keep the ability to excite intact," affirms Jesús Badenes, general director of the publishing division of Grupo Planeta, in a statement. Regarding the editorial continuity of Joventut, he ensures that, in the house, "each imprint brings its own perspective and a unique way of connecting with readers." The general director of Joventut, Luis Zendrera, has celebrated that the union can guarantee the "continuity" of a publisher founded by his grandfather 103 years ago. "We had two exceptional editors: first my grandfather, Josep Zendrera, and then his daughter, Concepció Zendrera. Thanks to her, we have in our catalog collections such as The Adventures of Tintin, by Hergé; The Famous Five, by Enid Blyton; Mary Poppins, by P.L. Travers, and so many other books that have forged generations of readers," he stated. The editor-in-chief today is Elodie Bourgeois. In addition to the literary classics, Joventut has incorporated new successes, such as the children's series Narval.

A key publisher for Catalan

When it was born in 1923, Joventut was called Juventud, but it immediately opted for Catalan through the Mentora imprint. One of the first authors who could be read there was Jules Verne, thanks to translations of Around the World in Eighty Days and The Mysterious Island, both from 1927. At that time, authors such as Josep Carner, Josep Maria Folch i Torres, and Carles Soldevila could also be read there, with stories and versions of classics. From 1931 to 1936, the fables and tales that the Brothers Grimm adapted were published in Tales of Yesterday and Today. The Adventures of Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi, was published in Catalan in 1934. After the war, however, Joventut had to stop Catalan production for a few years. The pioneer Conxita Zendrera, at the head of the children's and youth division of the publishing house between 1941 and 1992, was the one who brought Tintin to the State. She translated it herself into Spanish, and it arrived in Catalan in 1964 signed by Joaquim Ventalló, with The Castafiore Emerald. Five on a Treasure Island inaugurated, in 1964, the series of books of The Famous Five, by Enid Blyton. At that time, the revolutionary Pippi Longstocking (1962) also arrived. In 2023, on the occasion of its centenary, Joventut received the Gold Medal for Cultural Merit from the Barcelona City Council.