Ricardo Cayuela is a writer, essayist, and founding editor of Letras Libres (“The New Yorker of Mexico”). In 2013 he was appointed Director General of Publications by the Mexican government. Today he is the president of Random House-Mondadori-Alfaguara and Editorial Director of Penguin Random House México. 

We met at the Blue Met Literary Festival in Montreal to talk about, among other things, Mexico’s efforts to promote reading and books; bookstores in Mexico City, fine press books; violence against journalists; his book The Mexico that Hurts, Octavio Paz, and Malcolm Lowry.