Colombian publisher Oveja Negra Editores has signed over exclusive U.S. distribution rights to Random House Spanish (RHS). The RHS July–December catalog will include eight Oveja Negra titles, including two children’s books. “The titles chosen represent some of the best options for readers of Spanish-language books [in the United States] and range from popular novels to poetry to children’s titles,” Erik Riesenberg, RHS business development manager, told Críticas.

Reisenberg sealed the deal in April during his visit to the Feria Internacional del Libro (FIL) Bogotá (Bogota International Book Fair). “We are very excited about our partnership,” said Reisenberg, who is also negotiating exclusive U.S. distribution deals with several other Colombian publishers. “We’re...starting to look at what titles would be good for our market.”

With almost 60 years in business, Oveja Negra publishes nearly 30 new titles a year. The Colombian house is known for publishing the early works of Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez and, more recently, for Gustavo Bolivar’s Sin tetas no hay paraíso (“Without Tits, There Is No Paradise”), the best-selling book that inspired one of the most popular—and controversial—telenovelas in recent years. The Latin American soap opera of the same name, about a young woman determined to get breast implants in order to break out of poverty, is scheduled to hit the United States and Mexico later this year. RHS will work with the undisclosed U.S. Spanish-language television network to cross-promote the book and the series.

RHS will distribute select Oveja Negra titles in the United States. RHS handles marketing and sales for all Spanish-language titles published by the various Random House USA imprints—led by Knopf, Doubleday, and Ballantine—and imports and distributes titles from Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, and Argentina.