Santillana celebrates its 50th anniversary with the publication of an illustrated edition of José Saramago's The Elephant's Journey

Wednesday, December 22, marked the 50th anniversary of Santillana, the publishing house founded in 1960 by Jesus de Polanco and which, since then, has been inextricably linked to education and culture in Spanish worldwide. Based in 22 countries and with more than 117 million books sold each year, Santillana publishing group is a world leader in education and general publishing, with a significant presence throughout Ibero-America.

To mark the anniversary, Santillana is to release a special, illustrated edition of The Elephant's Journey by Nobel Laureate José Saramago, under the Alfaguara label. This edition, available in bookstores in January, is designed by Manuel Estrada. The Elephant's Journey is regarded as one of the most beautiful works by the Portuguese author. It explores the human condition through Solomon, an Indian elephant who sets out on an incredible journey from sixteenth-century Lisbon to Vienna.

A 50-year history

Santillana began its own journey with the publication of manuals, alphabet primers and vocational training texts, as well as children's books. Half a century later it is a large publishing group that brings together the leading companies in education and culture in Spanish and Portuguese throughout Ibero-America. Santillana publishes books for all stages of non-university education in Spanish, Portuguese and English and, in those Spanish regions with their own language, in those languages as well. The group's present and future goals are, firstly, to improve the quality of education in the countries where it operates and, secondly, to continue adopting new technologies to deliver the highest quality editorial products.

Starting in the mid-1970s, Santillana expanded its operations by moving into general publishing, and its catalog soon boasted literary works for all ages, as well as non-fiction and reference books. The group's development reached a significant milestone with the incorporation of three of the most prestigious publishers in Spain: Taurus, Alfaguara, and Aguilar. Fiction publishers Alfaguara boasts a catalog of several Nobel Laureates (José Saramago, Günter Grass and the this year's winner Mario Vargas Llosa), and acclaimed national and international authors including Carlos Fuentes, Javier Marías, Manuel Rivas, Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Rosa Montero, Fernando Vallejo, Laura Restrepo, Agustín F. Mallo, Manuel Vicent, Joyce Carol Oates, John Banville, Gay Talese, W. Faulkner, Paul Bowles and Marguerite Yourcenar. Alfaguara also sponsors one the most prestigious literary awards in the Spanish language, the Premio Alfaguara de Novela, which next year will be presided over by Bernardo Atxaga.

Taurus specializes in works of non-fiction by classic authors such as Max Weber, E. M. Cioran, Theodor W. Adorno, Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, Vladimir Nabokov, Pierre Bourdieu and Norberto Bobbio, and works by current writers and thinkers including Fernando Savater, Joseph Stiglitz, G. Sartori, Tzvetan Todorov, Emilio Lledó, Santos Juliá, Juan Pablo Fusi, Michael Burleigh, Fernando Reinares, Tony Judt, Jon Juaristi, Matt Ridley, Amartya Sen, André Glucksmann, Anthony Giddens, Álex Grijelmo, Daniel J. Goldhagen and Javier Tusell. Taurus also publishes the winner of the Isabel Polanco International Essay Prize, created by the Fundación Santillana in collaboration with the Guadalajara International Book Fair.

Aguilar has established itself as one of the leading non-fiction publishers in Spanish. Until the 1980s, Aguilar was a major publisher of the classics of Spanish literature, with special editions and complete works of authors from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Alfaguara Infantil-Juvenil and Altea are responsible for publishing in the area of fiction aimed at children and teenagers. Together they strive to sign up all those authors and works that have achieved national and international success and some of the most prestigious awards from the Andersen Award to National Literature Award and the Premio Lazarillo. The catalog includes Roald Dahl, Michael Ende, Goscinny-Sempé, William Faulkner, Elvira Lindo, Ana Mª Machado, Maurice Sendak,  Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Mario Vargas Llosa, Javier Marías, Jordi Sierra i Fabra, Stephanie Meyer, Tonya Hurley, not to mention unforgettable characters such as Little Nicholas, The Little Vampire, Mathilda, Just William, Judy Moody and Manolito Gafotas.

The group later welcomed El País-Aguilar, one of the most prestigious publishers in the field of travel and food guides, and Punto de Lectura (2000) and Suma (2004), in the area of popular literature.

The group has also launched a number of initiatives such as Richmond Publishing in the English-language and bilingual education sector. Grupo Santillana's RAE-Publicaciones Académicas publishes works by the Royal Spanish Academy and the Association of Spanish Language Academies as well as works by some of the academic members. These include the Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, the Diccionario del español actual, the Diccionario de americanismos, anthologies of Neruda and Gabriela Mistral, as well as editions of Don Quijote de la Mancha, and La región más transparente.

International expansion

Although the group's roots are in Spain, Santillana's early expansion into Latin America means that the group today enjoys a strong presence, through its own companies, in almost all Spanish-speaking countries, plus Portugal, the United Kingdom, Brazil and the United States.

The Group's presence in Brazil was consolidated with the purchase ten years ago of Moderna publishing group, which was founded in 1968 and specializes in textbooks and education services. Santillana also acquired the publisher Salamandra, dedicated to children's literature. Also in the area of education, Santillana owns 75% of the Brazilian company Editora Objetiva, a leading general publishers, renowned for the quality and breadth of its catalog. In addition to its catalog of fiction, essays and children's literature, Objetiva also publishes the Dicionário Houaiss, the largest and most comprehensive dictionary of the Portuguese language.

Santillana is the most important publishers of educational textbooks and general titles in Spanish and Portuguese. With a presence in 22 countries and a clear understanding of  local markets, the Group has five decades of experience that has enabled it to position itself as leader in all publishing sectors. With 117 million books sold, 617 million euros in revenues, EBIT of 90 million and a net profit of 49 million euros in 2009, Santillana has performed extremely well in an adverse economic environment and continues its strategy of growth and expansion in Brazil, USA and Mexico, as well as initiatives aimed at integrated education. In order to further develop its operations in Latin America, in April, Santillana partnered with DLJ South American Partners, who now have a 25% stake in the Group.

Santillana has a staff of 4,337 people from 24 nationalities, of whom 22% are highly specialized in the development of educational and cultural content.

Since March 2000, Santillana has been part of PRISA, the world's leading media group in the cultural, educational, information and entertainment markets in Spanish and Portuguese. With the incorporation of Santillana, PRISA is present in 22 countries, reaching over 50 million users, through its global brands. PRISA is brand leader in mainstream press, free-to-view TV and pay TV, spoken-word radio and music radio, education, and publishing, and is one of the most profitable media groups in the world, with an extraordinary range of assets.