Weekly Chart: Latin America's Books by the Numbers

Does your summer reading list include a Latin American novel? From Gabriela Mistral to Gabriel García Márquez, Latin America has a rich literary history, celebrating six Nobel Prize winners in literature. But rather than pick up a book by one of the Latin literary greats, it's much more likely you’ve picked up a copy of The Alchemist, by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, which holds the title of the most translated book by a living author, at 80 languages. Per one author’s research, with 65 million copies sold, it’s the fifth highest-selling book in the world after the Bible, Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, and the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series. Though, if you’re a young Latin American in Argentina, Colombia, or Mexico, you’re probably reading La Chica del Tren, which topped the best-seller list in each country in 2016.

Here are some facts on everything from Latin America’s largest publishing markets to its most avid readers.