By Edward Nawotka

In the latest issue of Granta (just published and available for purchase) novelist and journalist Daniel Alarcón looks at the phenomenon of book piracy in Peru and finds it thriving. While that revelation in and of itself might not be much of a surprise, the extent to which it exists is: “…Peru’s problem is both unique and profound,” he writes as part of a lengthy expose. “According to the International Intellectual Property Alliance, the local publishing industry loses more money to piracy than any other South American country, with the exception of Brazil — whose economy is more than eight times the size of Peru’s. A 2005 report commissioned by the Cámara Peruana del Libro (CPL), a national consortium of publishing houses, distributors and booksellers, came to even more alarming conclusions: pirates were employing more people than formal publishers and booksellers, and their combined economic impact was estimated to be 52 million US dollars — or roughly equivalent to one hundred per cent of the legal industry’s total earnings.”

READ: The article.

VIEW: A slideshow of photos of piracy in Peru taken by Claudia Alva.