In 1939, a group of Argentine intellectuals that included Victoria Ocampo and Oliverio Girondo founded Editorial Sudamericana. Their objectives: to consolidate a space for South American literature while simultaneously translating and distributing contemporary literature from outside. To finalize the project they sought out an experienced editor, Antonio López Llausás, a Spanish expatriate who moved to Buenos Aires during the Spanish Civil War. López Llausás rapidly became Sudamericana’s principal shareholder and, years later, his children and grandchildren would assume the responsability of running the company. Today, Sudamericana has offices in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay and, since 2001, it forms part of Random House Mondadori. Its titles are distributed in all of the editorial group’s territories.

Throughout Sudamericana’s publishing history, one can find some of the most important names in Argentine literature —Julio Cortázar, Ernesto Sábato, Manuel Puig—, as well as renowned 20th century writers like Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, William Faulkner and Albert Camus. Cien años de soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude), an emblematic novel in the Latin American Boom and in all contemporary Spanish-language literature, was published by Sudamericana in 1967, after it was rejected by houses in Spain. Sudamericana also introduced the self-help book to Argentina and the rest of Latin America and created Piragua, one of the first pocket book collections.

Sudamericana’s ongoing collections include: "Ensayo" ("Essay"), a nonfiction and essay line that includes titles on history, sociology, economics, politics and philosophy; "Narrativa Histórica" ("Historical Fiction"), featuring important names such as García Hamilton; the popular "Investigación Periodística," a collection on investigative journalism with authors like Andrés Oppenheimer; and "Pan Flauta" and "Sudamericana Joven," prestigious collections for children and young adults.