My publisher and friend, Consuelo Rivera-Fuentes, who has died aged 72, was a poet, singer, feminist, academic, animal lover and political activist, who had a fierce passion for life and a strong sense of justice.
In 2016, at the age of 65, Consuelo retired from the Open University, where she had lectured in social sciences and Spanish since 1994, to delve into the world of publishing. She went back to university to study for a fourth degree – having already completed a PGCE – in English – at Concepción University, Chile, a master’s in sociology and women’s studies at Lancaster University in the UK and a PhD in women’s studies, also at Lancaster, she finally took a master’s in publishing at the University of Derby.
This later led Consuelo to found Victorina Press in the summer of 2017. It has published about 50 titles to date, many of which have won or been shortlisted for prizes.
Born in Santiago de Chile, the eldest daughter of Jorge Rivera, an air force pilot, and Mercedes Fuentes, a housewife, Consuelo attended the Lorenzo Arenas school in Concepción, leaving with the highest grades in her year. She spent her adolescence in Cañete in southern Chile, which she loved because of the lakes, mountains and volcanoes, which from time to time erupted, in her words, “into a thousand million tongues of fire”.
Consuelo qualified as an English teacher at Concepción University, and had two sons, Christian and Jorge, with her husband, Pedro Vasquez. The couple divorced, and Consuelo came to England in 1992 with Jorge to start a new life, having survived imprisonment and torture during the Pinochet regime.
The difficulties she faced strengthened her resolve to publish books that were diverse in style and genre and accessible to all. The ethos of “bibliodiversity” steered Victorina Press, ensuring a wide range of voices are published and heard, including those of immigrants and former political prisoners.
Consuelo lived near Uttoxeter with her life partner, Lynda Birke, whom she met in 1998 at Lancaster University. They had been told about each other by a mutual friend in Chile, and finally met when Lynda gave a lecture on women’s studies. She stepped down as CEO of Victorina in 2023 due to ill health, and the press is now run by her son Jorge and his partner Sophie.
She is survived by Lynda, her sons, Jorge and Christian, four grandchildren and five siblings: Rosa, Nancy, Juan-Carlos, Jorge and Rodrigo.
