LAII Greenleaf Scholar Presentation: A Publisher’s Revolution: Arte Público and the Making of Latinx Literature
D. José O. Fernández
Wednesday, November 12, 2025 | 03:00 pm
Zoom
About:
This project chronicles the emergence of Arte Público Press, the most successful Latinx press over the past five decades, highlighting its different periods of growth as a nonprofit press, along with some of its key authors and contributions that have shaped the field of Latinx literary studies. In his role as founder and editor of Arte Público, Nicolás Kanellos contributed to the publication of now-canonical authors such as Tomás Rivera, Rolando Hinojosa, Tato Laviera, Sandra Cisneros, and Helena María Viramontes. In addition, Arte Público published and supported nuevomexicano authors such as Rudolfo Anaya, Denise Chávez, and Cecilio García-Camarillo, whose papers are archived at the Center for Southwest Research at the University of New Mexico. Ultimately, this project seeks to highlight the multiplicity of Latinx artistic and literary production in the U.S. over the past decades.
José O. Fernández is an Associate Professor in the Latina/o/x Studies Program and the American Studies Department at the University of Iowa. He is the author of Against Marginalization: Convergences in Black and Latinx Literatures (Ohio State University Press, 2022), and Publishing Latinidad: Latinx Literary and Intellectual Production 1880-1960 (University of Arizona Press, 2025). Professor’s Fernandez current book project, tentatively titled A Publisher’s Revolution: Arte Público Press and the Making of Latinx Literature, focuses on the history of Arte Público Press and its founder, Nicolás Kanellos.
Join via Zoom here.
Notes:
This event is free and open to the public.
