Jose O. Fernandez

A Publisher’s Revolution: Arte Público Press and the Making of Latinx Literature

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.