Houston, Texas (KTRK) – The oldest and largest Latin publisher in the nation is located in our backyard at the University of Houston.
They have published hundreds of books for all ages in both English and Spanish.
The publisher is preparing to celebrate more than 40 years. ABC13 anchor Mayra Moreno sat down with director of Arte Público Press as he reflected on the company’s four decades.
From humble beginnings in 1979, to now 30 books a year, Arte Público Press at the University of Houston continues to showcase literary leaders in Hispanic society.
“We are the biggest thing in Latin publishing that has been around for a long time,” said Nicholas Canelos, founder and director of Arte Público Press. “Going back when, in the civil rights movement, there were a lot of us (publishers) running around a lot of small presses. But most of them have disappeared over the years.”
However, Arte Público has remained strong and steadfast over the years. Canelas reflects on the early days when he began publishing as a small magazine, Revista Chicana-Riqueña. He says there were many creative voices in Spanish society that didn’t have an outlet.
“Back then, the US didn’t have as many Latinos as it does today. We were familiar with the large communities in our long history here in the US, but most institutions were really ignoring us,” he recalls.
Until then, the leaders of the Arte Público stood their ground. They were dreamers.
“We knew where the country was heading,” he said.
Kanellos said they understood that the Latino population would grow, and with that there would be a need to spread our stories and more.
“We have begun a program to recover all of our history, all of our historical texts, and hundreds of thousands of written documents created by Latinos in the United States, from the sixteenth century to the present,” he said. “So we were able to find, preserve and digitize hundreds of thousands of texts. And make them available in large databases that are now circulating among libraries and communities all over the world.”
Technology over the years has made this possible. It’s something they couldn’t have imagined in the early years of publishing. Kanellos humbly recalls how they began:
“We were manually filling the envelopes for magazines to take out. We were sorting. We sorted the mail ourselves. We were using actual cut and paste,” he said.
This year, the publication is not only celebrating over 40 years of books but also supporting many prominent Hispanic authors, launching new jobs, giving Hispanics a voice and platform and even making a difference in the lives of young Hispanic children through its imprint, Piñata Books, which has published books in English and Spanish for bilingual children.
“Our children need to see themselves in books. They need to see their families and real cultural situations,” he said.
As Kanellos and his publications look to the future, they will continue to give aspiring writers a chance and break down barriers wherever they can.
“Most of the books out there are not about Latinos,” he said. “You know, only about 5% of children’s books, let’s talk about children’s books … Only about 5% of children’s books are written by minority authors, or reflect minority authors, or reflect minority lives, and I’m talking about Asian Americans, American of African descent. I think 5%, that’s incredible. What a statistic. So we’re trying to change that.”
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