Our Story
It’s a mad tea party with 2 crazy sisters and an 11 a 10-pound furry muse! Their mission: to share poetry+prose with purpose and panache. The idea for a small press felt inevitable having grown up surrounded by their grandfather’s books in Manila. Fast forward to 2008, Aileen wrote a poem titled “La Paloma” while she was living on Paloma Avenue in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sophie calligraphed and illustrated 20 copies of the poem, created covers, handbound and released them under the book arts project “La Paloma.” Seven years later, the sisters discovered upcycling, reacquired their love for creating handmade books, and learned the craft of book formatting. They christened their new project “Paloma Press” and after a year of crying over how to properly format those bloody gutters, it’s now full speed ahead!
Mercenaries Staff
AILEEN CASSINETTO
Book Peddler & Chief of Papery Things
To support her love of books, Aileen works during the day at a diplomatic mission in San Francisco because nothing says ‘living the dream’ like translating Machiavelli into bureaucratese!
C. SOPHIA IBARDALOZA
Page Whisperer & Font of All Delays
There is no poem too short, no tale too long she cannot tackle. Unstoppable. That is, as long as her ink and lipstick never run dry. Truly fearless.
THE REAL WESLEY ST. JO
Page Turner & Barker-in-Chief
“I bark at hundreds of potential threats to Paloma Press everyday. Do you think that gets me my own email address, or even a single greenie? NOPE! Thanks, Boss!”
