It’s been a whirlwind of a year for Paloma Press. Our very first book, BLUE by Wesley St Jo and Reme Grefalda, was released in March and officially launched at The Library of Congress in September. MANHATTAN: An Archaeology by Eileen R. Tabios, debuted at the 4th Annual Filipino American International Book Festival in October. Two of our chapbooks were fundraising projects: MARAWI, in support of the Marawi armed conflict evacuees in the Southern Philippines, and AFTER HARVEY AFTER IRMA, for hurricane-displaced animals in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.
We culminated this year’s activities by curating “Three Sheets to the Wind,” a literary performance, as part of the 2017 Litquake Festival in San Francisco. Plus, we got our books into the mighty and independently-owned Arkipelago Books in San Francisco! (if you’re an author or publisher, you’ll know it’s almost impossible to get your books into a physical bookstore). We also have copies of our books at Stanford Library, SF Public Library, The Poet’s House, Endicott College, Woodland Pattern Book Center, Asian American Studies Center, University at Buffalo, and the AAPI Collection at the Library of Congress.
Our point in all this is–none of this would have been possible without the help of the Filipino American community and the wider network of writers, artists, reviewers and booksellers, from the Bay Area, DC, Philly, Southern Cali, Luxembourg, New Zealand and the Philippines. To Eileen Tabios, Reme Grefalda, Edwin Lozada, Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, Veronica Montes, Albert Alejo, Ivy Alvarez, Mary Kasimor, Agnes Marton, Lisa Suguitan Melnick, James Warner, Steve Warner, Melinda Luisa de Jesus, John Moore Williams, Sarah Martin, Anne Gorrick, Krip Yuson, Jenny Ortuoste, Zvi Sesling, Grady Harp, Carlene Sobrino Bonnivier, T. C. Marshall, Joey Madia, Brianne Alphonso, Lily Prijoles, & everyone who bought our books, maraming, maraming salamat po. It really takes a village to launch a book.
PALOMA PRESS 