From its beginnings on the artistic fringe during the Hispanic Civil Rights Movement to its current status as the oldest and most accomplished publisher of contemporary and recovered literature by U.S. Hispanic authors, Arte Público Press and its imprint, Piñata Books, have become a showcase for Hispanic literary creativity, arts and culture.

  "In the early 1970's, it became obvious that Hispanic writers were not being published by the mainstream presses," says Nicolás Kanellos, Ph.D., director of Arte Público Press and a professor of Hispanic literature at the University of Houston. "Because there was no outlet for creative efforts of these Latino writers, their work was condemned to be forgotten, lost or just delivered orally through performance."

  To address this need, Kanellos founded the Revista Chicana-Riqueña in Gary, Indiana in 1972. This quarterly magazine for Latino literature, art and thought, eventually evolved into The Americas Review, which won praise and recognition from The New York Times, Small Press Review and numerous other publications nationwide. It was the recipient of the 1986 and 1987 Citations of Achievement from the Coordinating Council of Literary Magazines. After 25 years of launching the careers of numerous Latino authors, The Americas Review published its final issue, Volume 25, Numbers 1-4, in 1999.

  Building on the literary magazine's success, Kanellos founded Arte Público Press in 1979 to further the endeavor of providing a national forum for Hispanic literature. The following year, Kanellos was offered a position at the University of Houston, and he was invited to bring the press with him.

  As part of the ongoing efforts to bring Hispanic literature to mainstream audiences, Arte Público Press launched the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage project in 1992. The 10-year Recovery project represents the first nationally coordinated attempt to recover, index and publish lost Latino writings that date from the American colonial period through 1960. With seven titles already published, five more are due out within the next year.

  The notion of an imprint dedicated to the publication of literature for children and young adults was planted by an urgent public demand for books that accurately portray U.S. Hispanic culture. In 1994, a grant from the Mellon Foundation allowed Arte Público Press to transform the dream into a reality. With its bilingual books for children and its entertaining novels for young adults, Piñata Books has made giant strides during the past year toward filling the void in the literary market created by an increased awareness of diverse cultures.

  Aggressive marketing efforts have garnered increasing commercial success for the Press and its authors, including: Obie-award-winning playwright and filmmaker Luis Váldez, playwright Miguel Piñero and best-selling authors Victor Villaseñor and Nicholasa Mohr.

  In the past five years, Arte Público Press has experienced a surge of growth. Sales have increased by nearly 200 percent and the Press has spilled out of its offices in the basement of the university library into two additional buildings on campus. Two-thirds of its staff is new and new positions continue to be created.

  With thirty titles published each year, Arte Púbilco Press is David to New York publishing industry Goliaths. However, because of its cultural sensitivity to its writers and the experiences they write about, along with a vision for the role of Hispanic literature in the United States, the Press has demonstrated that size (or lack of it) is not proportionately related to success in the commercial book market.