Fast Facts
Established in 1979, Arte Público Press is the oldest and largest Hispanic publisher in the United States. It is the principal provider of cultural materials on Latino life in the United States for general and educational audiences.
Through its publication, promotion and dissemination of 30 books each year, including its new Hispanic Civil Rights Series, Arte Público Press is committed to reforming the national culture to more accurately include, value and reflect Hispanic historical and contemporary contributions.
Books per Year
Piñata Books, Arte Público’s imprint for children’s and young adult literature, is the first imprint for children devoted to providing literary materials that authentically and realistically portray themes, characters and customs unique to U.S. Hispanic culture.
Arte Público Press conducts the largest program to recover all of the documents and books written by Hispanics from the sixteenth century to 1960: Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage.
The press has been a leader in developing an audience for U.S. Hispanic written culture, and continues its collaboration with teachers, librarians and administrators to include it in the curriculum.
The press actively partners with literacy organizations around the country, including Reach Out and Read, Reading is Fundamental, Prescription for Reading and Vuela con Libros.
Arte Público Press is the largest licensor of Hispanic literary materials to the U.S. textbook industry, with works by its authors included in hundreds of anthologies.
Arte Público Press books and authors are the recipients of hundreds of awards, including the Myers Human Rights Book Award, several Before Columbus Foundation American Book Awards, a PEN award, Southwest Book Awards and the Premio Aztlán.
Piñata Books are the recipients of numerous awards and citations, such as the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, the Skipping Stones Book Award and ForeWord Magazine’s Best Book of the Year Award. In addition, numerous Piñata Books have been named to national and regional recommended reading lists such as the American Library Association’s Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults list and the Quick Picks list for reluctant readers; the New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age; the Texas Library Association’s Lone Star Reading List and its Tayshas High School Reading List; and the Américas Commended List for Children and Young Adults.
Authors published by Arte Público Press include Obie-award-winning playwright and filmmaker Luis Valdez; playwright Miguel Piñero, winner of the New York Drama Critic’s Award for Best American Play; and best-selling authors Diane Gonzales Bertrand, Marcos McPeek Villatoro, Nicholasa Mohr, Pat Mora, Tomás Rivera and Victor Villaseñor.
Arte Público Press books have received critical praise in publications such as The New York Times Book Review, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Publishers Weekly and Library Journal. Its books and authors have been featured on national programs on National Public Radio, ABC’s Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt and NBC’s Today Show.
The not-for-profit press is the recipient of support from the nation’s leading foundations, corporations and agencies, including the Ford, Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest, Mellon, Mott and Rockefeller Foundations; the El Paso Corporation, Shell Oil Foundation, AT&T, the National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts and the Cultural Arts Council of Houston-Harris County.