The story
Founded by Nicolás Kanellos in 1979.1
Arte Público was founded in 1979 by its former director, Nicolás Kanellos, who taught Hispanic literature at Indiana University Northwest during the Chicano Movement. Already having established himself as co-founder and editor of Revista Chicana-Riqueña since 1973, he was motivated by communal concern regarding publishing accessibility. In 1980, he accepted a position at the University of Houston, which integrated Arte Público.
In 1990, Arte Público launched the "Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage" project in order to recover, index and publish lost Latino writings dating from the American colonial period to 1960. By 1991, the press published approximately 25 books annually, with about 40% of their material being used as textbooks. In 1994, they created Piñata Books, their children's and young adult literature imprint. By 1997, it published 20 books.
Arte Público Press was honored with the 2018 Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award given by the National Book Critics Circle Award for their work in publishing Latino authors.
In August 2025, Gabriela Baeza was appointed Director of Arte Público Press, succeeding founder Nicolás Kanellos. She has been affiliated with Arte Público Press for several decades, contributing to its mission of promoting Latino and Hispanic literature in the United States.
The press is a member of the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP).
From Wikipedia’s article on Arte Público Press, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3