March Abrazo Press

March Abrazo Press, an independent small press publisher, has promoted literature by and about Latinos and Native Americans for more than 25 years.

In the spirit of Earth Day 2009, and through 2010, students, teachers, activists and educators qualify to receive a free copy of Earth Elegance, poetry about animals and the environment, by Cynthia Gallaher, with scratchboard drawings by Lonnie Poco, a Comanche native. Send a check or money order for $3.00 to cover shipping and handling to March Abrazo Press, P.O. Box 2890, Chicago, IL 60690. Also tell us who you are and why you’re interested, and expect shipment within four weeks.  

If you attend the upcoming free event, PoetryFest on Sat. April 25 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Chicago’s Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State Street, put your name down for a copy of Earth Elegance — and meet other March Abrazo Press authors.

Our relatives spoke many languages on this vast continent before the English, French, Spanish, or others from across the waters came to settle in Turtle Island/Itzachilatlan the past 500 years. The message the speaker shares with us certainly applies to the Xicano and all Native poets and writers.

Xicanos growing up in pre-offical bilingual USA also experienced similar treatment depicted in this moving testimony. MARCH Abrazo Press encourages bilingual poets and writers to continue developing a body of written and performed work our future survival requires.

News is forthcoming soon.

New Release from March Abrazo

Raúl Niño’s exquisite chapbook Book Of Mornings is being published. Niño has taken time to meditate over and perfect these gems, and has also designed the portada cover. (Image will appear in a few weeks). If you can’t make his readings where the chapbook will be available, send a money order for $12.00 to March Abrazo Press, Post Office Box 2890, Chicago, Illinois 60690. Niño will autograph and dedicate your chapbook, if the buyer includes instructions. Niño’s first poetry collection Breathing Light was published by March Abrazo in 1991, ISBN 1-877636-10-X. Copies are extremely rare, also available by mail order for $20.

Troublemaker: Peleonera Poems by Maria A. Beltran-Vocal. Cover and art by Rene Hugo Arceo. $10.95. Beltran-Vocal is a professor at De Paul University’s Department of Modern Languages in Chicago. “Beltran-Vocal’s poems (in English and Spanish) are the body memories of a long-term fighter.” — Horacio N. Roque-Ramirez, PhD, University of California, Santa Barbara. To order, contact Small Press Distribution.

Brenda Cardenas’ Chapbook — From the Tongues of Brick and Stones was published by Momotombo Press, Institute for Latino Studies, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind. March member Cardenas just gave a reading at smokefree, poetry friendly Myopic Books in Chicago, reading from a forthcoming book to be published by Bilingual Review Press in 2008. She was also is co-editor of the popular March Abrazo women’s anthology, Between the Heart and the Land.Contact P. Scott Brown Booksellers at 707-443-9562 to obtain a copy of From the Tongues of Brick and Stone.

Texas Beat — Marchango David Garcia and recent University of Texas, Austin MFA grad is working with writer David Rice (Give the Pig A Chance, Bilingual Press) on developing independent films. Look for these Tejanos to tear it up with forthcoming humorous and insightful tales at your nearest independent film festival.

A close brother and beloved poet Trinidad Sanchez Jr. passed away July 30, 2006 in San Antonio as the result of a massive stroke. Trino will be sorely missed. March Abrazo had the privilege of publishing Why Am I So Brown? He was our most popular poet and was also a dedicated teacher in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Michigan. In between readings and workshops, he was active in a father’s rights group. Trino’s widow Regina would appreciate if readers obtain his most recent book, Jalapeño Blues, published by Floricanto Press. We also recommend you go to Small Press Distribution for his classic Why Am I So Brown?

Carlos Cumpián was published in a major anthology, Hecho en Tejas (University of New Mexico Press, 2007) edited by Dagoberto Gilb and reviewed favorably in Texas Monthly. Cumpián was mentioned in the March/April issue of Poet & Writers magazine, in an article about the Macondo Workshops, founded and facilitated by novelist and poet Sandra Cisneros, taking place this summer in San Antonio, Texas.

Gracias, thanks and keep on reading.