PHILIPPINE AMERICAN PUBLISHERS CONSORTIUM

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PRESS RELEASE

Contacts:                                                                                 May/June, 2016

Cecilia Brainard at cbrainard@gmail.com

Eileen Tabios at Ertabios@aol.com or eileentabios@gmail.com

PHILIPPINE AMERICAN PUBLISHERS CONSORTIUM FORMED

A group of book publishers which publishes Philippine and Fil-American literature has created the Philippine American Publishers Consortium, or PAPC. The group’s primary goal is to enhance the distribution and promotion of its published works.

PAPC’s inaugural members are Carayan Press, Center for Babaylan Studies, Meritage Press, PALH (Philippine American Literary House), PAWA Inc., and Sawaga River Press.  Together, these publishers offer Filipino American books in the genres of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, art and children’s literature. Many of their writers have won awards in the U.S., the Philippines and other countries.

Recent or forthcoming titles from PAPC members are:

• #30 Collantes Street, by Lisa Suguitan Melnick (Carayan Press)
• To Love as Aswang, by Barbara Jane Reyes (PAWA, Inc.)
• Coming Full Circle: The Process of Decolonization among Post-1965 Filipino Americans, 2^nd Edition, by Leny M. Strobel
• Verses Typhoon Yolanda: A Storm of Filipino Poets,  edited by Eileen R. Tabios (Meritage Press)
• A River, One Woman Deep, by Linda Ty-Casper (PALH, forthcoming)
• Mama, Mama, Know What I like? by Justine Villanueva (Sawaga, forthcoming)

Explaining why she suggested the creation of the consortium, PALH publisher Cecilia Brainard said, “We are making books but our distribution and marketing efforts can be improved. Together, these Filipino American presses can have more presence, clout, and credibility than individual presses could. By sharing information, resources, and in some cases, expenses, we can do a better job at preserving and documenting our own Filipino American (and Filipino) literature and culture.”

PAPC’s plans for disseminating information about its members’ books include a new website and blog at http://philampublishers.blogspot.com. The PAPC site offers each publisher’s information about its catalog, contact information, submissions, forthcoming books and other news. Brainard hopes that the new blog will improve marketing partly by providing a searchable site in the internet as regards Filipino literature.

PAPC also plans to attend book fairs and literary conferences, place ads in targeted markets, offer its members for panel presentations and jointly market each other’s books in their respective networks.

“PAPC’s outreach need not be limited to literary groups,” says Eileen Tabios, founder of Meritage Press. “Any Filipino organization who would like our literature to be represented at their event can contact us for collaboration. We can set up a table at their conference, offer books at reduced prices for door prizes, share our writers as potential speakers, and so on.”

PAPC is open to membership to other book publishers of Philippine and Filipino American literature. For further information, contact palh@aol.com and/or MeritagePress@aol.com.