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Palabras del Pueblo
Writing Workshop
Resources for Raza Writers
(page under development, suggestions welcome!)
It's important to be involved with the efforts of our raza literary community and submit to our presses, magazines, contests, and enhance our development and reach, to be a part of the literary lucha and support each other as writers.
Resources listed are meant to help develop your own unique voice a a raza writer, to have a better sense of Xicanismo as it relates to your work. We also include other institutions and spaces that have a proven track record of supporting the raza writing community by publishing or awarding members of our community beyond tokenism.
Independent Xicana, Xicano, Xicanx Presses
The independent presses run by raza allow for the true voice of our gente to be expressed. Each press listed comes highly recommended by Palabras del Pueblo.
Somos en escrito Literary Foundation Press
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​Somos en escrito Magazine and Somos en escrito Literary Foundation Press is dedicated to publishing raza authors to express the narratives and needs of our communities, which typically get overlooked by the mainstream presses. We intend to be the institution nobody else will build for us.
We seek to publish books that look to the future, where gente exist, that finds solutions in storytelling, rather than provide mere visibility.
We promote narratives that break cycles, call to action: fiction that goes hand in hand with our nonfiction books that allow our community to do more than gaze in the mirror, but meditate on solutions within, the future, and transformation.
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Somos en escrito co-sponsors Palabras del Pueblo Workshop and its senior editor Scott Russell Duncan is the Palabras director.
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El Martillo Press publishes writers whose pens strike the page with clear intent; words with purpose to pry apart assumed norms and to hammer away at injustice. El Martillo Press proactively publishes writers looking to pound the pavement to promote their work and the work of their fellow pressmates.
There is strength in El Martillo.
Founded in Los Angeles in 2023 by Matt Sedillo and David A. Romero, and launched with a diverse group of celebrated and hardworking writers who embody our working-class intellectual spirit, El Martillo Press maintains an editorial board that makes its selections for publishing.
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​Our small press nurtures essential verse from, about, and through the borderlands. The voices of those from Latin America, the U.S.A. and all over the world. We are literary, lyrical, and boundless, and we welcome allies that understand and join in the voice of people of color and our struggle, truth, and hope. We publish novice, emerging, and established writers of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and children´s books.
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Riot of Roses Publishing House was established in the autumn of 2021 when author and founder, Brenda Vaca, decided to publish her first poetry collection.​
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It became not just important to publish her own work, but to also create space for other storytellers to create their books.
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Riot of Roses Publishing House was founded specifically to amplify the stories of historically silenced voices.
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Xicana owned. Mujerista focused. For the people.
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We publish books to heal and liberate others.
Read our rebellion.
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Aztlan Libre Press is an independent publishing company based out of Yanawana/San Antonio, Texas that is dedicated to the publication, promotion and free expression of XicanX literature and art. Established in 2009 by Juan Tejeda and Anisa Onofre, Aztlan Libre Press has published a dozen books and a line of XicanX Art Notecards.
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sin cesar (formerly Dryland) is an independent print literary journal from South Central Los Angeles established in 2015. We seek to publish the best in Black and Brown poetry, fiction, and non-fiction from established, emerging, and never-before-published writers around the world.
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​La Raíz Magazine expands culturally-relevant arts engagement opportunities to create, present, publish, and experience creative works that celebrate shared culture and inspire conversation on important issues. La Raíz consciously creates space for the publication and presentation of creative work by people who identify as women, girls, and members of the global majority (People of Color, BIPOC); with an emphasis on work by people whose heritage is rooted in lands that are now Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America, who identify as: Chicana/o, Indigenous, Raza, from their country of origin, Latinx, or Hispanic.
Independent Xicana, Xicano, Xicanx Magazines / Journals
Indepedent Raza journals and magazines are the front-line trenches of raza publishing. Submitting your work to magazines and journals builds connections to editors and other writers, professionalism and a track record of publishing.
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Some recommendations: read submission guidelines fully. Each magazine's guidelines are a little bit different. Be sure to submit in the proper format and spell check your work. Editors are busy and it's not always likely to receive feedback on a rejection, but it should be appreciated when they take the time for it.
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Somos en escrito Online Magazine
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​Somos en escrito Magazine and Somos en escrito Literary Foundation Press is dedicated to publishing raza authors to express the narratives and needs of our communities, which typically get overlooked by the mainstream presses. We intend to be the institution nobody else will build for us.
We seek to publish books that look to the future, where gente exist, that finds solutions in storytelling, rather than provide mere visibility.
We promote narratives that break cycles, call to action: fiction that goes hand in hand with our nonfiction books that allow our community to do more than gaze in the mirror, but meditate on solutions within, the future, and transformation.
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Somos en escrito co-sponsors Palabras del Pueblo Workshop and its senior editor Scott Russell Duncan is the Palabras director.
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​La Raíz Magazine expands culturally-relevant arts engagement opportunities to create, present, publish, and experience creative works that celebrate shared culture and inspire conversation on important issues. La Raíz consciously creates space for the publication and presentation of creative work by people who identify as women, girls, and members of the global majority (People of Color, BIPOC); with an emphasis on work by people whose heritage is rooted in lands that are now Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America, who identify as: Chicana/o, Indigenous, Raza, from their country of origin, Latinx, or Hispanic.
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sin cesar (formerly Dryland) is an independent print literary journal from South Central Los Angeles established in 2015. We seek to publish the best in Black and Brown poetry, fiction, and non-fiction from established, emerging, and never-before-published writers around the world.
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We have something to say!
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LatineLit publishes short stories written by and about Latinx people. By promoting our authors, as well as other Latinx writers, we aim to create opportunities to showcase new works and celebrate the diverse experiences and perspectives of our community. LatineLit features fiction written in English that relates to the indigenous, African diaspora, Asian, and Spanish and Portuguese roots of our people. We support gay, lesbian, trans, genderfluid, cisgender and straight writers with the goal of making sure everyone’s voices are heard.
Raza friendly magazines and journals
The writing world at large isn't open to our stories or seeks only a particular kind of story from our people. While Palabras del Pueblo recommends seeking publication with independent raza presses and magazines, these journals below have displayed an openness to our stories and a real commitment to diversity that includes us, one of the largest communities in North America.
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Extra Fiction Contest. Somos en escrito. Prize $100 and a book. Yearly. Free to submit. Judged by Ernesto Hogan, father of Chicano sci-fi, the Extra Fiction Contest finds accepts fantasy, speculative, horror, magic realism...stories with something "extra" about it. Yearly contest that opens in September.
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Best Raza Story of the Year. Somos en escrito. Prize $500. Yearly. Free to submit.
We are accepting short stories published in 2023 by writers who self-identify as Raza. Only entries submitted between November 2023 and March 2024 and only by editors of literary magazines, genre magazines or journals. Stories published in anthologies, collections, etc., are not eligible. Our purpose is to build Mexican American, Chicana, Chicano, and Chicanx literature.
2023 judge is Estella Gonzalez, author of Chola Salvation.
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Contests
Editing services and other Workshops
Chicano, Chicanx, Chicana Books
Explore our "Essential Short List" of recommended Chicano reading by clicking on each book cover below for more information. We present essential books in a variety of genres, with longer lists available upon request.
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We highly recommend A Visual History of Chicano/a/x Literature as an excellent resource for a complete chronology of books published by Chicano authors from 1610 to 2023.
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See below for books by Palabras instructors and staff as well as for book specifically on the art of writing.
Books and guides on writing, editing, surviving
Coming soon.
Books by Palabras Instructors and Staff
It's not only great to support our instructors by buying their books, it's great to see their work for yourself and learn from experiencing their words and narratives and by deconstructing their work yourself.
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Luis Rodriguez
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Lorna Dee Cervantes
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Matt Sedillo
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Karen Cordova:
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Ernesto Mireles
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Rios de la Luz
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Ernest Hogan
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Juan G. Berumen
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E.C.-Dukes: Daizee & the Dukes of Chuco
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Scott Russell Duncan: Old California Strikes Back.
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Armando Rendon: Chicano Manifesto, The Adventures of Noldo and His Magical Scooter on the March With the St. Patrick's Battalion, The Adventures of Noldo and his Magical Scooter - Noldo Faces the Hard Times, The Wizard of the Blue Hole: The Adventures of Noldo.
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Books by Palabras Attendees
Writer Opportunities
Groups, contests, meetups, residencies that might be of interest to our writers