Shameless Hussy Press |
Aunt Lute Books |
Shameless Hussy Press was started in Oakland, California in 1969 by Alta (Gerrey), a poet and prose writer. It was the first feminist press in America and influenced several other presses and publishers such as Diana Press, Women's Press Collective of Oakland, and Daughters Inc. Alta published three of her own books as well as the first poems of influential writers, Susan Griffin, Pat Parker, Mitsuye Yamada and the first edition of the poem which later became and award-winning play, "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide, When the Rainbow is Enuf" by Ntozake Shange and new editions of "Lavinia" and "Haunted Pool" by George Sand. She also published many other women writers as well as children's books. For awhile, Alta, a single mother with two children, ran the press out of her garage and her first book was an anthology of women's poetry called "Remember Our Fire." The press closed in 1989 after over fifty titles were published. The Shameless Hussy Press archives are housed at Special Collections, UC Santa Cruz McHenry Library. An online funding aid is available at: |