ABOUT US

The mission of Zarigueya Press is to solicit, publish, and promote collections of outstanding contemporary poetry and works of memoir by American women. With the leadership of publisher and editor Diane Jones Reynolds, Zarigueya Press functions as a collective of writers and artists who share in editorial and promotional responsibilities. Beginning in 2015, our print-on-demand business model enables us to donate a portion of proceeds from sales to causes that Zarigueya Press authors support.

Zarigueya Press is not committed to any one particular aesthetic or literary bias. We seek to publish poetry and non-fiction of intelligence, humanity, and complexity, rich in image and music, and accessible in diction.

Beautifully designed and printed on quality papers, our books mirror the value we place upon creative excellence.

WHY “ZARIGUEYA”?

Zarigueya is the spanish word for possum, a marsupial much maligned for its appetites as a scavenger, it’s rat-like tail, and its nocturnal habits. With their sharp noses, teeth, and claws, urban possums are commonly regarded as pests.

We take a different view.

Like most marsupials, possums are wonderful mothers, carrying their babies inside the pouch until they develop fully, then continuing to carry the young on their backs. They respond creatively to the challenges of life in a corrupted world, nesting in dead trees, woodpiles, garages, and attics full of old trunks and albums, making a home in the cast-offs of human memory. They are intelligent, resourceful creatures whose adaptability enables them to clean up at least a few of the messes people leave. They are peaceful and non-confrontational, unless you cross them.

Obviously, not all possums (and not all writers we admire) are female. Zarigueya Press, however, exists to celebrate the important and often under-appreciated voices of women. Just as urban wildlife enriches a community in sometimes invisible ways, many women poets create honest, beautiful, and essential work while placing the demands of the marketplace second to full lives and nurturance of others. We at Zarigueya believe in the importance of writing from rich and varied lives. We celebrate imagination, the bonds between people fostered by language, and the welcome intrusions of nature into our lives.