A new publishing company by three powerhouse women is launching with a new “bio/anthology” of feminist icon and lesbian mom Audre Lorde by Dr. Gloria Joseph, Lorde’s partner in the latter years of her life.
Villarosa Media was created by Clara Villarosa and her daughters Linda and Alicia, with a mission “to bring you great Black Books.” Clara is founder of Hue-Man Bookstore in Denver and Harlem, which she grew to be the largest African American bookstore in the country; Alicia is a well-known freelance writer and blogger; and Linda is the former executive editor of Essence magazine, a prolific author, and a professor of media studies at the City College of New York in Harlem. Linda is also a lesbian mom herself. (And if you haven’t read “Coming Out,” the 1991 piece Linda and Clara co-wrote for Essence, go do so now. It’s a wonderful piece about love and the journey to understanding.)
The first volume from their new company is Joseph’s The Wind is Spirit: The Life, Love and Legacy of Audre Lorde. It’s a fitting tribute to the self-described “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet”—a wonderful quilt of a book that has gathered essays, reflections, stories, poems, memoirs, and photos from a wide range of prominent authors and activists to illuminate Lorde’s literary vision and her life. It combines the style of the African griot, tellers of oral history, along with a call-and-response biography, conversations with Lorde, Joseph’s personal photos and travelogs, and remembrances from Lorde’s three memorials, in New York, Berlin and St. Croix. The book officially launches February 18, Lorde’s birthday.
“Audre Lorde’s fearlessness has always been an inspiration, so working on this book is like being a part of literary history as well as my own,” Linda said in a press release.
Going forward, Villarosa Media will develop a catalog of new books from established authors as well as classic books reissued in digital formats. Physical books will be produced through a print-on-demand system to keep the company lean and flexible. They will also support emerging authors and publish new voices with an eye on stories from non-traditional genres.
Clara explained, “I’ve experienced first hand the ups downs of publishing including the Black Book Renaissance, a time when Black authors were a hot commodity. Everybody on the subway had their nose buried in a Terry McMillan book. Then a tsunami hit the industry and mainstream publishers fled the black book market. Now the tide has turned and there’s an opportunity. We’re here to help fill the void and bridge the gap between readers and writers by providing readers access to excellent literature and an outlet and marketplace for authors to publish their works.”
A great vision by a woman likely to achieve it. I’m very much looking forward to The Wind Is Spirit and to seeing what else the Villarosa enterprise will be producing.