Meet Our Grantee-Partner: Host Publications

Mission: To elevate historically marginalized writers, Host Publications publishes radical poetry and fiction by emerging LGBTQ+, BIPOC, intersectional feminist, and immigrant voices.With every book we publish, stage we set, and event we host, we work to empower our community of writers whose work inspires social transformation and creates a new sense of what is possible in writing.

Host Publications is an award-winning, women-led independent publisher located in Austin, Texas. Founded by Joe W. Bratcher in 1988 as a press focusing on works in translation, Host Publications has a rich publishing history that includes titles by Nobel Prize recipient Pablo Neruda, Cervantes Prize recipients Ida Vitale and Nicanor Parra, and Neustadt Prize recipient Ananda Devi. From the beginning, the press has championed experimental writing that engages with questions of justice, liberation, and social change.

Since 2017, Host Publications has been led by publisher Annar Veröld-Miranda and editor-in-chief Claire Bowman. Together, they transitioned the press to a nonprofit and expanded its mission to elevate historically marginalized writers. In addition to publishing books, Host Publications supports authors through marketing, readings, and events that create intersectional literary spaces for artistic exchange, both in person and online, as well as educational workshops for writers and readers.

Host Publications prioritizes writers from populations who have faced systematic and historical exclusion within the publishing and literary industry. The press publishes innovative work that explores alternative and subversive cultural perspectives and encourages dialogue that challenges norms and builds community. Most of the writers Host Publications publishes identify as Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) or LGBTQIA+.

Beyond publishing books, Host Publications invests in the long-term success of its authors. For each title, the press provides 50 copies for the author to share with writers, editors, and reviewers they hope to connect with professionally. Host Publications also allocates funds for prize, award, and contest submissions, ensuring that each author has access to opportunities that can expand the visibility of their work. In recent years, the press has also increased author compensation so that all writers it publishes are paid well for their work.

Host Publications serves Austin’s literary community through public programming such as I Scream Social, a monthly reading series hosted by Bowman and Veröld-Miranda. The series offers a welcoming stage for women, gender-nonconforming, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ writers and has become a touchstone of the city’s feminist literary community.

Host Publications also supports the next generation of publishing professionals through the Host Publications BIPOC Publishing Fellowship. The fellowship provides an emerging editor with mentorship and a paid, hands-on introduction to several aspects of the publishing process.

Host Publications further amplifies its authors through its literary podcast, The Host Dispatch, which features interviews with Host Publication writers as well as organizers and collaborators from the broader literary community. The podcast highlights bold and often banned books by women, LGBTQIA+, and BIPOC writers while giving listeners insight into the ideas and experiences that shape the work.

Receiving a general operating support grant from the Poetry Foundation has helped Host Publications expand its capacity by hiring an additional part-time editor. This role strengthens the press’s editorial and marketing efforts, including conducting research and submitting works to literary awards and prizes on behalf of authors. It also supports the planning and presentation of public events that connect writers with readers.

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