Mission

RedBone Press publishes work celebrating the cultures of black lesbians and gay men, and work that further promotes understanding between black gays and lesbians and the black mainstream. 

History

Founded in 1997 by Lisa C. Moore, RedBone Press was created to address a dearth of black lesbian voices in lesbian feminist publishing. Moore began researching the histories of feminist presses in 1995 while collecting and editing material for RedBone Press' first book, does your mama know? An Anthology of Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories (1997). does your mama know? won two 1997 Lambda Literary Awards, for Small Press and Lesbian Studies. RedBone Press' second title, the bull-jean stories by Sharon Bridgforth, won the 1998 Lambda Literary Award for Small Press. In 2004, Moore changed RedBone Press' mission to include quality literature by black gay men. Most titles since 2004 have been Lambda Literary Award finalists; additionally, Blood Beats: Vol. 1 by Ernest Hardy won a 2007 PEN/Beyond Margins Award (now called PEN/Open Book Award). RedBone Press is renowned for publishing award-winning, quality literature by black lesbians and gay men.

RedBone Press titles can be ordered by the public directly through this website or from independent bookstores across the United States; most titles can also be ordered from Small Press Distribution. RedBone Press accepts bookstore orders (e-mail or fax a purchase order; terms 40%, net 30, no minimum, returnable within one year in resellable condition) and from library jobbers. Most orders are shipped either the same day or the day after they are received.

"RedBone ambitiously fulfills a two-fold black feminist mission of both creating space for new critical voices to emerge and insisting on the relevance of earlier work by thinkers committed to the wholeness and freedom of black communities."

— Alexis Pauline Gumbs, American Book Review, May-June 2008

Press about RedBone Press

“It’s easy to be depressed about the publishing options for queer writers of color. Both Sister Vision and Kitchen Table, the two big-mama queer-of-color presses, died in the ’90s. But it’s also important to look at what’s working. Aunt Lute Books is still alive, though its output is slow. RedBone Press just celebrated its eleventh year publishing award-winning Black lesbian and gay literature—including poetry. Lisa C. Moore (pictured left) founded RedBone after white feminist publishers told her that there was ‘no market’ for her anthology of Black lesbian coming-out stories, does your mama know?—which is now in its fourth printing. In the face of white feminist presses who say they don’t know how to sell work by women of color, Moore goes to where Black queers are, selling books at Black lesbian conferences and Black queer prides across the country.”

— from “To Hell with ‘There’s No Market for You’: Queer Writers of Color and Independent Publishing,” by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarashinha, make/shift, Fall/Winter 2008/2009

Strange Fruit: Does Your Mama Know?, podcast with hosts Dr. Kaila Story and Jaison Gardner, Sept. 29, 2012 

Interview with Lisa C. Moore on SistersTalk blogtalkradio, February 15, 2009

Interview with Lisa C. Moore on Sippin on Ink blogtalkradio, January 7, 2009

"Some of Us Are Brave”: Profiles of Black Lesbians in Publishing," by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, TreasureMagazine.com, March 3, 2008

"Voice for the Voiceless," by Reginald Harris, The Black Issues Book Review, Sept/Oct 2005

"Other Voices, Other Rooms," The Austin Chronicle, July 28, 2000

"The Little Press That Could," The Austin Chronicle, July 28, 2000

Writers Guidelines

RedBone Press is not accepting submissions at this time.

Distribution

RedBone Press books were distributed to the book trade by:

Small Press Distribution, Berkeley, California, USA