The
San Diego Writers Collective and
San Diego City Works Press
History
Since
1994, San Diego City College's literary
journal, City Works,
has published the poetry, fiction, prose,
and artwork of City College students as well as work by local and
national writers. After ten years of putting out
City Works,
some of the journal's editors decided it was time for San Diego to have
its own literary press. We dared to think that one of the largest
cities in the United States could support a small press. Untainted by
the narrow bottom line ethos of corporate publishing, and the
frequently exclusionary world of academic presses, our goal is to
publish the finest work by local writers. With no institutional funding
from City College, we did it ourselves.
In 2003 we formed the San Diego
Writers Collective, a group of City College faculty and writers and
arts supporters from all around San Diego. We opened a non-profit
account at the San Diego City College Foundation and began raising
funds and planning for the future.
In 2004, the San Diego Writers
Collective received a huge boost when the American Federation of
Teachers, local 1931, matched the seed money the collective had raised.
Also in 2004, Jazz 88 (KSDS
88.3) jumped on board to help promote San
Diego's only literary press. With this crucial help, City Works Press
was born, and is committed to publishing a diverse range of San Diego's
emerging voices in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.
In 2025, City Works Press will mark our 20th anniversary. It has been quite a journey. Along the way, we have published books authored and edited by Steve Kowit, Mel Freilicher, Adrian Arancibia, Marisela Norte, Robert Hine, Forrest Hylton, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Chris Baron, Donna J. Watson, Michelle Sierra, Lucia Gbaya-Kanga, Cheryl Klein, Ella deCastro Baron, Justin Akers Chacon, Enrique Davalos, Kelly Mayhew and Alys Masek, Tamara Johnson, Jim Miller, Manuel Paul Lopez, Khalid (Paul) Alexander, Mona Alsoraimi-Espiritu, Roberta Alexander, J. Medina, Josh Turner, Darius Spearman, Ebony Tyree, and more.
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