Publishing the Future PANEL

Posted on June 13, 2026June 13, 2026 by mariaminguezarias

One for the books as Hannah Moushabeck told Cynthia Leitich Smith! PUBLISHING THE FUTURE at the 2026 Bay Area Book Festival was pretty damn good. MC’d by poet Hanan Masri and opened with a song specially composed for the occasion by Tristan Marcelle from Bushwick Book Club Oakland, a musical book club where Bay Area artists perform original songs inspired by a book. Her singing “Where do I go to see my story told” was the perfect launch pad for our conversation.

Kate Gale from Red Hen Press, Cynthia Leitich Smith from Heartdrum, Phoebe Robinson from Tiny Reparation Books, and Hannah Moushabeck from Interlink Books spoke with me about the work towards representation and equity in the literary landscape, inspiring readers in such fucked up times, the AI disruption in the production of art, and working at the crossroads between publishing and authorship.

The Bay Area Book Festival organization was phenomenal, from Deputy Director of Programming Dora la Flora, who was there at all times; and the stage manager at The Freight; to Linda holding up the 1min left, time for Q&A signs and would not let me get lost in time!, and the two ASL interpreters who showed phenomenal stamina, specially keeping up with Phoebe Robinson’s fast, intelligent, and witty remarks on AI, a subject that managed to fire all of us 🔥

Signing my first copy of Naming the Body: A Queer Woman’s Restorative Mapping of the Self!

THE FREIGHT CHANGING ROOM IS BAD ASS!

PUBLICATION Essay in Women’s Studies Quaterly

Posted on December 7, 2025 by mariaminguezarias

The Rotten Department, included in my memoir and essay collection Naming the Body: A Queer Woman’s Restorative Mapping fo the Self (Mouthfeel Press, 2026) was just published in the Fall/Winter issue of Women’s Studies Quaterly BODY MATTERS, as translated by National Book Award winner for Translated Literature, Robin Myers.

Project Muse gives access to the entire text. For those interested it can be found here.

Thank you so much to the editors Sherren Inayatulla and Andie Silva for including my exploration through memory and language of institutional (in this case, university) violence toward women’s bodies in my native country. By mirroring academic language and formatting, it confronts the very institution on its own turf. And yet the blank space becomes the negative space or the void that refuses to share the space or to put the spotlight on that same institutionalized violence.

PUBLICATION AGREEMENT

“Naming the Body: A Queer Woman’s Restorative Mapping of the Self” forthcoming Pride 2026

When you sign your first contract in English because the translation of your essay collection “Nombrar el cuerpo” (Editorial Egales/España; ElBeiSmAn PrESs/USA), named among the Best Queer Lit of the Year in Spain, just found a welcoming family and home in the United States of Trump.

NAMING THE BODY: A QUEER WOMAN’S RESTORATIVE MAPPING OF THE SELF will be published by Mouthfeel Press in 2026 as translated by Robin Myers. It means a lot to me that Robin was able to capture the narrator’s voice so meaninfully, and that my English speaking family, friends and community now will be able to access my work.

Graciasss Robin for your beautiful translation y a mi tocaya María Miranda Maloney for openning her publishing doors to us. 🙏🏼

Naming the Body arrives at a time when women’s reproductive rights, and all that is queer and inmigrant is under threat. It does take a village to be able to live and write with dignity, and today I am a little bit more hopeful porque, obviamente, ¡nos tenemos!