Alta Gerrey (born 1942,

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

) is a British-American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

, prose writer, and publisher, best known as the founder of the feminist press Shameless Hussy Press and editor of the ''Shameless Hussy Review''. Her 1980 collection ''The Shameless Hussy'' won the

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

in 1981. She is featured in the feminist history film ''

She's Beautiful When She's Angry ''She's Beautiful When She's Angry'' is a 2014 American documentary film about some of the women involved in the second wave feminism movement in the United States. It was directed by Mary Dore and co-produced by Nancy Kennedy. It was the firs ...

''.

Biography

Shameless Hussy Press

Alta started Shameless Hussy Press in 1969. The first women-owned feminist press in California, it opened during the time of

second-wave feminism Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains. Wh ...

. Alta used a printing press in her garage to publish books by authors such as

Susan Griffin Susan Griffin (born January 26, 1943) is a radical feminist philosopher, essayist and playwright particularly known for her innovative, hybrid-form ecofeminist works. Life Griffin was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1943 and has resided in ...

Pat Parker Pat Parker (born Patricia Cooks; January 20, 1944June 17, 1989) was an American poet and activist. Both her poetry and her activism drew from her experiences as an African-American lesbian Feminism, feminist.Pat Parker. Contemporary Authors On ...

, and Mitsuye Yamada. Yamada later described Alta as an "energetic feminist poet" who promoted Yamada's first volume of poetry "at women’s conferences, women’s health centers, and lesbian bars." The press published the first edition of ''For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide, When the Rainbow is Enuf'' by

Ntozake Shange Ntozake Shange ( ;
FilmReference.com. Retrieved October 27, 2018. October 18, 1948 – October 27, 2018) ...

, and Mary Mackey's first novel, ''Immersion'' (1972). They also published poetry by men: "Alta reasoned that since 6 percent of the books published in the U.S. were by women, 6 percent of the books she published should be by men." The press closed in 1989; its archive is held at

University of California Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...

Poetry and prose

Her first volume of

feminist poetry Feminist poetry is inspired by, promotes, or elaborates on feminist principles and ideas. It might be written with the conscious aim of expressing feminist principles, although sometimes it is identified as feminist by critics in a later era. Some w ...

, ''Freedom's in Sight'', was published in 1969, and some of her poems were anthologized in such collections as ''From Feminism to Liberation'' (Philip G. Altbach and Edith S. Hoshino, eds, 1971). Her 1980 collected works ''The Shameless Hussy'' (Crossing Press) won the American Book Award in 1981.

Personal life

Alta started the Shameless Hussy Press with her second husband. She wrote a volume of "blatant lesbian poems", ''Letters to Women'' (1969). After the press closed she started operating an art gallery in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

Works

Alta's works include: * Freedom's in Sight. Aldebaran Review, 1969. * Letters to Women. Shameless Hussy Press, 1970. * poems & prose by alta. k.n.o.w., 1971. * burn this & memorize yourself. Times Change, 1971. * song of the wife, song of the mistress. Shameless Hussy Press, 1971. * No Visible Means of Support. Shameless Hussy Press, 1971. * True Story. Mama's Press, 1973. * Momma. Times Change, 1974. * i am not a practicing angel. Crossing Press, 1975. * Pauline & the Mysterious Pervert. Wyrd Press, 1975. * Theme & Variations. Aldeberan Review, 1975. * The Shameless Hussy, 1980. * Deluged with dudes: platonic & erotic love poems to men. Shameless Hussy Press, 1989. * Traveling tales: flings I've flung in foreign parts. Acapella Communications, 1990.

Awards

* 1981

References

External links

Alta Galleria
* wo interviews with Alta and history of press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Alta 1942 births American feminists Poets from Nevada American publishers (people) Living people American women poets 20th-century American poets Writers from Reno, Nevada 20th-century American women writers American Book Award winners 21st-century American women