Cinco Puntos Press is an imprint of publishing company

Lee & Low Books Lee & Low Books is an independent children's book publisher focusing on diversity. History Lee & Low was founded in 1991 by Chinese Americans Tom Low and Philip Lee as a children's book publisher specializing in books featuring people of color a ...

. It is a general trade publisher that has received attention for its bilingual children's books and

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

and

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

focusing on the

Mexico–United States border The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traver ...

region. It was founded by novelist

Lee Merrill Byrd Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese s ...

and poet Bobby Byrd in 1985 and sold to Lee & Low in June 2021. It is known for its

multi-cultural The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...

and political focus for both children and adults.

Notable authors

Cinco Puntos Press authors include Joe Hayes,

Benjamin Alire Sáenz Benjamin Alire Sáenz (born August 16, 1954) is an American poet, novelist, and writer of children's books. Early life and education Sáenz was raised near Las Cruces, New Mexico. He earned a BA in Humanities and Philosophy from St. Thomas Semi ...

Sergio Troncoso Sergio Troncoso (born 1961) is an American author of short story, short stories, essays and novels. He often writes about the United States-Mexico border, working-class immigrants, families and fatherhood, philosophy in literature, and crossing c ...

, Tim Tingle,

George Ella Lyon George Ella Lyon (born April 25, 1949, in Harlan, Kentucky) is an American author from Kentucky, who has published in many genres, including picture books, poetry, juvenile novels, and articles. Biography George Ella Lyon was born April 25, 194 ...

, Dagoberto Gilb,

David Romo David Romo (born 7 August 1978) is a French former footballer who played in the Football League for Swansea City. Romo scored his only goal for Swansea in a 2–0 win over Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional associatio ...

Lisa Sandlin Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer * Lisa Komine (born 1978), ...

Robert Boswell {{Infobox person , name = Robert Boswell , image = , caption = , birth_name = , birth_date = {{Birth date and age, 1953, 12, 08 , birth_place = Missouri, USA , death_date = , death_place = , nationality = American , ...

, Gary Cartwright,

Xavier Garza Xavier Garza (born 14 October 1968) is an author and illustrator of children's books and professor of art at Northwest Vista College in San Antonio. Life and career Xavier Garza was born in Rio Grande City in Texas's Lower Rio Grande Valley ...

James Carlos Blake James Carlos Blake (born May 26, 1947) is an American writer of novels, novellas, short stories, and essays. His work has received extensive critical favor and several notable awards. He has been called “one of the greatest chroniclers of the my ...

, Subcomandante Marcos,

Byrd Baylor Byrd Baylor (March 28, 1924 – June 16, 2021) was an American novelist, essayist, and author of picture books for children. Four of her books have achieved Caldecott Honor status. Background Byrd Baylor was born in March 1924 in San Antonio, Te ...

, J.L. Powers, Youme Landowne, Paco Ignacio Taibo II, and many others.

NEA controversy

Cinco Puntos received national notoriety when, in March 1999, it published the book ''

The Story of Colors ''The Story of Colors'' (''La Historia de los Colores'') is a children's book written by Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. First published in 1996, it generated controversy after the National Endowment for the A ...

/ La Historia de los colores'' written by Subcomandante Marcos, the leader of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Mexico. Bill Ivey, chairperson of the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

—which had previously awarded $7,500 to Cinco Puntos Press for the publication of the story—pulled the funding on March 9, 1999 after being interviewed by

Julia Preston Julia Preston (born May 29, 1951) is an American journalist and contributing writer for The Marshall Project, focusing on immigration. Preston was a foreign and national correspondent and an editor for The New York Times for 21 years, from 1995 thro ...

of the

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

bureau of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. The NEA's move drew national attention to the book and Cinco Puntos when an article about the controversy was published on the front page of ''the New York Times''. The

Lannan Foundation The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional ...

provided Cinco Puntos Press with twice the amount of the lost funding and Cinco Puntos Press sold out their first printing of the book in days. Publisher Bobby Byrd made a personal statement on the Cinco Puntos Press website, stating: "It was a strange media frenzy, a true boon to Cinco Puntos. But real ideas and issues got lost in that frenzy, the most important of which is the indigenous struggle for autonomy and land in Chiapas."

Significant awards

The company has won several awards: *

, 2005—Bobby Byrd and Lee Merrill Byrd awarded Cultural Freedom Fellowships for Excellence in Publishing * Before Columbus Foundation, 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 ...

, 1999, for Excellence in Publishing *Rocky Mountain Publishing Association—the Dwight A. Myers Award, 1997, for Excellence in Regional Publishing *

Border Regional Library Association The Border Regional Library Association (B.R.L.A.) promotes libraries and librarianship in the tri-border region of West Texas, Southern New Mexico and Northern Chihuahua, Mexico. The non-profit organization was founded in 1966 and, as of 2009, ha ...

—the Southwest Book Award, 1993, for Excellence in PublishingTaos Writers Conference: Lee and Bobby Byrd
/ref> In addition, author

won a PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and a Lambda Literary Award in 2013 for his book ''

Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club ''Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club'' is a collection of short stories by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, published in 2012 by Cinco Puntos Press. The book compiles seven short stories, all set in the Hispanic/Latino community in El Paso, ...

'', published by Cinco Puntos in 2012.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Cinco Puntos Press Official site
Book publishing companies based in Texas Companies based in El Paso, Texas Publishing companies established in 1985 1985 establishments in Texas