Latah Books is an independent book publisher located in downtown Spokane, which aims to decentralize and democratize the creation of quality literature. With SAGA support, Latah Books will edit, design, produce, and promote new books that affirm the publisher’s identity as a destination for exceptional literary memoirs. This grant will directly support memoirs from two new writers: Leslie Absher, a queer woman based in California, and Dr. Paul Luu, a Vietnamese-American surgeon living in Seattle.
Already this year, Latah has published the memoirs “How to Walk with Steve” by Robert Fromberg and “Freaks of a Feather” by Kacy Tellessen. By adding Luu and Absher’s titles to their catalog, Latah Books would position itself as one of the emerging and independent literary destinations for exceptional memoirists.
Latah Books has supported many rural and blue-collar authors as they shape their books and find readers across the Northwest and beyond. While the press has helped fill an important interstitial space in publishing—elevating rural, working-class narratives and writers—this new initiative would diversify the authors they promote.