by Kat Georges

Based in Los Angeles, Red Hen Press has spawned hundreds of titles over the past 30 years, including poetry, literature, genre fiction, memoirs and more, earning award after award for their fine work. We recently caught up with our fellow indie press, in a discussion with media director Monica Fernandez. Their story is fascinating! We became associated with them a few years ago at the American Library Association’s conference, where our kiosk was located next to RHP’s, meeting co-founder Mark Cull, then, the following year we published the debut novel of fellow co-founder Kate Gale. Here’s the rest of the story . . .

Kat Georges: The Red Hen Press logo makes a big claim, identifying RHP as “The Biggest Little Indie Nonprofit Literary Publisher.” How is this vision supported by the work you do?

Monica Fernandez: Our roster of over 700 titles spans authors from all over the country and the world, and we’re honored to be able to share such incredible national and international work. We have a great bi-coastal presence, not only attending but also curating events in New York, Miami, the Pacific Northwest, and everywhere in between.

Red Hen Press team members Monica Fernandez and Chloe Zofia at the Brooklyn Book Fair

KG: Publishing is a very tough industry, especially for indie publishers. What do you find are the greatest challenges of being an independent publisher? And what are the greatest rewards?

MF: The greatest challenge of being an independent publisher is getting our books seen and noticed in such a saturated, nearly-monopolized-by-the-Big-Five market. Even though we publish 25 titles a year, it’s hard to compete with the hundreds of new books the larger publishers put out at the same time. But the greatest reward is being a part of an author’s literary journey. Whether we’re publishing an author’s first book or fifth, it’s always such an honor and so exciting to bring such important work to the world and have it connect with so many new readers.

Kate Gale, David Mas Masumoto, and Mark Cull at David Mas Masumoto’s Peach Farm

KG: Red Hen is known for publishing a wide variety of books, including poetry, memoir, fiction and nonfiction books. What have been the highlights you’ve published in each of these categories?

MF: Percival Everett‘s latest poetry collection, Sonnets for a Missing Key, has absolutely taken off, and we’re so honored to be his poetry publisher and watch his incredible work get the recognition it deserves! David Mas Masumoto‘s memoir Secret Harvests is an incredible story of him discovering a long-lost aunt that was separated from his family during the Japanese internment and was kept as a ward of the state. They finally found her 70 years later, not far from their own farm. He was able to reunite with her and learn her story, and wrote it all down in this gorgeous book. Bad Stories is a great example of one of our best nonfiction books — it’s an essay collection from author Steve Almond on observations and anecdotes he’s reflected on that attempt to explain how we ended up electing Trump in 2016. As for fiction, there are almost too many fiction highlights to name! Some recent favorites/highlights include the short story collection The Sea Gives Up the Dead by Molly Olguin, the serial killer thriller Now You Owe Me by Aliah Wright, and the campus detective novel A Punishing Breed by DC Frost.

Red Hen was built because our founders Kate and Mark wanted to create a literary community that they otherwise didn’t see at the time, so creating and maintaining and fostering that community is in the very DNA of Red Hen.

KG: In addition to book publishing and fundraising as a non-profit, Red Hen also runs a literary magazine, hosts numbers literary events in LA, NYC and internationally, publishes a literary journal, The Los Angeles Review, sponsors literary awards, and now produces a regular podcast, not to mention attending many industry conferences annually. Do you folks ever sleep? And how do all of these feed into your idea of not only publishing, but creating community among lovers of literature and authors? What is it about community that is important to your mission?

MF: Haha, we all alternate sleeping to get everything done 😉 It’s definitely a lot to keep track of and handle but we do it all because we feel almost a kind of responsibility to foster literary community, and we try to do that in any and every way possible. Red Hen was built because our founders Kate and Mark wanted to create a literary community that they otherwise didn’t see at the time, so creating and maintaining and fostering that community is in the very DNA of Red Hen.

Nancy Kricorian, Bianca Richards, Ron Koertge, and Lory Bedikian at the Red Hen Press 30th Anniversary Benefit Luncheon (Photo by Emily C. Petrie)

KG: As mentioned, you recently published Percival Everett’s Sonnets for a Missing Key. He is the author of James, which just won a Pulitzer Prize! As a small press, this is a monumental achievement! Describe your feeling to know your press published the other most recent book by Mr. Everett. How did you celebrate? And yes, congratulations!

MF: Thank you so much! We’re so elated, excited, and honored. Red Hen Press has been Percival’s poetry publisher for twenty years and we’re so lucky that his latest poetry collection came out the same year as James. With Percival being such a prominent figure in the literary news these days, it’s been fun showing people that, in addition to all of Percival’s incredible talents, he’s also a poet too. We toasted to Percival in the office and cheered him on when the results were announced, but also got to work putting together congratulations eblasts and social media posts and updating things like book cover descriptions and online metadata. The more good news Percival receives, the more we need to update everything (across all of his poetry books) to stay up-to-date!

KG: What are some of your favorite upcoming titles we should know about?

MF: Angel Eye by Madeleine Nakamura is our upcoming adult fantasy novel, coming out in June! It’s such an exciting novel, part magical murder mystery, part haunting representation of an emotionally abusive relationship, part budding gay romance. Definitely something to look out for this summer! And in the fall, we have a new novel from Lara Ehrlich called Bind Me Tighter Still which features a mermaid burlesque. It’s a fantastic take on mother monsters, women’s independence, and mother-daughter relationships.

Red Hen Press’s team and booth at AWP 2025 Los Angeles

KG: A fun one: you’re hosting a dinner party hoping to sign any three authors, dead or alive. Who do you invite? And what do you serve?

MF: Oh, that’s so tough! I had to consult the team so this is a group answer but we’re thinking Margaret Atwood, Haruki Murakami, and Toni Morrison. All of these authors are so innovative, groundbreaking, and smart with their work and messages. They’re definitely huge influences in the kind of work we look to publish. As for what we’d serve, lemon roasted chicken with sweet potato and green beans, with strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert. Rich, hearty, sweet, and satisfying!