BY: STAFF

First announced on Instagram Wednesday for International Women's Day, Vital Narrative Press will dedicate its entire release slate for 2019 to women authors, "specifically women of color." 

In an effort to show solidarity with #InternationalWomensDay, we are committing our entire 2019 release schedule to 12-25 new books by women authors, specifically women of color. This aligns with our #WWORD Initiative, committed to encourage and empower women and girls through literature. It is our hope that other independent presses will join our commitment to promote women authors who have always been and will continue to be invaluable members of our literary community.

A post shared by Vital Narrative Press (@vitalnarrative) on Mar 8, 2017 at 3:41pm PST

The announcement states that the all-woman release schedule "aligns with our WWORD Initiative committed to encourage and empower women and girls through literature." The Initiative also looks to hold writing workshops for women, donate books to shelters and allow teenage girls the opportunity to become published authors. Although, the releases are still a little under two years away, Founder & CEO Gregory Hedgepeth II is very excited to push the pillars of the Initiative out quicker, as early as this year. "It's important to recognize women's contributions to the literary arts and continue to build on that legacy by empowering even more women authors to share our stories," he said. The post also states that the company plans to publish "between twelve and twenty-five new books" in 2019.