Gantala Press: Bringing Out Women Writers from the Margins
/
A spread featuring some of Gantala’s books and zines (Photo courtesy of Gantala Press)
The siege dragged on for months, exacerbated by the region-wide martial law imposed by the Philippine president, and left what was once a beautifully thriving city in ruins. Displaced Marawi residents had to endure crowded living conditions in evacuation centers and were left to depend on the kindness of private citizens and groups who organized donation drives.
Among these groups was a small, relatively unknown independent press in Manila, which launched Laoanen: Women Stand for Marawi Information and Fundraising Drive. Through events held in Metro Manila, Gantala Press managed to raise 100,000 pesos to help women refugees in Iligan City. The press also raised another 80,000 pesos to fund a feeding program for the refugees.
Gantala Press might be small and relatively new, but no one can deny that it has become a highly visible presence in the Philippine literary scene. This one-of-a-kind collective was born from an idea that came to poet Faye Cura, who at the time was working as a writer and researcher for a corporate-owned library in Makati.
“I was looking for someone to publish the poetry collection I had just finished writing that year. I was thinking how great it would be to have a women’s press to do it, since the poems were drawn from women’s history, literature, [and] mythology,” Faye narrates.
Faye was inspired by the used books she had encountered mostly in second-hand bookstores—books that were published by women’s presses in the US and the UK.
The dearth of lesbian literature and women-centered books in general in the Philippines made it obvious to Faye that there was a gap waiting to be filled.
“There used to be all-women collectives in the 1980s to the 1990s—Katipunan ng Kalayaan para sa Kababaihan (KALAYAAN), Women Writers in Media Now (WOMEN), Pilipina—which also published anthologies of literary and visual works by women.”
By the time Faye started looking for a publisher for her poetry, however, these collectives had ceased to exist.
Faye posted her idea of establishing a women’s press on Facebook and got an enthusiastic response from many other writers. Soon enough, the teachers, writers, artists, corporate workers, and NGO workers who answered Faye’s call formed what is now Gantala Press.
The name of the press came from an old Tagalog word for "spool," an apt symbol for the work that women do. The founding members of Gantala later found out that people in Indang, Cavite use the word gantala as a portmanteau of higanteng tala to refer to the Ferris wheel that “descends on earth” during fiestas. This is the reason the press uses a star as the favicon on its website.
The group got together in June 2015 in a series of meetings and issued a call for literary works on women’s experiences.
“We decided on a theme that was broad so we could gauge what women were going through, thinking, writing about in these times,” the Gantala Press women narrate.
The call got a terrific response—people from across and outside the country sent their submissions. The Gantala founders edited their first book throughout 2016, and raised funds to pay their contributors by facilitating art and writing workshops.
The book is a multilingual, multi-genre anthology titled Danas (“Experience”). The collective launched the book and the press during Women’s Month in 2017.
“We printed 250 copies only; we [were] worried that we could not sell the books. We ended up printing another 200 copies.”
Danas, a multilingual, multi-genre anthology, was the first title published by Gantala Press. (Image courtesy of Gantala Press)
Since then, Gantala Press has published many more titles ranging from essay and poetry collections to zines to cookbooks, and even a lesbian romance comic book anthology. Each title is beautifully produced, it’s easy to forget that it’s published by a tiny, independent press.
There are so many things that make Gantala Press distinct from mainstream publishers in the Philippines. For one thing, it’s most likely the only women’s press of its kind in the country, exclusively publishing women’s works, with every step of the process facilitated by women only.
“The nearest press [we] know of that is similar to us is Zubaan Books in New Delhi, which was actually our main inspiration, and continues to be so.”
Needless to say, Gantala Press is unabashedly feminist and actively engaged in highlighting political and social issues.
“This was probably because all the members of our group were activists or belonged to progressive organizations in university,” the women muse. “When it became clear to us that publishing is also a political practice, an engagement that became inevitable especially when Duterte came to power, we decided to call Gantala a feminist press.”
The decision to focus on women’s realities and issues made it clear from the very start to the Gantala founders whose voices they wanted to hear.
“We did not accept, for example, submissions that were clearly coming from the comforts and privileges of the middle and higher classes, or stories that had male protagonists or love poems that declared undying devotion to husbands. We were thrilled to include works by former and current political prisoners, lesbian poetry, essays in the vernacular languages, etc.”
Activists on print and on the streets: The women of Gantala Press lending support to farmers (Photo courtesy of Gantala Press)
The women narrate, “With these groups we have facilitated writing sessions, published chapbooks and books, organized talks and solidarity meals and concerts, and participated in rallies. Basically, we try to be as responsive to the issues as we could. That is why our titles are often issue-based or the result of our interactions with communities.”
This immersion in communities that are underrepresented in Philippine literature has cemented Gantala’s vision for the works it publishes and the voices it amplifies. This vision also serves to challenge our ideas of what literature is and our traditional notion of writers having to have distinguished literary backgrounds or academic titles in order to get published.
“Our work in the press has defined and redefined, for us, what literature means or what it can be. . . . The stories of farmers, workers, the urban poor are simply non-existent in school readings, in the books that mainstream publishers release, in media and popular culture. What more the stories of women farmers, workers, urban poor?”
Women workers as writers: Gantala Press founders after a writing workshop with members of NAMASUFA, a plantation workers’ union from Compostela Valley in Mindanao (Photo courtesy of Gantala Press)
“So we publish the life writings, the poetry of peasant women, women workers, even women professionals, e.g., nurses, who are not really "writers." We challenge the common notion of a Writer as someone who has to have studied Creative Writing in school, been published by the big presses, is fluent in English, etc.”
“In fact, we are doing away with the idea of a Writer entirely. We are doing away with the idea of an Expert—the Workshop Panelist, the Mentor, the Enlightened Poet Guru, the Award-Winning Author, the Editor, the Publisher. Instead, we work so that anyone, any woman, especially women from communities which the system continues to oppress and erase, can write or tell her story.”
One of the most important things that the Gantala Press women have learned and would like Filipino readers to understand is that “writing is not as special or specialized as we'd like to think. Women do write, even if they are not writers per se. They scribble poems alongside their lists of vegetables for sale, or to read in protest actions on the streets. They compose songs they sing themselves!”
This is another thing that distinguishes Gantala Press from mainstream publishing houses. The Gantala Press women are not interested in celebrity authors or having a big fan base. Their work isn’t about making profits (most of their book sales go to the communities from whom they draw the stories they publish) or reaping literary awards. To them, publishing is all about community and empowering communities by letting them share their stories and assert themselves.
As Faye explains, “We focus on collective action, where the power of the people—to speak, organize, transform—is anonymous because it is with everyone, everywhere.”
You see this power in Gantala’s books and the stories—multilingual, diverse, and free from literary pretentiousness—that they tell. And the wonderful thing is that the books actually sell, which is really impressive for a non-profit where every member works on a voluntary basis.
“We usually sell our books directly, or through consignment in small bookstores; we are lucky that we do not really depend on distributors. We also print our chapbooks, specifically, in tiny batches so they get sold out fast.”
Gantala’s multilingual titles are especially popular, proving that there’s a growing readership for books written in the vernacular. “Our English-Meranaw cookbook is now sold out, and the bilingual condiments cookbook is fast becoming so. Our lesbian komix anthology which includes not one work in English is one of our most popular books abroad. Our multilingual collection of peasant women poetry and the mostly Visayan writings of the plantation workers from Compostela Valley are being taught in universities. Our books usually include works in Filipino and English, and so are still accessible even to foreigners or foreign-born Filipinos.”
“Each title is beautifully produced, it’s easy to forget that it’s published by a tiny, independent press.”
How about translating all the works into English and/or Filipino?
“Perhaps we have not really felt the need for it; we believe that women write for themselves and their own communities first and foremost, using of course their language.”
That being said, Gantala does have a forthcoming collection of Filipina writings in translation that will be co-published by Tilted Axis Press (TAP) in the UK.
“TAP has commissioned us to come up with a sampler of works in translation or works that, if written in English, carry the spirit of Philippine languages. We are proud of this collection which includes poetry, songs, and essays by indigenous women, peasant women, women workers, migrant women, mothers, lovers, daughters, all translated by women.”
It has been less than five years since the women of Gantala Press first got together, but they now stand firmly as a unique collective that continues to work with, and for, communities whose voices are often ignored by the literary establishment.
“The only principled way to publish [the masses’] stories, to create art for and about them is through integration, and continuously learning from them. We have to decolonize our worldviews and mindsets that are by default capitalist and patriarchal. We really have to be out there, organizing, mobilizing, and publishing materials that speak against impunity, fascism, human rights violation, discrimination, and exploitation.”
What’s next on the horizon for this intrepid women’s press?
“Opening a feminist bookstore—the only, and perhaps the first, such store in the country at this time—has been our biggest dream and this year we are working more seriously towards making that happen. We plan on selling our books there, and other books/art/crafts by women. We hope to create a space similar to the Women's Center for Creative Work in Los Angeles. This will definitely change the landscape of Gantala's work.”
Faye Cura (left) and the other founders of Gantala Press in their soon-to-open bookstore (Image courtesy of Gantala Press)
Gantala is currently crowdfunding this project, and the women have now found a space at Cubao Expo in Quezon City. The Gantala Press bookstore will open on March 21, which is World Poetry Day.
As communities in the margins continue to be largely unheard by those in power, we can expect Gantala Press to keep publishing their stories. “For us, it is exciting to think of fresh, new, more relevant ways of publishing—making the public, the people, own these writings [and] use them in the struggle.”
Joy Watford
Joy Watford is a tech editor and freelance writer based in Cambridgeshire, England. She enjoys making lowbrow art and kakanin, and has an unhealthy obsession with sushi and crime podcasts.
More articles from Joy Watford