Home for books about new orleans culture and african american literature

Home for books about new orleans culture and african american literature Home for books about new orleans culture and african american literature Home for books about new orleans culture and african american literature

Home for books about new orleans culture and african american literature

Home for books about new orleans culture and african american literature Home for books about new orleans culture and african american literature Home for books about new orleans culture and african american literature

Available through community book center, Octavia Books and local booksellers

A Publishing Partner with University of New Orleans Press

Online Ordering

Louisiana Midrash   Poetry by Marian Moore

I Feel To Believe   Collected columns by Jarvis Deberry

I Am New Orleans   36 Poets Revisit Marcus Christian's Definitive Poem



About RUNAGATE

image3

Getting Our Start

When Our Workshop Turned 10...

When Our Workshop Turned 10...

The seeds for Runagate Press were planted with the founding of NOMMO Literary Society in 1995. With productivity of workshop writers, it became apparent that publishing was an organic next step. In 1996  Kalamu ya Salaam and Ayo Fayemi-Robinson (formerly Kysha N. Brown) launched Runagate, naming the press from a poem  title of African Ame

The seeds for Runagate Press were planted with the founding of NOMMO Literary Society in 1995. With productivity of workshop writers, it became apparent that publishing was an organic next step. In 1996  Kalamu ya Salaam and Ayo Fayemi-Robinson (formerly Kysha N. Brown) launched Runagate, naming the press from a poem  title of African American writer and literary critic Robert Hayden. 

 

With the literary contributions of NOMMO writers and writers from across the African Diaspora, and with proofreading and editing support of core workshop members, the first anthology from Runagate, Fertile Ground - Memories & Visions, received critical acclaim. 


The early titles were published in an era before print-on-demand. Books were stored at the New Orleans East studio of Salaam's friend,  renowned  artist, the late John Scott. As with many losses brought on by flooding of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet in New Orleans East and the failure of the Army Corp of Engineers levee system all across  New Orleans, Runagate's pre-Katrina book inventory was destroyed along with Scott's artwork and equipment.


In 2019, the publishing team revived Runagate as an imprint of University of New Orleans Press. Runagate is dedicated to promulgating New Orleans culture and African heritage cultures worldwide. 

image4

When Our Workshop Turned 10...

When Our Workshop Turned 10...

When Our Workshop Turned 10...

We were planning to have a celebratory reading that September, acknowledging the 10-year mark of NOMMO Literary Society. Mawiyah and Nadir (Nadir gave us the name NOMMO) were among the charter workshop members who were still active. NOMMO members had been publishing in Runagate anthologies and with other publishers as well. Carol had put 

We were planning to have a celebratory reading that September, acknowledging the 10-year mark of NOMMO Literary Society. Mawiyah and Nadir (Nadir gave us the name NOMMO) were among the charter workshop members who were still active. NOMMO members had been publishing in Runagate anthologies and with other publishers as well. Carol had put her genealogical research on record. Freddi had published her first and second books through Albert & Whitman Company and Pelican Press respectively.  Jarvis was cranking out his regular columns for work and still bringing poetry and essays for workshop review. A number of us had performed at national literary conferences, some had gone on to pursue MFA's. We were learning, developing and producing. We had come a long way together on both literary and life journeys, and there was much to celebrate. 


For 10 years we had gathered every Tuesday night, and everyone knew they could count on this creative space except during Kwanzaa and on Mardi Gras Day (and if you would be in a writing workshop on Mardi Gras Day, you weren't NOMMO people no kinda way). 

And then a hurricane was predicted in August 2005. And then the levee protection system failed to  protect. We found ourselves dispersed across the country. We had things to say about that and much more, and we had established or begun to establish our unique voices.


image5

Something to Say

When Our Workshop Turned 10...

Something to Say

Visit our Kudo Board to see more of the NOMMO story.


Subscribe below for details about our October 29th virtual event with Poets & Writers + More.

Connect With Us

Subscribe

Contact Us

Drop us a line!

Copyright © 2020 Runagate Press - All Rights Reserved.

Powered by GoDaddy