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Alta (poet)

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Alta
BornAlta Gerrey
(1942-05-22)May 22, 1942
Reno, Nevada, U.S.
DiedMarch 10, 2024(2024-03-10) (aged 81)
Oakland, California, U.S.
GenrePoetry
Spouse
Danny Bosserman
​
(divorced)​
[1]
Daniel Skarry
​
(divorced)​
[1]
Partner2[1]

Alta Gerrey (May 22, 1942 – March 10, 2024) was a British-American poet, prose writer, and publisher,[2] best known as the founder of the feminist press Shameless Hussy Press and editor of the Shameless Hussy Review.[3] Her 1980 collection The Shameless Hussy won the American Book Award in 1981. She is featured in the feminist history film She's Beautiful When She's Angry.[4][5]

Alta was also one of the early collective members of the influential Bay Area feminist newspaper PLEXUS, for which she wrote a monthly column on women's writing and creativity.

Biography

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Shameless Hussy Press

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Alta started Shameless Hussy Press in 1969.[6] The first women-owned feminist press in California, it opened during the time of second-wave feminism. Alta used a printing press in her garage to publish books by authors such as Susan Griffin, Pat Parker, and Mitsuye Yamada.[7] Yamada later described Alta as an "energetic feminist poet" who promoted Yamada's first volume of poetry "at women’s conferences, women’s health centers, and lesbian bars."[8] The press published the first edition of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide, When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange, and Mary Mackey's first novel, Immersion (1972).[9] They also published poetry by men: "Alta reasoned that since 6 percent of the books published in the U.S. were by women, 6 percent of the books she published should be by men."[7]

The press closed in 1989; its archive is held at University of California Santa Cruz.[10]

Poetry and prose

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Her first volume of feminist poetry, Freedom's in Sight, was published in 1969,[11] and some of her poems were anthologized in such collections as From Feminism to Liberation (Philip G. Altbach and Edith S. Hoshino, eds, 1971).[12] Her 1980 collected works The Shameless Hussy (Crossing Press) won the American Book Award in 1981.[7][13]

Personal life

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Alta was born in Reno, Nevada on May 22, 1942.[1][14] She started the Shameless Hussy Press with her second husband. She wrote a volume of "blatant lesbian poems", Letters to Women (1969).[7] After the press closed she started operating an art gallery in Berkeley, California.[15] She died of breast cancer on March 10, 2024, in Oakland, California.[1]

Works

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Alta's works include:

  • Freedom's in Sight. Aldebaran Review, 1969.
  • Letters to Women. Shameless Hussy Press, 1970.
  • poems & prose by alta. k.n.o.w., 1971.
  • burn this & memorize yourself. Times Change, 1971.
  • song of the wife, song of the mistress. Shameless Hussy Press, 1971.
  • No Visible Means of Support. Shameless Hussy Press, 1971.
  • True Story. Mama's Press, 1973.
  • Momma. Times Change, 1974.
  • i am not a practicing angel. Crossing Press, 1975.
  • Pauline & the Mysterious Pervert. Wyrd Press, 1975.
  • Theme & Variations. Aldeberan Review, 1975.
  • The Shameless Hussy, 1980.
  • Deluged with dudes: platonic & erotic love poems to men. Shameless Hussy Press, 1989.
  • Traveling tales: flings I've flung in foreign parts. Acapella Communications, 1990.

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Green, Penelope (May 17, 2024). "Alta, Irreverent Feminist Poet and Small-Press Pioneer, Dies at 81". The New York Times. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
  2. ^ Davidson, Cathy N.; Linda Wagner-Martin; Elizabeth Ammons, eds. (1995). The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-506608-1.
  3. ^ Moore, Honor (March–April 2009). "After 'Ariel': Celebrating the poetry of the women's movement". Boston Review. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  4. ^ "The Women".
  5. ^ "The Film — She's Beautiful When She's Angry". Shesbeautifulwhenshesangry.com. Retrieved 2017-04-28.
  6. ^ "Alta and the History of Shameless Hussy Press, 1969-1989". University of California, Santa Cruz. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  7. ^ a b c d Love, Barbara J. (2006). Feminists who changed America, 1963-1975. U of Illinois P. pp. 11–12. ISBN 978-0-252-03189-2. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  8. ^ Yamada, Mitsuye (2007). "Living in a Transformed Desert". In Jennifer Sinor (ed.). Placing the academy: essays on landscape, work, and identity. Rona Kaufman. Utah State UP. pp. 125–38. ISBN 978-0-87421-657-8.
  9. ^ Gilbert, Andrew (March 26, 2024). "Alta, 'Shameless Hussy' and Founder of Nation's First Feminist Press, Dies at 81". KQED. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  10. ^ "Guide to the Shameless Hussy Press records, 1968-1989". University of California, Santa Cruz. 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  11. ^ Heinemann, Sue (1996-03-01). Timelines of American women's history. Penguin. p. 326. ISBN 978-0-399-51986-4. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  12. ^ Yates, Gayle Graham (1975-12-12). What Women Want: The Ideas of the Movement. Harvard University Press. pp. ix, 115–16. ISBN 978-0-674-95079-5. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  13. ^ American Booksellers Association (2013). "The American Book Awards / Before Columbus Foundation [1980–2012]". BookWeb. Archived from the original on March 13, 2013. Retrieved September 25, 2013. 1981 [...] The Shameless Hussy, alta
  14. ^ Blain, Virginia; Clements, Patricia; Grundy, Isobel (1990). The feminist companion to literature in English: women writers from the Middle Ages to the present. Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-5848-0. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  15. ^ Metinko, Chris (August 9, 2009). "Berkeley gallery owner tries to grasp the art of staying solvent". East Bay Times. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
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