Anchovy Press was born out of an encounter with a simple statistic:
“According to a 2018 study by the Cooperative Children's Book Center of Education (CCBC) At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, more children's books that featured an Animal main character were published than children's books featuring a Black, Latinx, Native, or Asian child.”
We want to change this. Our products prioritize fun, authentic, future-focused stories. Our collaborations prioritize emerging creators and artists from underrepresented backgrounds who are interested in exploring non-traditional forms of storytelling.
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Priyanka Kumar (she/ her)
Creative Director
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Priyanka is an illustrator and educator from Kolkata, India, currently based in Baltimore. She currently teaches as full-time faculty in the department of undergrad Illustration at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
She has an MFA in Illustration Practice from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and an MA in Art History from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She has designed and facilitated art workshops and mural interventions since 2013 for various non-profits, and designed communication material for Doctors Without Borders.
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Her personal practice spans across graphic narratives, murals and printmaking. You can see more of her work on her website here.
Rebecca Marimutu (she/her)
Founder Director
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Rebecca is a photographer from New York City, currently based in Baltimore. She graduated from the Photography and Electronic Media MFA program at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and currently teaches in its undergraduate photography program. She has also taught at Towson University and the University of Notre Dame, Maryland.
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"The idea to begin Anchovy Press emerged with the birth of my nephew, Leo. During my time spent with him, reading and playing with his books - it was made apparent that there were few, if any, books about children of color navigating the world. It struck me that I too, did not have many children's books that centered around my experiences growing up."
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Anchovy Press is a Baltimore-based publishing project that centers the experiences of children from marginalized identities.
As educators with training in art and pedagogy, we believe it is important for stories to evoke a sense of wonder as well as question the world around us.
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Our work is small batch, slow publishing with a focus on printmaking and cross-cultural artist collaborations.
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Take what you need, stay as long as you please :)
