Nopalito PRESS was founded in 2004, by Alfredo Rodriguez Santos c/s and is based in Uvalde, Texas. After working in the newspaper business for a number of years, Santos c/s decided it was time to take many of the stories he had come across over the years and explore the possiblity of the longer story format of books. He says, "I came across a number of stories over the years that were just too long to be used as newspaper articles. Some of these stories are indeed treasures that need to be shared with more people. I believe some of these stories can be best told in a book format with lots of photos. Vamos a ver si es cierto." Nopalito PRESS is actively seeking writers from Southwest Texas who are interested in publishing their work.
A high school dropout and former migrant farmworker, Alfredo
Rodriguez Santos c/s was an active participant in the Chicano
Movement and a member of the Mexican American Youth
Organization in Uvalde, Texas. In the early 1970s he made the
switch from the agricultural fields to the academic fields when he
decided it was time to go to college. After extensive retooling
and many hours spent with tutors at San Joaquin Delta
College in Stockton, California, Santos c/s managed to sneak
into the University of California -Berkeley where he graduated in
1974, with a bachelors degree in economics.
After a two year stint as a labor organizer for Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers Union of America in Watsonville, California, he went on to do graduate work at the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Notre Dame, Texas Southern University Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College and the University of Delaware.
His varied work experiences as a labor organizer, locksmith, school teacher, waiter, program administrator, Houston taxicab driver, journalist, college instructor and community activist have helped him to become a better story teller over the years. For the past 17 years he has worked as the editor & chief at various newspapers which he founded including: La Voz de Brazoria County, La Voz de Uvalde County, La Voz de Zavala County, La Voz de Austin and La Politiquera.
With Nopalito PRESS, Santos c/s says in way he is returning to the fields of South Texas to work on a new crop. But this time, instead of pepinos in Pearsall, or melones in Batesville, it will be writers and poets who can add their voices to the American experience.
