Aunt Lute Books is a multicultural feminist press whose mission is to "publish literature by women whose voices have been traditionally under-represented in mainstream and small press publishing" and "distribute literature that expresses the true complexity of women’s lives and the possibilities for personal and social change." The publisher has a stated aim to embrace the opportunity to work with and support first-time authors.
In 1982, Aunt Lute Book Company was founded by Barb Wieser and Joan Pinkvoss in Iowa.
Aunt Lute merged with another feminist publisher, Spinsters Ink in 1986, and the two organizations published jointly for several years in San Francisco under the name Spinsters/Aunt Lute. In 1990 the Aunt Lute Foundation was established as a non profit publishing program, and in 1992, Spinsters Ink was purchased by lesbian feminist philanthropist Joan Drury and moved to Minneapolis.
Aunt Lute continues to operate independently as a nonprofit to the present day.
Aunt Lute has published a number of high-profile feminist and lesbian authors, including Audre Lorde (The Cancer Journals), Gloria Anzaldúa (Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza), Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, LeAnne Howe (Shell Shaker, winner of the 2002 Before Columbus American Book Award and Miko Kings: An Indian Baseball Story), Alice Walker, and Paula Gunn Allen.
Call Me Woman, the autobiography of South African activist Ellen Kuzwayo, Radmila Manojlovic Zarkovic's anthology, I Remember: Writings by Bosnian Women Refugees, and Cherry Muhanji's Lambda Award winning novel Her are all been published by Aunt Lute. Other Aunt Lute titles include the first U.S. collection of Filipina/Filipina American women writers and the first collection of Southeast Asian women writers, as well as a number of translated texts.
A Simple Revolution; by Judy GrahnAlice Walker Banned; by Alice WalkerBeautiful and Dark; by Rosa Montero and Trans Adrienne MitchellBorderlands/La Frontera (Fourth Edition); by Gloria AnzaldúaCall me Woman; by Ellen KuzwayoCancer Journals; by Audre Lordeflesh to bone; by ire'ne lara silvaGulf Dreams; by Emma PerezHaggadah; by Martha ShelleyHot Chicken Wings; by Jyl Lynn FelmanHer; by Cherry MuhanjiThe Issue is Power; by Melanie Kaye KantrowitzMy Jewish Face; by Melanie Kaye KantrowitzJunglee Girl; by Ginu KamaniLowest Blue Flame Before Nothing; by Lara StapletonMaidenhome; by Ding XiaoqiMe as her again; Nancy AgabianMiko Kings: An Indian Baseball Story; by LeAnne HoweThe Storyteller with Nike Airs; by Kleya Forte-EscamillaShell Shaker; by LeAnne HoweSend My Roots Rain; by Ibis Gomez-VegaSinging Softly/Cantando Bajito; by Carmen de MontefloresTeaching at the Crossroads; by Laurie GrobmanTransforming Feminist Practice: Non-Violence, Social Justice, and the Possibilities of a Spiritualized Feminism; by Leela FernandesThe Two Mujeres; by Sara Levi CalderonTeacher at Point Blank: Confronting Sexuality, Violence, and Secrets in a Suburban School; by Jo Scott-CoeThe Way We Make Sense; by Dawn Karima PettigrewWhite Snake and Other Stories; by Geling YanThe Woman Who Owned the Shadows; by Paula Gunn AllenAnthologies and Collections
Babaylan: An Anthology of Filipina and Filipina American Writers" Eds. Nick Carbo and Eileen TabiosCity of One: Young Writers Speak to the World; by WritersCorpsEl Mundo Zurdo; Eds. Norma E. Cantu, Christina L. Gutierrez, Norma Alarcon and Rita E. Urquijo-RuizEl Mundo Zurdo 2;El Mundo Zurdo 3;Frontline Feminism; Ed. Karen KahnMaking Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Caras; Ed. Gloria AnzaldúaNew Voices 1; by DeeAnne Davis, Rabie Harris, and Gloria YamatoOur Feet Walk the Sky; by Women of South Asian Descent Collective (WOSAD)Positive/Negative: Women of Color and HIV/AIDS; Eds. Imani Harrington and Chyrell BellamyRadical Acts: Theatre and Feminist Pedagogies of Change; Eds. Anne Elizabeth Armstrong and Kathleen JuhlShadow on a Tightrope; Eds. Lisa Schoenfielder and Barb WieserSolid Ground; by WritersCorpsThe Aunt Lute Anthology of U.S. Women Writers, Volume One: 17th through 19th Centuries; Eds. Lisa Maria Hogeland and Mary KlagesThe Aunt Lute Anthology of U.S. Women Writers, Volume Two; Eds. Lisa Maria Hogeland and Shay BrownThe Judy Grahn Reader; By Judy GrahnThe Unforgetting Heart: An Anthology of Short Stories by African American Women (1859-1993); Ed. Asha KanwarThrough the Eye of the Deer: An Anthology of Native American Women Writers; Eds. Carolyn Dunn and Carol ComfortReclaiming Medusa: Short Stories by Contemporary Puerto Rican Women; Ed. Diana VelezAunt Lute Books was the 2004 - 2005 and the 2005 - 2006 Best of the Small Presses Award granted by Standards, an International Cultural Studies Magazine.
