Saturday, April 25, 2026, Albuquerque, New Mexico

To commemorate the the founding of Amador Publishers in 1986, we are proud to issue a new printing of Adela Amador's collection of cuentos, UNDERCURRENTS: New Mexico Stories, Then & Now.

First published in 1999, Adela's reminiscences and ruminations of changing times and mingled cultures are sure to resonate with today's readers. She delivers her unflinching observations of class, race and gender dynamics without pathos or sentimentality—she simply tells it like it is, like it was, and like it ought to be. Adela doesn't try to speak for everyone, only very clearly for herself.

by Daniel Ackerman

by Monika Dziamka

January 15, 2025: All Amador Publishers E-books previously offered at Smashwords.com have been discontinued. Please watch here for updates on new digital editions and reprints of out-of-stock titles as they are made available. Thank you for your patience.

Gilbert John author of Unbroken Spirit: my life before and after quadriplegia, has died at the age of 65. He had lived with quadriplegia since sustaining a spinal cord injury at the age of 17. Prior to that, Gilbert excelled as an athlete, artist, and manager of the family silversmithing business. In the years since, Gilbert continued to prove himself as a leader, learner, and creative artist. continue reading

"It is my understanding that a mind is the only element needed to do almost anything." —Gilbert John, from Unbroken Spirit

Press Releases: 8/18/21 11/28/21

Worldwind Books Poetry Series

On-line: W.C. Aldridge Interview & Poetry Reading on Bookable Space with Yvonne Battle-Felton.
Ms Aldridge discusses and reads from her poetry collection, My Soul's Journey.

Second Edition, Revised and Expanded

Read Excerpts

Between the ancient ways of the Dine' and boarding school rules, Gilbert John's youth straddled two cultures. When a tragic accident at age 17 thrusts him firmly into the white man's world, he continues his education and becomes a powerful advocate and role model for people with disabilities on and off the Navajo reservation. And despite taboos against such a project, he writes his autobiography.

Book of the Week! Albuquerque Sunday Journal 8/22/21

www.esmarelda.com
Art and artifacts from across the Spiral.

Here is the passionate, mind-blowing, music-and-dance-filled resolution to the time-crossed romance of time-traveling Gypsy dancer Esmarelda and intrepid Celtic fiddler George Drumm.

The Ten Years $24.95

The Two Magicians Book 2
The Time Dancer Book 1

The Carlos Chadwick Mystery
a novel of college life and political terror
by Gene H. Bell-Villada

$24.00

Press Release 2/17/20

All E-Editions   iBooks   Nook   Kobo

read The Future of Amador Publishers

• Amador Publishers was founded in 1986 by Harry Willson and Adela Amador after a New York literary agent, in refusing to rep Harry's book, told him: "This is fresh and new and heartfelt, and the world needs it, and I'm not going to do it." (That book was A World for the Meek)
• In 1989 Harry and Adela accepted my first novel for publication (The Time Dancer came out in 1991), and I was effectively apprenticed to them ever after.
• In 2006 we formed Amador Publishers, LLC and I became a partner and managing editor of the press.
• I took over the press in 2010 when Harry became very ill; both he and Adela are gone now, but their legacy lives on.
• 4 out of the 4 titles we published between 2010 and 2013 were finalists in the NM-AZ Book Awards and 3 of them are First Place Winners. (I think our 2014 titles are going to make a good showing as well.) Amador Awards List
• Amador Publishers is completely independent; we have never been a subsidiary or imprint of any other press and we plan to keep it that way; our website is ad-free. Your book and ebook purchases keep us going. We also offer a variety of publishing options, editorial and book design services, and manuscript review.
  Zelda Gatuskin, Editor in Chief

Sunday, October 19, 2014, Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice
AMADOR PUBLISHERS BOOK BASH
Books — Music — Refreshments — Poetry — and You!
CELEBRATING NEW TITLES FOR 2014:
ANOTHER SPRING
collected poems
by Robin Matthews
and
"THE HOLINESS OF THE REAL"
The Short Verse of Kenneth Rexroth
by Donald Gutierrez

Many thanks to those who came!   Photos   Poetic Tribute

Michelle was a self-described "army brat." Born in North Carolina, she traveled extensively in her childhood. She attended school in New Orleans, and eventually settled in New Mexico, where she worked as a paralegal while earning a Masters degree in Theater from UNM. Her poetry, short fiction and articles appeared in various literary and arts magazines in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and online. Her plays were produced at venues throughout New Mexico, and her book of fiction, Hunger in the First Person Singular (Amador Publishers, 1992), won the New Mexico Press Women's Best Book Zia Award. Miller Allen was the mastermind and lead editor of Amador's anthology, Christmas Blues, Behind the Holiday Mask (1995). Her novel Journey from the Keep of Bones, was awarded First Runner Up for Best Visionary Fiction, 2003 by the National Coalition of Visionary Resources. In 2007, she published the posthumous memoir of Elizabeth McBride, Last of the Nice Girls. She was in the process of completing two mystery novels.

Michelle had made her home in Jemez Springs for a number of years. She moved to Scotland following the death of her husband, Rick Allen, but continued to operate her production company, Green Phoenix Productions, an effort dedicated to "encourag[ing] creative people to keep creating in order to counteract the destructive forces on the planet."

Wherever Michelle landed, she brought people together, energized and inspired. She has left her mark on the hearts on many on both sides of the Atlantic. At the Amador Book Bash on October 19, 2014, Zelda Leah Gatuskin, now editor in chief of Amador Publishers, will offer a tribute to her friend and "literary big sister," who helped to establish a national and international reputation for our homegrown press.

TWO AMADOR TITLES ARE FINALISTS WINNERS!
IN THE 2013 NM-AZ BOOK AWARDS
press release

FEELING THE UNTHINKABLE by Donald Gutierrez

Amador Publishers author Donald Gutierrez died on October 29, 2013 at the age of 81. Born March 10, 1932, in Oakland, Calif., to Alicia Ruiz Chamorro and J. Salvador Gutierrez, he lived most of his young life in San Francisco and the Bay Area. He received his B.A. in English Literature and M.L.S. at UC Berkeley in 1958. While there he met and soon married artist Marlene Zander. After a stint on the East Coast, where Don applied his librarian skills at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Library and later with Grosset and Dunlap publishers, the couple returned to California. Don earned his PhD from UCLA in 1964 and soon accepted a teaching position at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. The family, which by then also included two sons, moved to New Mexico for Don's new assignment as professor of English Literature at Western New Mexico University. Despite the demanding teaching loads, Don persevered in his creative drives, sustaining a brilliant career as a poet, literary critic, and essayist. After retiring to Albuquerque, he also emerged as a deeply committed champion of humanitarian causes and social justice, evidenced in his vast contributions in books, essays, articles, book reviews, papers translated into Spanish, lectures, public readings, and participation in many public protests. Don ultimately wrote seven books. The most recent, Feeling the Unthinkable: Essays on Social Justice, won the Political book category in the New Mexico-Arizona 2013 Book Awards. Don was an inspiring and compassionate man who will be sorely missed by his family and his many friends and colleagues, but his rich legacy endures. (with thanks to Lolita Gutierrez Brockington)

March 10, 2010: It is with deep sorrow that I report the death of Amador Publishers founder Harry Willson at the age of 77. We will miss his wit, wisdom, generosity and unbounded love. He was my dear friend and mentor for more than twenty years. I can still hear him saying, "You're doing it, kiddo," by way of encouragement whenever I felt I had bitten off more than I could chew. He will be with me always in spirit, and with us all through his copious writings. I know I speak for all of Harry's friends, readers and admirers in sending deepest sympathies to Adela, Mary, Andy, Mark and the rest of Harry's family. The greatest honor we can do Harry is to read his words, mix 'em up with a little of our own grey matter, and let ourselves grow in our capacities to think, understand and love. Harry's writing meant the world to him, and it was his gift to the world. He has left a good deal of literary work behind, much of it unpublished, most of it as timely as the day it was written. Harry is gone but still giving. I will continue to publish an essay each month. Here is Harry's Essay for March. with a heavy heart, Zelda