About Us

Guaní™ Press is a new publishing house that will publish works that reflect principles and knowledge that we all once shared as part of the human species, but that unfortunately through historical processes, have been dismissed, distorted, and forgotten by many. Preference will be given to segments of the population underrepresented in the publishing industry with particular emphasis in welcoming works by Indigenous Peoples (First Peoples, First Nations, Aboriginal) from the American continents and beyond.

Traditional Indigenous Peoples are the bearers of knowledge required to rebalance our relationship with the environment and with each other. 

United Nations document C169 - Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) states:

“. . . that their laws, values, customs and perspectives have often been eroded, and calling attention to the distinctive contributions of Indigenous and tribal peoples to the cultural diversity and social and ecological harmony of humankind and to international co-operation and understanding.”

It is our goal to give oral histories, traditions, and personal narratives a space where those who want to share them with the world at large can do so in their own terms and in their own voices.

Guaní is open to writers that reflect in their works what Aboriginal writer Tyson Yunkaporta has called “holistic reasoning,” and see the universe as an organic web of interrelations between the animate and inanimate, as well as the visible and the invisible. That believe in the sacredness of nature, that land is an integral part of identity and culture, that there are different ways of learning, as well as different realities, and that there are other valid scientific approaches, besides the Western scientific method.  It will also welcome testimonial works and those that re-evaluate history from the perspective of First Settlers.

We hope that Guaní becomes a place of dialogue and celebration and that through our publications we can serve as a door to a world rich in values and wisdom with medical, cultural, political and social knowledge worth learning from.

 

 

 

The guaní, or hummingbird, is among the smallest of birds, and also among the most beautiful. It is also extremely territorial, very fast, not easily intimidated and, considering its size, among the fiercest of all birds. There are over 360 species of hummingbirds and they cannot be found in any other landmass in the world except from northern Turtle Island to the southernmost tip of Abya Yala. Guaní, a Taíno word, was chosen as the name and symbol of our publishing company for its many roles in these continents’ cultures, among them: protector, warrior, bringer of joy, fountain of energy, and announcer of visitors and of good news.