Meet Edward Vidaurre | publisher/award-winning poet

We had the good fortune of connecting with Edward Vidaurre and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Edward, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
This is a question I ask myself sometimes, how did I get here? Being an author and publisher are two different things altogether. I never thought of mixing into a career. I was a poet writing and reading and selling a few books here and there but never as a career. I have kept my job as a restaurant manager even as I grown into the publishing role. But I will say that I am pursuing a career in publishing to remove me from that other career someday.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
FlowerSong Press was FlowerSong Books up until 2018 when I took the reigns from David Bowles and rebranded the press with the help of his daughter Nicol. She had a great vision of a new look and created our logo. We started with a less than 10 books published that first year to an average of 25 a year since. I’ve used salary and bonus money from my other job to sustain the press at times, as well as any sales from my personal writings and creative jobs. It has not been easy, we have been lucky to get a few grants throughout those years to help when things looked grim. But we continued to excel even through Covid-19 when everything looked to slow down and other small presses folded.

We want the world to know that we are the press for writers who write to survive and heal. We are literary, lyrical, boundless. We will find authors that want to write for their people and not for self-satisfaction, at least that’s what I seek.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’ve done this, my home is a nice yellow house near the arts district that have new fusion restaurants you usually find in bigger cities. We would plan a trip South Padre Island of course and enjoy the waters of the gulf, cross over to Mexico for the day and have tacos and cold beer, do a little shopping, another day, travel north of the border to Corpus Christi to visit the Selena Museum and statue along the seaside. Take another Trip to San Antonio and do the touristy thing and maybe catch an open mic. A mandatory trip to the border is essential along with conversation of the community that lives here and where the news gets it all wrong lol.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My family deserves all the recognition for all that I do. Without their love and support I would have given up some time back. My friends and support system in publishing, Priscilla Celina Suarez, Rodney Gomez and everyone at FlowerSong Press who bring their unique and valuable skills for support and making us a success. Daniel Garcia Ordaz, who has been a great friend since my early years of writing and has mentored me along the way. Odilia Galvan Rodriguez who has also been a mentor and good friend. My friend from down under Matt Revert, for making books beautiful. The authors that took a chance with me and my press. To Matt Sedillo and the rest of the press authors making waves with group readings across the nation and globe.

Website: https://www.flowersongpress.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowersongpress/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-vidaurre-a2257516b/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VidaurreEdward

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edward.vidaurre

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrHbiI9ym2bEsJvm_Vt4uSA