Third Woman Press is a Queer and Feminist of Color publisher forum committed to feminist and queer of color decolonial politics and projects. It was founded in 1979 by Norma Alarcón in Bloomington, Indiana. Alarcón, who was the professor and chair of women's studies at Berkeley at the time, began the TWP journal as a labor of love in 1979. In that same year, Alarcón realized that "there weren't enough other women of color or Latinas for me to have a conversation with." She aimed to create a new political class surrounding, sexuality, race and gender. Alarcón wrote that, "Third Woman is one forum, for the self-definition and the self-invention which is more than reformism, more than revolt. The title Third Woman refers to that pre-ordained reality that we have been born to and continue to live and experience and be a witness to, despite efforts toward change..." By 2004, the press published over 30 books that were for, by and about women. The press was closed down in 2004 due to lack of funds and energy. It then had reopened in 2011 by Dr. Alarcon with the help of Christina L. Gutiérrez and Sara A. Ramírez. TWP taught Ramirez a deeper sense of women of color, all of which were thinkers, writers, and artists in which their activism; this led to her passion of finding their publishing. Alarcon was at the top of her list of activists in which she learned about TWP and its closing. Ramirez brought back the publishing movement because she and the resources support to do so for feminism of color. In 2011, Ramirez asked Alarcon if she could revitalize TWP project and resulted in the rebirth of TWP. Without Ramirez, the press would not have reopened or functioning as of today. She is also the First Core Collective Member is the first member of a national collective working that helped revive TWP. TWP was revived to honor and continue the legacy of women of color publishing. It has also published works by notable women of color such as Gloria Anzaldúa's Living Chicana Theory, Cherrie Moraga's The Sexuality of Latinas, Carla Trujillo's Chicana Lesbians: The GirlsOur Mothers Warned Us About, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's Writing Self, Writing Nation: A Collection of Essays on Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha and Ana Castillo's The Sexuality of Latinas . TWP believes that language, art, and media are tools for creating dynamic social change. The tools expand access to the work of activist scholars and artists dedicated to liberation from the historical injustices of colonialism and imperialism. They also encourage reader to collaborate with them to envisioning a world for women of color that incorporates migratory, diasporic, and indigenous women both within and beyond U.S. national borders.
