About US
Our Backgrounds
Valerie is a small town, preacher’s daughter with strong convictions and a unique personality that seeks to find and share her truths. She comes from a long line of writers, literature enthusiasts, educators, and musicians. She is a woman who wears many hats and desires to represent the “every woman” in her confessional poetry. She is also an advocate for social justice believing kindness and love CAN change the world, one conversation at a time. Through her experiences, trauma, and joys, she has found solace and acceptance in a pen and paper. Writing has always been a fortress of discovery and healing for her, especially in times of struggle. She is a community college English professor and enjoys reading, writing, singing, talking about the deep questions of life, and spending time with her family.
Justin is also a small town guy who is every person's best friend and always the most chill guy in the room. He comes from a large, mixed family that lived through tough times. Justin has also always found writing to be a form of therapy. He is currently working on a vignette-style biography that surveys the struggles and blessings that fueled his journey which he likes to call the "long way to love." He is currently an IT director and enjoys binge-watching and rating movies/shows, podcasting with his friends, and spending time with his family.
Justin and Valerie live in South Texas with their two daughters and two shih-tzus. Together, they founded Red Raven Press in hopes of encouraging creative writing in their community and to begin a legacy of writing for their eldest daughter who is already, at 14, an incredible writer herself.
Writing Roots
Red Raven Press, like its founders, is influenced by works that possess a catharsis of one's struggles and experiences. Authors like Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Kate Chopin, Shirley Jackson, and Edgar Allen Poe highlight the interconnection between reality, our subconscious and creativity. Similarly, we find that through words, one can find a deeper sense of their identity.
Our Focus
As of now, Red Raven Press is primarily focused on publishing works of poetry, creative non-fiction, and short stories. Currently, our micro-press, run by people with day jobs, is still in its infancy. Initially, we will be publishing work by our very own founder, Valerie, whose poetry collection Identity Theft is set to release sometime in Summer 25. In the meantime, we are also exploring ways to develop a digital anthology celebrating the writing and art of our local youth. In addition, we want to eventually move towards publishing poetry chapbooks, short story and creativity non-fiction collections. We will not be accepting any full length novels at this time. As we are a very small, indie press, it will take some time to get our bearings and spread our wings.