The NEA Giveth, the NEA Taketh Away

Staff -- School Library Journal, 5/1/1999

In what one National Endowment for the Arts spokesperson called "a fairly rare incidence," NEA chairman William Ivey personally canceled a grant supporting the Cinco Puntos Press's publication of a children's picture book written by Subcomandante Marcos, a leader of the Zapatista rebels.

Publicity generated by NEA's action turned out to be a boon for the small, independent press in the form of a $15,000 grant from another foundation. Indeed, Bobby Byrd, co-owner of the El Paso, TX-based Cinco Puntos Press, surmises that without the controversy, it's unlikely that the small press would be handling hundreds of phone orders for the book from around the country.