Heyday

Heyday aims to promote civic engagement and social justice, celebrate nature’s beauty, support California Indian cultural renewal, and explore the state’s rich history, culture, and influence. Through the work we publish and events we host, our goal is to continue growing a diverse community of writers, readers, and activists who think critically about the issues most important in our home state and beyond.

At Heyday, we prioritize sustainably acquiring, publishing, and promoting the books and events that best fulfill our mission. We also seek to use best publishing practices to ensure that our team works together in ways that are fiscally sustainable and professionally satisfying.

We will achieve our goals each year by publishing up to twenty books, four quarterly issues of News from Native California, and participating in dozens of events. We continue to partner with California’s leading cultural organizations and participate together in educational initiatives.

Heyday has a long history as an editorially-focused press that prioritizes relationships. By encouraging and supporting authors to tell their own histories and rewrite dominant narratives, Heyday imbues communities that are impacted by these narratives with agency and a central role in crafting new ones. Our projects add to the growing literature giving voice to minority experiences, offering new, accessible, personally grounded ways to understand culture and history.

A passionate team of 12 employees, 12 board members, and an ever-growing community of authors, artists, freelancers, friends, and funders help bring Heyday’s work to life.

Heyday’s board has finance, audit, development/marketing, and governance/nominating committees that meet regularly, while the full board gathers quarterly. Board members’ acumen in budgeting, marketing, fundraising, law, and leadership are serving Heyday tremendously. Regular communication between board and staff bolsters our ability to serve the community in many ways. We work collaboratively with a wonderful network of authors and artists in order to produce the highest quality books and community-centered events.

Since our founding in 1974 by Malcolm Margolin, Heyday has proudly published over 500 books and currently releases 15-20 new works each year. Margolin also co-founded the quarterly magazine News from Native California, now celebrating 35 years of publication. We have taken a lead role in dozens of prominent education programs throughout the state, and we partner with many leading cultural institutions.

In 2016, Margolin retired from Heyday. The organization is now helmed by Steve Wasserman and Gayle Wattawa. News from Native California and Heyday's Roundhouse Program are led by Terria Smith (Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla). In 2018, Heyday began national distribution for our books with Publishers Group West (an Ingram brand), one of the country’s leading distributors. Today our work at Heyday is guided by four central areas of nonfiction publishing: History, Social Justice, Nature, and California Indian Cultural Renewal. We will continue to promote truth and storytelling in these areas as we approach our second half century of publishing.