Papaya Press was founded by Sandro J. Ortega-Riek in Los Angeles in 2020 as an outlet for artist's books, handmade paper, letterpress prints, and collage.
The press specializes in books bound in recycled carboard and is inspired by the cartonera book format that thrives in independent publishing communities in Latin America. The cartonera format, which utilizes recycled cardboard (cartón in Spanish) as a binding material, emerged in Argentina in the early 2000s with the establishment of the publishing outfit Eloísa Cartonera. The term “cartonera” derives from the cartoneros, the cardboard sellers from whom cartonera publishers source their binding material. Cartonera books are sold cheaply, often at cost of materials, with the distribution of art, literature, and information taking precedence over profit motives. Over the last two decades, the cartonera format has spread throughout Latin America as a flexible, low-cost method for artists, writers, and activists to share their work even in times of crisis. More English-language information on the cartonera publishing movement can be found on the University of Wisconsin Libraries website here.
Papaya Press publications include Dispatches from a Windowless Room (2022), How to Do Your T Shot: A Handbook for Hard Times (2023), and Pain Is (2024).
Copies of Pain Is are available here in the deluxe edition ($30 + shipping), regular edition ($10 + shipping), and zine edition ($5 + shipping).
Copies of How to Do Your T Shot are also available in the regular edition ($15 + shipping) and the zine edition ($8 + shipping).
To place an order, please contact papayapress@duck.com