Soft-spoken Northsider is making noise in the literary scene for authors of color
Mary Taris stands and admires the books in her storefront as she poses for her photo with North News. Photo by Azhae’la Hanson
By Azhae’la Hanson, Reporter
Mary Taris, founder and CEO of Strive Community Publishing, hosted the grand opening of her indie bookstore this summer in her new office space in downtown Minneapolis.
The Northside native registered Strive Community Publishing as a business with the state out of her home office on the Northside in 2016. Today, when people walk into the IDS tower downtown, they can find her sitting in her business’s storefront. The official grand opening of Strive Publishing took place in late July and brought in a new chapter of the company's six-year journey.
Along with managing a publishing agency, Taris has kept busy with the storefront book shop that calls the IDS tower home. Genres of all types have found their way into the store with the one common denominator, Black authors. She sells books published through her agency and also searches for local, self- published authors to carry in the shop.
Since its founding, Strive Publishing strives to bridge the gap for Black authors, most commonly in children's literature. The publishing company is aiming to publish as many books as they can and have recently gained the capacity to accept manuscripts nationwide.
Taris has stayed true to the goal of her business as many of the authors published in her store are Black and from North Minneapolis. It is a goal that’s existed during her years as a teacher and even further back to her years in primary school as a student herself.
“I started Strive Publishing because I wanted to get more books that represented Black children, culture, and our experiences so the children can actually see what they can be and see their culture represented aside from performing, civil rights, and slavery,” Taris said.
She remembers being the quiet kid in school and feeling invisible to her teachers.
This inspired her to become a teacher herself and pay more attention to the students that were overlooked like she was. Her compassion for giving opportunities to overlooked students transferred into her career as an entrepreneur, as she became frustrated from the lack of multicultural titles in children's literature.
Taris understood that representation of Black stories in children's literature starts with the people who create them: The authors. The reason she never saw herself in the books she read and taught was due to the lack of Black authors to share their experiences. Just 6 percent of the authors nationwide are Black, according to one industry survey.
“I know there are a lot of talented writers and illustrators in our own community that don't get opportunities,” Taris said. “And that's what I want to do. Provide opportunities and also engage the community in the literary arts.”
“I wanted to get more books that represented Black children, culture, and our experiences so the children can actually see what they can be and see their culture represented aside from performing, civil rights, and slavery.”
Her passion for advocating for the quiet kids in her classroom evolved into building a platform for those overlooked in the Minneapolis literary scene.
When someone walks into Strive Publishing, they are met with Taris and her smiling staff, who are also three of her children. They invite the community to browse the shelves. Taris looks forward to broaden the audience for these books. Strive Publishing has recently launched various ways to interact with the community, such as a speaker series and writing contests.
“I really want to make it a family legacy and a community legacy where we'll always have this space,” she said. “I mean, whether it's online or in a retail shop or in my home office or out in the community space where we can just enjoy literature.”
Taris always has the community in mind, working to ensure that a lot of her company’s services are free of charge because, much like the books she's publishing, she wants her work to be around long after she’s gone.