Casa de Maria Publisher: WRITE...REFLECT...REIMAGINE

Vilma Luz Caban
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Write…Reflect…Reimagine Ⓡ is the official podcast of Casa de María Publisher, an independent publishing house committed to amplifying diverse and underrepresented voices.   This podcast series is a sanctuary for emerging and established marginalized writers, poets, and screenwriters seeking both inspiration and practical strategies to navigate the publishing world.   Each episode features powerful conversations with published authors, visionary poets, and industry professionals who have carved their own path in a system that often overlooks their stories. Listeners will gain access to behind-the-scenes insight, creative routines, and actionable advice—from writing residencies to manuscript pitching, self-publishing, traditional routes, and everything in between.

Episodes

  1. The Legacy of Speaking Up (Jacquelyn Santiago)

    MAR 12

    The Legacy of Speaking Up (Jacquelyn Santiago)

    What happens when speaking up becomes more than a single moment of courage? In Episode 11 of the Casa de María Publisher Podcast — Write… Reflect… Reimagine, Dr. Vilma Luz Cabán sits down with nationally recognized violence-prevention leader and youth advocate Jacquelyn Santiago for a conversation about voice, service, and the legacy that grows from speaking when silence once felt safer. Jacquelyn Santiago is a respected author, community leader, and advocate whose work centers youth empowerment, organizational leadership, and personal development. Jacquelyn has made multiple visits to Washington, D.C., to share her expertise in the violence prevention field with The White House and the U.S. Department of Justice. This conversation unfolds in Hartford, Connecticut, as Casa de María Publisher prepares for the public literary event Grace & Boldness: Latina Voices for Change at Yale University in Dwight Hall: Center for Public Service and Social Justice. The episode begins with the image of vibrant murals rising from brick walls across Hartford — one of them bearing Jacquelyn Santiago’s face, voted on by the Frog Hollow neighborhood itself as a reflection of her decades of work with youth and families navigating violence, grief, and systemic inequities.  But long before national recognition, policy conversations, or murals painted across Hartford neighborhoods, there was a young girl navigating questions of identity, belonging, and worth. In this episode, Vilma and Jacquelyn explore the deeper journey behind public leadership: • how a voice forms when silence once felt like safety • the tension of cultural identity and belonging                                                                  • the moment when personal healing becomes service • how storytelling disrupts systems and liberates people • and what legacy truly means when communities reflect courage back to those who speak Together, Vilma and Jacquelyn reflect on a powerful truth: Legacy is rarely built in a single moment. It is built quietly in different spaces and in the decisions to speak when silence would be easier. Listen to Episode 11: The Legacy of Speaking Up Voice does more than tell a story. Voice builds a future. FROGHOLLOW MURAL HARTFORD HEROES MURAL https://www.casademariapublisher.com/

    29 min

  2. MAR 11

    Sustaining A Writing Life

    What allows a writer to continue, not just for a single manuscript, but across years of creative life? In this episode of the Casa de María Publisher Podcast, we explore what it means to sustain a writing life beyond deadlines, publication milestones, or moments of urgency. Many writers begin during periods of intensity. Perhaps it was after loss, a life transition, or a moment that demands to be written. But sustaining a writing life requires something different. It requires rhythm, care, and the quiet discipline of returning to the page when no one is watching. This episode reflects on the deeper conditions that allow writing to continue across seasons of change. We explore the difference between practice and performance, the role of environment and ritual, and how writers adapt their creative process as life evolves. Dr. Vilma Luz Cabán also shares personal reflections on writing during a season of transition...about developing new work while rematriating to Puerto Rico and building Casa de María Publisher. A sustained writing life is shaped by patience, attention, and the willingness to remain in conversation with the work over time. Join us! DON'T GIVE UP! https://www.casademariapublisher.com/

    19 min

  3. MAR 11

    Our Writing Community, Retreats, and Creative Spaces

    In this episode of the Casa de María Publisher Podcast — Write… Reflect… Reimagine, we reflect on the creative conditions that allow writers to continue their work when the path forward becomes less clear.  Dr. Vilma Luz Cabán explores how literary spaces, both physical and virtual, can help writers return to the page with renewed clarity and discipline. From writing retreats in Puerto Rico, reflective online writing webinars, and the Casa de María curated anthology, this episode introduces the interconnected ecosystem Casa de María Publisher has created to support sustained creative practice. Rather than focusing on productivity or speed, this conversation centers on something quieter and more enduring: the environments that allow writers to remain present with their work long enough for it to grow. You may begin to see the podcast itself as a kind of portable writing retreat. It is a powerful small space where writers can pause, reflect on craft, and find their way back to the manuscript that is waiting. WRITING RETREATS IN PUERTO RICO FREE WRITING WEBINARS PODCAST ON APPLE AND SPOTIFY https://www.casademariapublisher.com/

    14 min

  4. FEB 4

    Publishing Pathways Explained

    In Publishing Pathways Explained, Dr. Vilma Luz Cabán offers a transparent, grounded conversation about publishing models, support structures, and what it truly means to publish with integrity. This episode examines what self-publishing actually requires of writers, beyond the promise of speed and control. We talk plainly about the professional labor writers are often asked to carry alone—editing, design, distribution, marketing, legal decisions—and the hidden financial, emotional, and cognitive costs that come with that responsibility. The conversation also addresses institutional perception. Why some self-published books struggle to reach bookstore shelves, public libraries, or classrooms. Not because of a lack of talent, but because institutions rely on visible publishing frameworks to manage accountability, continuity, and access. This episode reframes publishing not as a race, but as a relationship—with your work, your time, and the systems that hold it. It explores why structure is not about control, but visibility. Not about validation, but access. There is no single correct publishing pathway. Only the one that aligns with your values, your capacity, and what feels right. Before closing, Dr. Cabán offers a preview of Episode 9, Community, Retreats, and Creative Spaces, where the conversation shifts from systems to the environments that allow writers to slow down, be witnessed, and write with honesty. Check out OUR PUBLISHING MODEL on our Casa de Maria Publisher website.  https://www.casademariapublisher.com/

    15 min
  5. After Survival: Choosing Voice with Author Daisy Plaza

    FEB 4

    After Survival: Choosing Voice with Author Daisy Plaza

    What happens after survival? After the body has endured. After the danger has passed. When the question is no longer Can I survive this? but instead How do I speak from what I lived through? In this episode of the Casa de María Podcast, I’m joined by Daisy Plaza, author of I Did It for Her, for a conversation about voice, authorship, and what it means to write from readiness. Together, we reflect on how the meaning of “her” has shifted over time, how a writer knows when a story is truly ready to be told, and the discipline it takes to shape lived experience into language that can hold others. Recorded from Casa de María Publisher’s home in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, this conversation explores survival not as an ending, but as a threshold. We talk about what writing can give back, what readers who are still surviving might hear when they encounter a story like Daisy’s, and how survival evolves when it is defined not only by endurance, but by choice. This episode is an invitation to consider voice as an act of agency, and authorship as a step beyond survival. Content note: This episode discusses survival and lived experience. Listeners are encouraged to take what they need and leave what they are not ready for. YOU CAN PURCHASE DAISY PLAZA'S BOOK ON AMAZON.  Follow her on Instagram. https://www.casademariapublisher.com/

    23 min

  6. FEB 4

    The Mango Tree: The Story of Our Logo

    Every story begins somewhere. Ours begins beneath a tree. This episode explores the living history behind the Casa de María Publisher logo—the mango tree rooted in land shaped by labor, memory, and endurance. Through this image, we reflect on authorship as something cultivated, not extracted. Writing, like fruit, ripens in its own time. When held with care, it becomes nourishment. This is a story about roots, offerings, and the responsibility of carrying stories forward. Coming next: After Survival: Choosing Voice with Daisy Plaza. https://www.casademariapublisher.com/

    11 min

  7. JAN 18

    Launching With Care

    What does it mean to launch a publishing house with care? Launching With Care explores why Casa de María Publisher chose to enter the world not through a traditional ribbon cutting, but through a free public program grounded in dialogue, accountability, and community presence. This conversation examines publishing as stewardship rather than spectacle, and accessibility as an ethical stance rather than a marketing decision. It invites listeners to consider how stories are held while they are still becoming, why timing and structure matter, and what it means to resist urgency in favor of care. The episode also offers context for Grace and Boldness: Latina Voices for Change. This is Casa de María Publisher’s first public program during Women’s History Month at Yale University’s Dwight Hall Chapel—a gathering designed to encourage writers and future authors as well as hold space for reflection and witness. https://www.casademariapublisher.com/

    10 min

  8. JAN 18

    From Memory to Memoir

    How does memory become memoir? In this episode, Dr. Vilma Luz Cabán turns toward memory as it actually arrives—not as a tidy timeline or complete account, but as sensation, interruption, and return. From Memory to Memoir invites writers to sit beside memory rather than interrogate it, and to understand memoir as a practice of attention, not extraction. Through imagery and reflection, this conversation explores why memoir does not ask us to remember everything, but to notice what persists. It considers the role of choice—where to begin, where to pause, what to name, and what to leave in shadow—as an act of care for the writer, the work, and the truth itself. This episode is grounded in craft and restraint. It ends at the threshold of authorship, where memory has been shaped with intention, and prepares listeners for the ethical questions that follow once a story begins to take form. https://www.casademariapublisher.com/

    12 min

  9. JAN 9

    Episode 3: Voice, Craft, and Cultural Integrity

    In this episode of Casa de María, Dr. Vilma Luz Cabán reflects on what it truly means to develop an authentic voice as a writer—one rooted in lived experience, cultural memory, and ethical care. Building on the previous conversation about writing as witness, this episode explores how truth is carried onto the page without being flattened, translated, or shaped to meet external expectations. We examine voice not as performance or imitation, but as a relationship—to language, to memory, and to the histories that have shaped us. This episode invites listeners to consider: What we mean when we talk about “voice” in writingWhy voice can feel unstable, especially for writers from marginalized communitiesHow craft can support truth rather than constrain itWhat cultural integrity asks of us as storytellersHow to resist stereotype without avoiding complexityThe difference between writing from truth and writing toward expectationListeners are invited into a quiet, reflective space—one that honors nuance, patience, and care. This is a conversation about writing that refuses simplification and about trusting the language that comes from where you stand. As the episode closes, listeners are invited to reflect on where they may have adjusted their voice in order to be understood—and what it might mean to listen more closely to what remains true. In the next episode, we turn toward memory itself: how it returns, how it shapes narrative, and how memoir asks us not only to remember, but to choose. https://www.casademariapublisher.com/

    15 min

  10. JAN 7

    Episode 2: Writing as Witness and Healing

    Writing is not only an act of craft. It is an act of presence, memory, and care. In this episode, Dr. Vilma Luz Cabán explores writing as a form of witness and a pathway toward healing. She reflects on how writing can honor lived experience without turning pain into performance or productivity, and how ethical storytelling begins with intention, consent, and respect for the writer’s inner pace. This conversation examines the difference between witness and exposure, the relationship between writing and the nervous system, and the importance of cultural context and collective memory. Drawing from personal reflection and community-centered values, this episode invites writers to consider how language can hold truth without rushing it toward resolution. Rather than offering formulas or demands, this episode creates space. Space for writers to listen inward, to write from the edges when needed, and to understand restoration as part of the creative process. This episode is for writers, artists, and cultural storytellers who believe that stories deserve care, that voice matters even when it speaks softly, and that writing can be a place where we are not abandoned. Casa de María is a publishing home rooted in dignity, cultural integrity, and creative restoration. Explore our free webinars, writing retreats in Puerto Rico, and curated anthologies.   https://www.casademariapublisher.com/

    11 min

  11. JAN 6

    Why Does Casa de María Exist?

    Casa de María was not created as a business alone. It was born from memory, promise, and an unwavering belief in the power of story. In this opening episode, Dr. Vilma Luz Cabán shares the origin of Casa de María Publisher. She reflects on the personal, cultural, and ethical foundations that shaped its creation, from honoring ancestral legacy and lived experience to building a publishing home rooted in dignity, care, and creative sovereignty. This episode explores why Casa de María exists as more than a publishing imprint. It is a space for writers whose voices have been overlooked, a refuge for stories shaped by resilience, and a commitment to publishing with integrity, transparency, and respect for author ownership. Grounded in place and guided by purpose, this conversation invites listeners into the heart of Casa de María. It is an invitation to writers, storytellers, educators, and cultural practitioners seeking a creative home where stories are not rushed, voices are not extracted, and craft is honored with intention. This is where the journey begins. Visit us at www.casademariapublisher.com https://www.casademariapublisher.com/

    8 min
  • 11 Episodes

About

Write…Reflect…Reimagine Ⓡ is the official podcast of Casa de María Publisher, an independent publishing house committed to amplifying diverse and underrepresented voices.   This podcast series is a sanctuary for emerging and established marginalized writers, poets, and screenwriters seeking both inspiration and practical strategies to navigate the publishing world.   Each episode features powerful conversations with published authors, visionary poets, and industry professionals who have carved their own path in a system that often overlooks their stories. Listeners will gain access to behind-the-scenes insight, creative routines, and actionable advice—from writing residencies to manuscript pitching, self-publishing, traditional routes, and everything in between.

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