Mark established Red Hen Press in 1994 alongside his wife Kate Gale. Fascinated with the materiality of books and their function as artifacts, and pushed by the desire to cut his teeth in business, Mark gravitated towards the internal functions of the press. In his capacity as Publisher, he acts variously as editor, designer, fundraiser, and, despite his best efforts, boss. His search for diverse, offbeat literature is inspired by his city, Los Angeles, where the abundance of the world’s cultures, languages, and foods mash together to form something far from coherent, yet somehow complete. Similarly, he wants Red Hen to publish work that spans the world, fresh literature that plots uncharted waters and maps unknown worlds.
Boasting a complete catalog of over 320 books, Red Hen has become a visionary force in North American and especially Los Angeles publishing, known for producing reliably excellent, memorable, eclectic, and dynamic literature. In addition to an average annual print of twenty new books of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, Red Hen Press coordinates a number of regionial and interest-specific contests and publication bodies, and it strives to promote literacy in the greater Los Angeles area through its Writing in the Schools program.