All are invited to Venezuela Today: Hope In Uncertain Times Venezuela: esperanza en tiempos de incertidumbre A virtual bilingual conference at UC Berkeley Library, April 13. 2026
From 10 am to 12: 30 pm PDT/ 1 pm to 3:30 pm EDT (Caracas Time)/ 7 pm-9:30 pm (Madrid Time)
We remain extremely grateful to UC Berkeley Library’s administration and to our University Librarian, Suzanne Wones, for her constant support and encouragement.
In the wake of 2026’s shifts, Venezuela faces both hope and uncertainty. This virtual conference brings experts together to examine post-crisis realities: rebuilding institutions, managing oil sovereignty, and bridging the diaspora-local divide. Join us for an honest discussion on the transition from authoritarianism to stabilization and its human cost. This conference is free and open to all with prior registration. One must have a Zoom account to attend this conference. First authenticate by signing into you individual zoom accounts and then register.
Jaded Ibis Press only became a California press five years ago. Debra DiBlasi founded the press in 2008 in the midwest. Wanting to produce significant literature to enlighten, emphasizing empathy and respect, DiBlasi planned on “Ibis Productions” after the James Hurst short story “The Scarlet Ibis.” Frustrated with the state of contemporary literature and the rejection of what DiBlasi thought were “superlatively original books” as unmarketable, they added “Jaded” to the name.[1] While the press’ foundation had been laid, it wasn’t until DiBlasi moved the press to Seattle, Washington, in 2010 that the press took flight. Over the next three years, the press would publish almost two dozen books, featuring memoirs, poetry, and prose.
From its founding, Jaded Ibis Press has focused on mixing media, including visual arts, music, and the written word. Their volumes frequently include collaborations between authors, illustrators, photographs, and other visual artists. They also experiment with technology, producing interactive works for ereaders.[2] In addition, the press currently runs a podcast and the bi-monthly, online literary journal/blog Scarlet.
Today, under Board President Elizabeth Earley and based out of San Francisco, Jaded Ibis continues its mandate to enlighten and encourage. The Press self-defines as a “feminist press” with emphasis on works by people of color, queer individuals, and/or those with disabilities who engage with social justice as an artistic practice.[3]
To find additional books from Jaded Ibis Press in the UC System, do an advanced search for the press under “Publisher” and limit the Material Type to “Books.” Here’s the base search!
[2] Debra Di Blasi, “Scenes: Jaded Ibis Press: An Interview with Debra Di Blasi,” American Book Review 33, no. 5 (2012): 31–31.
[3] “About,” Jaded Ibis Press, accessed April 6, 2026, https://jadedibispress.com/about/; “Myriam Gurba with Elizabeth Earley,” Library Foundation SD, accessed April 6, 2026, https://libraryfoundationsd.org/events/gurba.
Yago Cura founded HINCHAS Press in Los Angeles in 2016. The press comes out of Cura’s Hinchas de Poesia Literary Journal (founded in 2009), a journal Cura began with financial support from one James Foley. Foley, a war journalist, died in 2014 after being detained by ISIS for two years. To memorialize Foley’s support and “honor Jim’s spirit,” Cura collaborated with several writers who also knew Foley to write the anthology Ghazals for Foley (HINCHAS Press, 2016) – the first of HINCHAS press’ books.
From its start as a literary journal, HINCHAS Press has focused on poetry, library science (Cura is themself a public librarian), and zines. The Press is a “bilingual literacy laboratory,” publishing works in English, Spanish, in translation, and/or Spanglish. Honoring its founding, topics continue to focus on social justice and advocacy with recent volumes focused on stories from “Black and Brown writers from around the globe” (e.g., Amorphaville: Stories Outside Time) as well as LA specific authors (e.g., X LA Poets). The Press aims to produce four volumes a year.
Readers can find more about the press on their website or on their Instagram page.
UC Berkeley also recently put in an order for several of their additional texts. We also plan on going on a bit of a hunt in the Fall for some of their out of print titles.
In 1974, a small group of women founded Kelsey Street Press in the basement of group member Patricia Dienstfrey’s home on Kelsey Street in Berkeley, while another member–Rena Rosenwasser–committed to set type. At the time, Dienstfrey and other women authors were frustrated with the lack of space in the Bay Area for women’s poetry or artistic voices. In response, five members (including Dienstfrey) of the Berkeley Poets Co-op decided to found a press.[1] Their explicit goal was to provide Bay Area women writers “who felt compelled to address the historical marginalization of women writers by mainstream publishers” a space to release their work.[2] Both Rosenwasser and Dienstfrey would dedicate their time and efforts to the press for 50 years, with other members coming in and out. Today, Dienstfrey has stepped back and Rosenwasser is taking a background role while Ching-In Chen, Emgee Dufresne, and Carla Hall steer the Press.
Kelsey Street works with their authors to produce poetry, prose, experimental writing, and collaborative works tying together poetry or prose with the visual arts. Among the first of the latter, Rena Rosenwasser and Kate Delos Simulacra, which is mutual exploration in narrative poetry and drawing of Roman murals.
In their more than 50 years of work, the press has continued to think about their mission and commit to provide space for marginalized women. To promote their efforts, the House held a prize for “FIRSTS!” celebrating first-time authors. In the last few years, the House has held the “QTBIPOC Book Contest” for “QTBIPOC-identified, feminist, innovative writers/poets.” The 2023 award went to Jennifer Perrine for Beautiful Outlaw.[3]
To follow the Press and see their contests or celebrate the winner, readers can check their webpage or their Instagram page.
For more titles from Kelsey Stress Press in the UC System, check out our UC Library Search with limit to “Publisher” as “Kelsey Stress Press” in the Advanced Search (sample search).
When founding a press in 1974 in Vermont, Richard Grossinger and Lindy Hough claimed the name North Atlantic Books (NAB). They then promptly moved to the Pacific coast and began operating the press out of Berkeley, where they are registered as a not-for-profit. Committed to social justice and community engagement, the press puts its money where its mouth is and pays their “annual Shuumi Land Tax to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust for their continued work in the rematriation of the land upon which we live and work.”[1] They also contribute to initiatives like the Prisoners Literature Project and Alameda County Community Food Bank, among others.[2]
No longer a two-person operation, the North Atlantic Books is run by a diverse board of directors.[3] Now under that diverse board, the House has been publishing poetry and memoirs as well as books on social justice, health and yoga, anthropology, and spiritual growth. The literature which the House shepherds often tackle topics such as grief, climate change, and wellness.
In addition to their main lines, North Atlantic Books has developed a series of imprints, including Blue Snake Books, one of the largest publishers of internal and historical martial-arts books in the world.
Readers can find out more about the press and their publications through the press’ website or on their Instagram page.
The UC Berkeley Library has published Coherent Digital’s Latin America Commons database so that our students, faculty and visiting scholars can benefit from using it.
650+ historical newspapers and 400+ cultural magazines. 50,000 pages of newly digitized, rare archival materials.
This platform is a comprehensive digital initiative developed by Coherent Digital to preserve, digitize, and amplify at-risk primary-source materials from Latin America and the Latinx community. Spanning from the 16th to the 21st centuries, the richly indexed, cross-searchable repository aggregates hundreds of thousands of previously scattered items—including rare books, magazines, photographs, maps, diaries, and multimedia files—into a single unified archive. By stabilizing overlooked and vulnerable content that might otherwise be lost to link rot, time, or institutional neglect, its inaugural module, Latin American History and Culture, provides scholars and students with vetted, high-quality resources to foster more inclusive and equitable research.
Founded in 2014, R. Lee Fitzsimmons established Desert Palm Press (DPP, webpage with Pen Light) in Watsonville, CA. At the time, Fitzsimmons was dissatisfied with the limited access LGBTQ+ community members generally–lesbians specifically–had to the publishing world. They created the Press in part to provide women with spaces to be heard. To this day, the Press seeks to present its readers with material that “accurately and respectfully” reflects lesbian and other LGBTQ+ community members’ lives.[1] To meet that goal, the Press publishes across multiple genres, ranging from romance and horror, speculative fiction, and biography. Last year, On January 1, 2025, Jodi Zeramby and Peggy Zeramby took over publishing duties for the Press.[2]
Desert Palm Press is an active participant in the Southern California writing scene. For multiple years, they have supported and/or participated in the Left Coast Literary Conference in Palm Springs. They also have an active Facebook page.
To find more books from Desert Palm Press in the UC Library System, take a look at the UC Library Search with a publisher limit to “Desert Palm Press” and a material type to book.
Notes
[1] R. Lee Fitzsimmons, “Scenes: Desert Palm Press An Interview with R. Lee Fitzsimmons,” American Book Review 43, no. 3 (2022): 195–96, Project MUSE, https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/17/article/884796.
[2] “Desert Palm Press About Us | Empower LGBTQ+ Voices — Discover More,” Penlight Press, accessed March 10, 2026, https://penlightpress.com/dpp-about.
I am extremely grateful to the UC Berkeley Library administration and especially to our University Librarian, Suzanne Wones, and Jo Anne Newyear Ramirez, Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Resources for their farsighted leadership and acquisition of the Latin American Histories in the United States: Module I database that will serve a wide range of students, faculty members, and visiting scholars on our campus.
Latin American Histories in the United States is a multi-archive resource providing primary sources from U.S. collections that document the everyday lives, activism, and cultural expression of diverse Latina/o/x/e communities—especially underrepresented groups such as Latinas, LGBTQ+, and Afro-Latina/o/x/e—during the mid-to-late twentieth century.
Some items from the database that are worth highlighting are
Personal papers, memorabilia, and photographs of Normandia Maldonada, an activist and community leader among the Dominican people in the United States, relating to her artistic accomplishments, career, personal and family life
A vast array of newspapers, periodicals, and publications produced by different Latinx communities across the US, covering topics such as the Chicano Movement, migration, and everyday life
The Jorge Huerta Papers containing materials documenting his activities as a director, writer, professor, and expert on Chicano theatre
The Roberto Jesus Vargas diaries documenting his life as an AIDS activist in Sonoma County
The La Raza En Acción Local audio collection, which features recordings of Latinx-produced community radio
Presbyterian collections showcasing religious advocacy, educational support, and community building through a variety of organizations and groups based in Texas
Black Mask Studios, based in Los Angeles, saw its start in 2012 with the publication of the kickstarter-funded Occupy Comics anthology under leadership of Steve Niles, Brett Gurewitz, and Matt Pizzolo. The three started the publishing house with experiences ranging from punk rock (Bad Religion), to horror comics (30 Days of Night) and film, and business (HALO 8 Entertainment), to name only a few of their efforts. Each with roots in various punk scenes, the three wanted to bring their experiences to start a house that could introduce punk rock values into comics and emphasize the involvement of comics in counterculture.[1]
Since their founding, Black Mask has contributed to the comics scene with some influential titles including Black (Kwanza Osajyefo and Jamal Igle, 2016), Godkiller (Matteo Pizzolo and Anna Muckcracker Wieszczyk, 2016), and Calexit (Matteo Pizzolo and Amancay Nahuelpan, started 2018). As fitting with punk values, the stories frequently explore push-back against cruelty (Liberator, Matt Miner, Javier Aranda Sanchez, Joaquin Pereyra, and Crank; 2014) and government corruption (Clandestino, Amancay Nahuelpan, 2018), and self-expression (Alice In Leatherland, Iolanda Zanfardino and Elisa Romboli, 2022).
Readers can follow Black Mask on their website or their Facebook page.
Kwanza Osajyefo and Tim Smith 3, Black, vol. 1, with Jamal Igle (2017).
For more in the UC Libraries
To find additional titles, take a look at the UC Library Advanced Search with a limit to publisher (sample). Note, however, that some of Black Mask Studio’s titles are released in collaboration with Simon and Shuster.
Notes
[1] Borys Kit, “‘John Wick’ Filmmaker Chad Stahelski Tackling California Rebellion Comic ‘Calexit’ (Exclusive),” The Hollywood Reporter, July 23, 2025, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/john-wick-filmmaker-chad-stahelski-calexit-1236326587/; Scott Thill, “Black Mask Studios’ ‘Old Punks’ Occupy Comics, Creators Rights,” Tags, Wired, March 20, 2012, https://www.wired.com/2012/03/black-mask-studios-occupy-comics/; Steve Foxe, “Black Mask Studios Founders Talk Creator Rights, Punk Ethics and a Very Busy 2015,” Paste Magazine, March 25, 2015, https://www.pastemagazine.com/comics/black-mask-studios-founders-talk-creator-rights-pu.
