Located in Sejatnga, Unceded Tongva Territory, South Whittier, CA, the publishing house Riot of Roses (webpage) tells their readers that they “publish books to heal and liberate others” and affirm that the press is “for the people.”[1]
Brenda Vaca founded Riot of Roses in 2021 to publish her first poetry collection. Vaca had completed her first manuscript with the Community Literature Initiative program out of South Los Angeles, CA and found her options for publishing limiting. In an interview with Canvas Rebel, Vaca explained that she wasn’t happy with the non-negotiable contract she received from an already-established publisher and wasn’t content publishing with a platform like Amazon, which wouldn’t end up in a library system.[2]
To address that problem for both herself and others, Vaca created Riot of Roses as a space for writers to amplify historical silenced voices.
In the handful of years since the press’ inception, Vaca has done wonderful work promoting it and the press’ authors. They attend poetry slams, book events, and more around their location in Sothern CA. Readers can find more information about their events on their Instagram page.
Books at UC Berkeley’s Doe Library
Here are a handful of Riot of Roses’ recent publications in Doe Library:
For more material
You can search in the UC Library Search advanced search for “Riot of Roses” as a publisher (click here to see the search).
Endnotes
[1] “About,” Riot Of Roses Publishing House, accessed May 5, 2025, https://www.riotofrosespublishinghouse.com/about.
[2] “Meet Brenda Vaca,” Canvas Rebel, August 21, 2023, https://canvasrebel.com/meet-brenda-vaca/.
