Book Authors

Jyoti joined UC Press in 2023. They support Eric Schmidt (Premodern World History, Religion, and World Literature in Translation) and Michelle Lipinski (Economics, Technology Studies). Prior to joining the press, Jyoti worked as a bookseller and freelance editor for scholarly and artistic projects. They have a deep interest in art history, literature and queer studies with a focus on the Soviet and post-Soviet context. As an editorial assistant, Jyoti is excited to support authors through the publication process in pursuit of bringing forth vital and innovative scholarship.

Shalra joined UC Press in 2025. She supports Niels Hooper (History, American Studies, Middle East Studies) and Chloe Layman (Life Science, Science Communication). Before joining the press, she gained experience at W.W. Norton, The New Press, and Bloomsbury. Shalra has a deep interest in women’s history and literature, especially pertaining to South Asia. She is excited to have a hand in proliferating new scholarly ideas and research by working with authors throughout the publishing process! 

Nora joined UC Press in Spring 2023. She assists Niels Hooper (History, American Studies, and Middle East Studies) and LeKeisha Hughes (Art History and Music). Before joining the press, Nora was a freelance writer and editor. Before that, she was a bookseller. She is thrilled to support the proliferation of new ideas and scholarship by working directly with authors.

Naja Pulliam Collins joined UC Press in 2021 and assisted the editors for environmental studies and history before assuming the role of associate editor for environmental studies and geography in early 2023. Prior to coming to UC Press, she spent several years teaching English as a second language to students in Malaysia and China, and before that she was an assistant editor for a regional tourism magazine. Her previous experience living and working in diverse communities bolstered her passion for knowledge sharing and the ways the written word can shape our understanding of community. She is eager to acquire books that contribute to UC Press’ mission of pushing paradigms with a focus on social justice and looks forward to finding projects that explore questions around place, resilience, justice, and culture in innovative ways.

Areas of acquisition: Environmental Studies, Geography

Aline assists executive editor Naomi Schneider. Before joining the UC Press, she studied and taught poetry at Boston University and the University of Virginia. She has a keen interest in the intersections between sociology and aesthetics (especially in relation to design, film, and food and dining) and interdisciplinary approaches to Asian American Studies.

Niels came to UC Press in 2004 from his position as General Manager of Verso Books in New York. Driven by a strong awareness of histories of social injustice and a desire to learn from historic struggles to overcome them, Niels has cultivated a list that interrogates power and questions received opinion to explore past possibilities for a more just society. Some highlights from his program include Rebecca Solnit's atlas trilogy of Infinite City, Unfathomable City, and Nonstop Metropolis, Grace Lee Boggs' The Next American Revolution, Peter Linebaugh's Magna Carta Manifesto, Joshua Bloom and Waldo Martin's Black Against Empire, Laura Briggs' Taking Children, Nikhil Pal Singh's Race and America's Long War, Salim Tamari's The Great War and the Remaking of Palestine, and Martin Duberman's Has the Gay Movement Failed? Niels also started UC Press's American Studies Now series which includes Barbara Ransby's Making All Black Lives Matter and Lisa Duggan's Mean Girl.

Read Niels Hooper's Editor Spotlight

Areas of acquisition: US History and American Studies, Pacific World, World History, Middle East Studies

LeKeisha Hughes joined the UC Press team at the start of 2021. Prior to joining the press, LeKeisha worked as an instructor at UC San Diego and Occidental College, as well as managing editor for the Critical Ethnic Studies journal. She is delighted to carry these experiences over to UC Press as she acquires for the distinguished art history and music lists. She is interested in fostering the press' commitment to interdisciplinary thought and forward-thinking scholarship through pursuing diverse and inclusive works across these robust areas.

An amateur culinary microbiologist, cat enthusiast, and all-around nerd, Chloe Layman joined UC Press as its science editor in late 2021 after having worked in medical and engineering publishing. She is excited to build on the Press’ stellar social science and humanities lists by acquiring books in bioethics and sciences with a focus on human flourishing such as genetics and nutrition. Guided by California’s leadership in environmental research and policy, she acquires books on more sustainable products and methods of manufacturing them and cutting-edge solutions, including gene drives and CRISPR, to long standing problems of biodiversity and habitat loss. She is especially interested in books that pull back the curtain on the science behind everyday life and equip readers to make choices that protect the planet’s health and their own.

Inspired by her experience as a doctoral student and graduate, she publishes resources supporting aspiring and established scientists in their career goals–whether they hope to achieve them at the lab bench or in the boardroom. She also acquires projects amplifying scientists’ voices in the public sphere and connecting the often specialized work they do with broader conversations around social and environmental justice.

Read Chloe Layman's Editor Spotlight

Michelle Lipinski commissions general interest and scholarly books for UC Press’ economics and technology studies lists. Michelle joined the Press in 2020 with over a decade of experience in acquiring books across a range of social sciences for Stanford University Press and Oxford University Press. She is honored to work with a diverse array of driven and insightful thinkers who challenge and transform how we think about today’s most vital economic, technological, and social issues. Some highlights of her list include The Black Reparations Project by William A. “Sandy” Darity Jr., A. Kirsten Mullen and Lucas Hubbard, Busting the Bankers’ Club by Gerald Epstein, Resurrecting the Black Body by Tonia Sutherland, and The Gentrification of the Internet by Jessa Lingel. For the technology studies list, she recently launched the Co-Opting AI series.

Read Michelle Lipinski's Editor Spotlight

Kate joined UC Press in 2008 and publishes authors from a number of academic disciplines and professional backgrounds. Today, she edits our award-winning programs in anthropology and food studies. A few highlights from her list include Exit Wounds by Ieva Jusionyte, Ways of Eating by Merry White & Ben Wurgaft, Tip of the Spear by Orisanmi Burton, A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things by Raj Patel and Jason Moore, Let's Ask Marion by Marion Nestle, The Land of Open Graves by Jason De León, Vintage Crime by Rebecca Gibb, The Wannabe Fascists by Federico Finchelstein, and The Hakka Cookbook by Linda Lau Anusasananan.

Read Kate Marshall's Editor Spotlight

Enrique Ochoa-Kaup joined UC Press in 2018. Within Asian and Latin American studies, Enrique is interested in books that uncover political histories, highlight how both regions engage with the world, and explore inequalities, the systems that create them, and how communities respond. Some recent highlights from his lists include Eline van Ommen's Nicaragua Must Survive: Sandinista Revolutionary Diplomacy in the Global Cold War, Silvia Arrom's award-winning La Güera Rodríguez: The Life and Legends of a Mexican Independence Heroine, and Charles Keith's Subjects and Sojourners: A History of Indochinese in France. He edits numerous interdisciplinary book series situated in Asian studies, including the Transpacific Studies series, the Global Korea series, and the New Interventions in Japanese Studies series. Prior to joining the press, Enrique was a freelance writer based in Mexico City.

Read Enrique Ochoa-Kaup's Editor Spotlight

Prior to her appointment in 2015, Raina acquired titles at Indiana University Press in music, film and media, and Russian and Eastern European studies, bringing a wealth of subject knowledge to UC Press. In addition to expanding the celebrated music and film lists, she has launched several new series: California Studies in Music, Sound, and Media; Feminist Media Histories; Cinema Cultures in Contact; Hip Hop Studies; and Phono: Black Music and the Global Imagination. As the outgoing Music Editor, she acquired titles such as Beethoven, A Life; Mirror in the Sky: The Life and Music of Stevie Nicks; Freedom Moves: Hip Hop Knowledges, Pedagogies, and Futures; and On Minimalism: Documenting a Musical Movement. During this time, she worked closely with a number of music scholars including Richard Taruskin, Lawrence Kramer, Guthrie Ramsey, and Shana Redmond.

Recently named Lead Coordinator of the First Gen Scholars Program, Raina has shifted her primary focus in acquisitions to film, media, and sound studies. Current titles from her list include Just Beyond Listening: Essays of Sonic Encounter; Specworld: Folds, Faults, and Fractures in Embedded Creator Industries; Road Trip to Nowhere: Hollywood Encounters the Counterculture; At the Edges of Sleep: Moving Images and Somnolent Spectators; Relaying Cinema in Midcentury Iran: Material Cultures in Transit; and Captain of her Soul: The Life of Marion Davies.

Read Raina Polivka's Editor Spotlight

Maura worked at Penn State Press and Princeton University Press before spending nearly a decade at Oxford University Press and joining UC Press in 2011. She acquires broadly in law, criminology, and justice studies. Her portfolio focuses on the ways in which the law shapes and constrains opportunity in the world, and the forces that distribute justice inequitably across communicates. She welcomes work across subfields that engages with such issues as race, gender, labor, health, technology, and the environment. Maura is particularly interested in scholarly and trade books that challenge paradigms and drive progressive social change, and in amplifying the reach of underrepresented voices and scholar-activists.

Some of Maura’s recent notable titles include Leigh Goodmark’s Imperfect Victims, Justin Brooks’s You Might Go to Prison Even Though You’re Innocent, Julie Suk’s After Misogyny, Samantha Barbas’s Actual Malice, Janet Garcia-Hallett’s Invisible Mothers, and Calvin John Smiley’s Purgatory Citizenship, and she manages several new series: Critical Race Theory; and Race, Labor Migration, and the Law; and Building an Antiracist Law School, Legal Academy, and Legal Profession.

Read Maura Roessner's Editor Spotlight

Eric acquires broadly in premodern history and religion. Our publishing program has a broad cultural studies remit overall, and as part of the premodern list, he is especially interested in books that highlight the passage of people, things, and ideas across the boundaries of lands and languages. In addition to cutting-edge scholarship, Eric acquires pedagogically sophisticated materials for undergraduate teaching, including annotated translations of important texts, readers of primary sources, and synthetic treatments of major topics. Eric also helms a program in World Literature in Translation, which features superior translations of important works from around the premodern world. This collection is dedicated to a truly inclusive view of literature, covering everything from epic to lyric to folktale to history, with works from neglected traditions sitting aside more recognizable classics.

Read Eric A. Schmidt's Editor Spotlight

Naomi edits an eclectic program in sociology, contemporary social issues, and global health, which includes award-winning authors Paul Farmer, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Cynthia Enloe, Annette Lareau, CJ Pascoe, Seth Holmes, Aldon Morris, Tey Meadow, and Alejandro Portes. During her tenure at UC Press, she has published two Nobel Prize winners, Jody Williams (Peace) and Patrick Modiano (Literature). The sociology program Naomi built includes books that are widely read and have defined new ideas and paradigms within the discipline. A significant portion of her list focuses on issues of social justice and human rights and the Naomi Schneider Imprint, which was launched in 2010, amplifies books that highlight the lives and experiences of the disenfranchised. In 2021 Justice, Justice, Thou Shalt Pursue: A Life's Work Fighting for a More Perfect Union, by Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Amanda Tyler, which is the last book the Justice was involved with before her death, is being published in this imprint.

Read Naomi Schneider's Editor Spotlight

Sam Warren joined UC Press in 2022. Before coming to the Press, Sam worked in translation services and political advocacy, then completed an M.A. in Hispanic Languages and Literatures at UC Berkeley. As an editorial assistant to Raina Polivka (Music, Film, and Media Studies) and Maura Roessner (Law & Criminology), he looks forward to supporting the publication of innovative scholarship across disciplines.

Margo Irvin joined UC Press in 2024 and acquires books in premodern history, world history, and religion. She is particularly interested in projects that are comparative or global in nature, and that explore the flow of people, ideas, and things across geographic and linguistic boundaries. She also acquires for World Literature in Translation: a publishing program dedicated to developing a truly inclusive global canon representing diverse literary traditions. Before coming to UC Press, Margo acquired in history, religion, philosophy, and linguistics at Stanford University Press and Routledge.