Our Story

Founded in 2002, Living Justice Press is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose purpose is to publish and promote alternative works about social justice and community healing. Every time we place one of our books into someone’s hands—a student, judge, parent, business owner, or community activist—we provide a chance for that person’s understanding of justice to evolve and deepen in ways that can be challenging or even life-changing. By distributing and promoting our books, we act as a catalyst for dialogue on more holistic ways of dealing with conflicts and harms.

We publish books on restorative justice and peacemaking. Within this field, our concentration is two-fold: first, to promote the understanding and use of peacemaking circles as a means to deal with conflict in many different settings; and second, to publish the voices of those “in struggle” for justice. Our books seek to apply what we have learned about healing harms between people to the larger challenge of healing harms between Peoples.

Publishers play a critical role in effecting social change, because they decide which books are available for use in college courses, community justice initiatives, trainings, law enforcement, and social service programs.

At Living Justice Press, we have chosen to publish books that take the restorative justice dialogue to deeper levels by addressing racism, historic harms, and other conflicts between Peoples. To this end, we privilege the voices of those not otherwise heard.

Senior Editors

Our Senior Editors have been advising Living Justice Press for many years. They are outstanding professionals in their individual fields and authors in their own right. We are greatly indebted to them for providing the in-depth knowledge that informs all of our publishing work.

Kay Pranis

The Circle Process and Its Uses

Dr. Edward C. Valandra

Indigenous Justice and Addressing Harms Between Peoples

Living Justice Press Authors >

Board of Directors

Chair: Kay Pranis

Kay Pranis is one of the co-founders of Living Justice Press and has served on LJP’s board since its incorporation in 2002. For eight years, she also served as LJP’s Board Chair. Indeed, her work on the peacemaking Circle process and the shared desire to make the Circle work more broadly available were the motivations for founding LJP. Kay has been an enduring mainstay of Living Justice Press from the start, giving generously of her time, gifts, energies, and resources. She carries LJP’s books to the Circle trainings she gives nationally and internationally. We are immensely grateful that she is LJP’s Senior Editor for our publishing work on Circles.

Vice-Chair: Tahnahga Yako

Tahnahga Yako is Mohawk, Taino and Ojibwa who was adopted into the lineage of her grandmother Keewaydinoquay. She has been named within the Longhouse and also carries her name from her grandmother’s lineage. Tahnahga Yako is a chaplain/cultural liaison who has worked in serving the American Indian community locally, and within the Great Lakes region as a person who shares traditional cultural practices that promote the ongoing healing of her people. She has worked for many years with the Twin Cities American Indian Community as a Chemical Dependency Counselor, and within the American Indian Community as a HIV/AIDS outreach worker and trainer locally and nationally, as an herbalist, activist and workshop leader. She is the seventh helper or Oshkibewis of the late Keewaydinoquay. Tahnahga works as an assistant trainer in the Restorative Justice Field doing trainings at the college of Waterloo in Ontario Canada.

Secretary-Treasurer: Adepeju Solarin

Adepeju Solarin

Executive Director: Denise Breton

Please see Denise's bio below.

Board Member: Don Johnson

Don Johnson was a prosecuting attorney for the Juvenile Justice Division of the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis for 42 years, now retired. He is also a long-time Circle trainer and national speaker on restorative justice.

Staff

Herself an author, Denise has worked in publishing in various capacities since 1980, including running two small presses. She has coauthored several books, including The Soul of Economies (Idea House, 1991); The Paradigm Conspiracy (Hazelden, 1996); Love, Soul, and Freedom (Hazelden, 1998); and The Mystic Heart of Justice (Chrysalis Books, 2001). Her current book in progress is entitled Harm-Dependent No More: Who Are We—Winners and Losers or Relatives?

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Mary Joy Breton—one of the co-founders and moving forces behind Living Justice Press (LJP). She worked tirelessly to get this nonprofit enterprise off the ground, along with her daughter Denise Breton, Kay Pranis, Loretta Draths, and Deb Feeny. Not only did Mary Joy make substantial financial donations to help us stay afloat during lean times, but she also donated space for warehousing and operations and volunteered a significant amount of her time for administration and office operations. Without Mary Joy’s wholehearted commitment, there would be no Living Justice Press.

Prior to co-founding Living Justice Press, Mary Joy had a varied career, from directing the office of the governor of Delaware to working alongside the head of the federal Office of Technology Assessment to becoming a vice president at the Audubon Society’s national headquarters in New York City. Mary Joy also authored two books: Women Pioneers for the Environment, which recounts a history of brave women finding solutions to ecological problems around the world, and her memoir, Recalling Yesterdays, detailing the hardships of growing up during the Great Depression and World War II, her marriage and family, as well as her mid-life metamorphosis.

All of the LJP family, including staff, authors and anyone who interacted with her, will miss her greatly. However, we will always remember her as part of the ongoing legacy of Living Justice Press, restorative justice, environmentalism, and women’s rights.

Deb Feeny earned her C.P.A. license after graduating from St. Cloud State University and has worked in public accounting/audit and numerous corporate managerial positions. After operating her own bookstore and teaching as an adjunct professor, Deb returned to accounting/finance and for the past 15 years has concentrated on supporting nonprofits with critical missions; including the nonprofits AMICUS (inmates and ex-offender support), HearthConnection (homelessness), and the Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys. She is currently Finance Director for the Center for Earth, Energy, and Democracy. She is also an ex-officio member of the LJP Board of Directors.

Loretta has over 40 years of experience in various businesses, including 7 1/2 years at the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s publishing division, and 20 years with LJP. Educated at Macalester College in the visual arts, with several years on-the-job learning about digital media production, she manages the LJP web site, produces print and digital marketing materials, and collaborates on content development. She is an ex-officio member of the Board of Directors.

Kully is most likely the person you will meet when you call LJP. Kully handles the processing and shipping of all orders for books, as well as helping with the myriad questions that come up for customers. She acts as a liaison with our fullfillment and shipping partner, KSP Fulfillment. She also manages the LJP social media accounts.