NEW SEPTEMBER 2025
"Brava is a fierce and tender collection of poetry. Violeta Garza explores the constant question of belonging, of too-much-ness, of the understanding of the misunderstood—a bilingual love letter to home, self, and the beyond. To be Brava is much more than to be angry; it is to be bold and daring. Garza gifts us a collection of poetry that dares to bare its teeth and name itself a miracle, a Bluebonnet raising her face to the sky."
—Yesika Salgado, author of Corazón “Let us celebrate our good fortune: that Violeta Garza’s voice is now part of a literary lineage of poetas chingonas—word warriors who dare to amplify the unsettling moments and experiences that afflict a woman’s body, peace of mind, and spirit. Brava, brimming with empathy, passion, but also bravado, soothes with the sensibility of a healer and commands with the ferocity of a comadre, which is another way of saying that there’s love medicine to be found in its empowering inquiry into womanhood.” —Rigoberto González, poet and editor, Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology “‘Brave’ is too simplistic of a translation of ‘brava’—there’s so much more attitude and intensity to the term. Brava is just as complex as the title suggests. More than just a few stories and some self-reflection, the poetry displays a range of emotions without leaving the reader with deep sorrow because good humor and wit is woven throughout the chapbook. ‘A veces me pongo brava,’ she claims. Pero no a veces, I claim. Garza is always valiant, audacious, atrevida, salvajita, and yes, muy brava.” —Eddie Vega, author of Somos Nopales, 2024-2027 Poet Laureate of San Antonio “This book is a holy reckoning. A honeyed lament. A bold prayer. It’s a love letter to the Body, to the Comadre, to our collective wounds and resilience. Each page feels like sacred breath: intimate, irreverent, hilarious, devastating. These words remind us that being too much, too tender, too jiggly is divine. If you’ve ever needed permission to weep, scream, whisper, or cackle under the covers with your soul sister, this is your scripture. BRAVA!” —Anel I. Flores, author of Curtains of Rain & Empanada: A Lesbiana Story en Probaditas “Deeply personal poems that give exquisite voice to the cares, desires, pleasures, and regrets we share as sentient beings. Subtle yet accessible, serious yet humorous, Garza’s creations are profoundly moving.” —Dr. Arturo Madrid, T. Frank and Norine R. Murchison Distinguished Professor, Emeritus, Trinity University “In Brava, Violeta Garza lays bare her desire for ‘an everlasting place’ to be, become, and embrace. Her poems pick apart the textured layers of homeplaces—embodied interiorities, wounded lands, traces, and lineages, as well as friendships and kinships. Garza has created a fiercely poetic sense of home that invites meditation on what home holds for us.” –Dr. Aimee M. Villarreal, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Texas State University 53 pages | A5 5.83 x 8.27 in. | 2025 ISBN-13: 978-1-958600-11-5 (paperback) $15 |
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A multilingual poet, storyteller, and weaver, Violeta Garza is the textbook middle child in a family of Mexican immigrants. Her work has been published in Anti-Heroin Chic, Foglifter, and Acentos Review, among others. They have performed their original poems and stories for Texas Public Radio, The Alamo Chapter for Human Rights, The Center for Refugee Services, and elsewhere. A member of the Macondo Writers Workshop, she lives a sweet, queer life in Yanawana (San Antonio, Texas), with her partner and an adequate number of potted plants.