Our Vision
Flourishing Press publishes non-fiction works that illuminate human flourishing in unexpected places. We believe transformation happens everywhere—in prisons, communities, and lives often overlooked. Our books tell these stories with rigor, dignity, and hope.
Our Founder
Dr. Robin LaBarbera founded Flourishing Press to share stories that matter—stories of transformation, resilience, and hope emerging from places society too often overlooks.
As a researcher and Professor Emerita at Biola University, Robin spent years studying human flourishing in America's prisons. What began as academic inquiry became something more: a conviction that the remarkable stories she encountered deserved to reach beyond scholarly journals. Men and women serving life sentences were experiencing profound transformation through education, community, and purpose—yet their narratives remained largely invisible to the world outside prison walls.
Flourishing Press was born from this tension between what Robin witnessed and what gets published. These aren't just research subjects or case studies—they're human beings whose journeys illuminate fundamental questions about redemption, dignity, and what it means to flourish against all odds.
Robin brings rigorous scholarship to her work—15+ peer-reviewed articles, international presentations, recognition including a Best Paper Award from the GLOCER conference—but Flourishing Press exists because she believes these stories belong to everyone, not just academics. Her four books, including It's Changed What I'm Living For, bridge the gap between research and accessible narrative, inviting readers into encounters that challenge assumptions and reveal unexpected hope.
Through Flourishing Press, Robin continues her life's work: documenting and celebrating human flourishing wherever it emerges.
What Makes Flourishing Press Unique?
Our Approach
Dignity First
We tell stories of people, not problems. Every narrative we publish honors the complexity, agency, and humanity of those whose lives we document.
Rigorous and Accessible
We believe serious research and compelling storytelling aren't mutually exclusive. Our books are grounded in evidence and scholarship but written for anyone who cares about transformation and hope.
Voices from the Margins
We amplify stories from places society overlooks—prisons, marginalized communities, spaces where flourishing seems impossible. These aren't feel-good exceptions to the rule; they're evidence of human resilience that challenges how we think about redemption and change.
Beyond Simple Narratives
We resist both purely punitive frameworks and romanticized redemption arcs. The truth is more complex, more honest, and ultimately more hopeful. Our books grapple with that complexity.
Transformation as Witness
We document not just individual change but what transformation reveals about human capacity, community, and the conditions that allow people to flourish—even in the hardest places.
