History of the Press
Gunpowder Press was founded in 2013 by David Starkey. Chryss Yost joined the press as an author in 2014 and as co-editor in 2015. Both David and Chryss have served as Santa Barbara’s Poet Laureate. In 2024, we established Gunpowder Poetry, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit literary organization, created a Board of Directors, and began receiving financial support from individuals and foundations. As Gunpowder Poetry grows, Gunpowder Press remains small but vibrant, fully committed to every book we publish.
Books are available directly from Gunpowder Press through our website, as well as through Bookshop.org (which supports independent bookshops), and other retailers. Your local bookstore can order through Ingram.
Gunpowder Press’s first book was Tarnation of Faust by David Case, a gifted poet who died unexpectedly in 2011 at the age of 49. Wry, erudite, haunted, he produced a body of work that deserves the broadest possible readership. As David Case’s literary executor, David Starkey was unable to find a press willing to publish the collection, and so he consulted with Chryss, a local poet with lots of experience producing books and journals. From those early discussions, Gunpowder Press was born.
In 2015, Gunpowder Press announced the first Barry Spacks Poetry Prize. The prize is named to honor Santa Barbara’s first official Poet Laureate, Barry Spacks. More than 75 poets have been recognized as winners or finalists for the Spacks Prize, and we are honored that some of the most distinguished poets in the United States have been final judges for the prize. In its first 10 years, Gunpowder has published books by 20 individual poets.
Gunpowder Press also publishes anthologies by Central California poets as the Shoreline Voices Project. Shoreline Voices anthologies gather poems on a specific theme, often in collaboration with local institutions. For example: Buzz and Rare Feathers, both with Lotusland; To Give Life a Shape, with the Santa Barbara Museum of Art; Big Enough for Words, an online anthology inspired by the Santa Barbara Public Library and their digital Edson Smith Archive. Gunpowder Press collaborates closely with Santa Barbara’s Poet Laureates, including publishing While You Wait, a print anthology featuring more than 80 local poets, edited by Laure-Anne Bosselaar that was adapted to include an online anthology during the pandemic.
The Alta California Chapbook Series was envisioned by Emma Trelles, also a Santa Barbara Poet Laureate, who serves as Series Editor. The series features two chapbooks each year by latinx poets, which are published in bilingual editions. The first two books were selected in 2021.
The California Poet Series launched in 2022 to recognize some of California’s well-established poets. The first four books in the series are Susan Kelly-DeWitt’s Gatherer’s Alphabet, Dennis Schmitz’s Our Music, Sandra McPherson’s Speech Crush, and Gary Soto’s Downtime.
Gunpowder also supports two poetry prizes focused on Santa Barbara County: the Carol Decanio Abeles Emerging Poets Prize, awarded for a single poem by a poet who has not yet published a full-length book, and the Carol Decanio Abeles Young Poets Prize, for elementary-school students participating in the California Poets in the Schools program.
In 2023, we launched Anacapa Review, an online journal which presents a curated selection of poems each month.
Why “Gunpowder Press”?
Our name is inspired by our community. We are based in Santa Barbara, named for Barbara of Nicomedia. While the historical existence real Saint Barbara is up for debate, she is considered the patron saint of gunpowder, due to a legendary lightning strike. We like the idea that poetry has that same kind of power.
Contact Us
You can email Gunpowder Press here with questions or to request review copies.
