Founded in 2013 by David Starkey, Gunpowder Press is located in Santa Barbara, California. Our name is a nod to our city's namesake, Saint Barbara, the patron saint of gunpowder. Gunpowder Poetry is now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit literary organization.
The press hosts several annual prizes including the annual Barry Spacks Poetry Prize for a full-length manuscript of original poetry. The Alta California Chapbook Prize, edited by Emma Trelles, publishes winning chapbooks by latinx poets in bilingual editions. The Dryden-Vreeland Prize is a book prize for poets working in K-12 education. Poets published by Gunpowder Press include Fred Arroyo, Kellam Ayers, Aaron Baker, Christopher Blackman, Todd Copeland, Meghan Dunn, Michelle Bonczek Evory, David Allen Case, Nan Cohen, Meghan Dunn, Glenn Freeman, Lee Herrick, Catherine Abbey Hodges, Gabriel Ibarra, Susan Kelly-DeWitt, Joshua McKinney, Sandra McPherson, Florencia Milito, Kurt Olsson, Jim Peterson, Catherine Esposito Prescott, Peg Quinn, Nicolas Reiner, Amelia Rodriguez, Crystal AC Salas, Dennis Schmitz, Gary Soto, Barry Spacks, and Chryss Yost.
The press also publishes thematic anthologies of poems by central California coast poets in the Shoreline Voices Project series which have featured dozens of established and emerging poets. Two Shoreline Voices anthologies are available online: While You Wait, edited by Laure-Anne Bosselaar; and Big Enough for Words, edited by David Starkey, Chryss Yost, and George Yatchisin.
Gunpowder Press also publishes a bimonthly online poetry journal, Anacapa Review.
Educators—currently active or retired, full- or part-time—are encouraged to submit a full-length poetry manuscript for the Dryden/Vreeland Poetry Prize. , named to honor two especially impactful teachers in the editors' lives. Your poems need not focus on schools or teaching, and all school employees are eligible. Submissions will be accepted between May 1 and August 30. The prize includes $1000, publication by Gunpowder Press and 10 author copies.
Final judge: Marsha de la O. A long-time educator, she is currently a lecturer in the English Department at CSU Channel Islands, where she teaches poetry and creative writing. She is the award-winning author of Every Ravening Thing, Antidote for Night, and Black Hope. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Slowdown, and many other journals, and she is a recipient of the Morton Marcus Poetry Prize. She lives with her husband in Ventura, California, where they founded the Ventura County Poetry Project to support local poetry.
How to Submit: Attach an unpublished book-length manuscript of 48-100 pages. Please include a table of contents and a page which acknowledges previous publication of individual poems. Entrant's names will be removed from manuscripts presented to the final judge.
Entry fee is $20. For an additional $10, entrants will receive a copy of the winning book (includes shipping and $18 cover price). Word .doc or .docx preferred. We ask that close friends or students of the judge show respect for the judge by refraining from submitting work for this award. Due to our desire to respect international copyright, submissions are accepted from poets within the United States only.
About Gunpowder Press: Founded in 2013 by David Starkey and co-edited by David Starkey and Chryss Yost, Gunpowder Press is part of Gunpowder Poetry, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit literary organization.
Gunpowder Press is accepting poems from Santa Barbara County residents of any age, for a forthcoming anthology celebrating local food, drinks, restaurants, and agriculture.
Blessed by a year-round temperate climate, geography nestling it between the Pacific and the Santa Ynez Mountains, an unusual transverse range of mountains that cools north county growing regions, Santa Barbara glories in bounteous and beautiful products and produce from land and sea. Our farmers and fisherpeople provide us with a great start to create culinary delights. This anthology will attest to all that food and drink means to Santa Barbarans, and the ways that food shapes our culture and relationships.
For example, selected poems might include the following (these are suggestions, by no means a full list):
- Farms, agriculture, or fishing
- Strolling Farmer's Markets
- Native edible plants or vegetable gardens
- Ranching and vineyards
- Wineries/distilleries in Santa Barbara County
- Labor (from farm laborers to chefs to bartenders to dishwashers)
- Cafes/bars/restaurants
- Local specialty dishes
- Home cooking, especially foods particular to Santa Barbara
Submissions will accepted through August 31, 2025. There is no fee to submit; please submit only one time.
How to Submit: Send 1-3 poems in a single document. Poems of 40 lines or fewer are preferred. Prose poems considered (up to 300 words). Please send files in Word .doc or .docx format. Poems should be previously unpublished.
Please include a brief bio of 100 words or less, written in third person, and mention in it one of your favorite foods or drinks in Santa Barbara County (yes, it can be the one you write about!). Contributors selected for publication will receive one copy of the published anthology and a contributor's discount on additional copies.
We plan to hold a range of readings and events celebrating the book’s publication in Spring 2026.
About the Editor: George Yatchisin is Santa Barbara's Poet Laureate (2025-2027). His books include Feast Days and The First Night We Thought the World Would End. In addition to poetry, he writes journalism about food and drink for the Santa Barbara Independent, Edible Santa Barbara, and other venues, and hosts the "Spirits in the Air: Potent Potable Poetry" reading series. He is thrilled to have a flourishing avocado tree in his backyard.
About Gunpowder Press: Founded in 2013 by David Starkey and co-edited by David Starkey and Chryss Yost, Gunpowder Press is part of Gunpowder Poetry, a literary 501(c)(3) located in Santa Barbara, California. Our name honors our city's namesake, Saint Barbara, patron saint of gunpowder. For more information about the press, visit https://gunpowderpress.com.
Anacapa Review considers poems in any style. You may submit up to 3 poems per submission. When selecting which poems to submit, please keep in mind that Anacapa Review is an online publication, and viewers may be reading your poems on a range of devices; concrete poems or poems with very long line may display differently for some readers.
Accepted poems will appear one month after the deadline for a given issue. Accepted submissions made through May 31 will appear in issue 3.4. Please keep in mind that these poems are being considered for the July/August issue.
We make decisions on all submissions each month--no poems are held back for future issues. In short, you will hear from us promptly, and if your work is accepted, it will be published soon afterwards.
In submitting your work you agree that the poems submitted have not been previously published online or in print. We consider simultaneous submissions with the understanding that if your poems are accepted elsewhere you will promptly notify Anacapa Review by either withdrawing your entire submission in Submittable, or, if not all of the poems have been accepted elsewhere, by indicating in Submittable Messages which poems are still available.
Anacapa Review also hopes to publish poetry-related prose, such as book reviews, interviews, and reflections. If you have an idea for something you think might be a good fit for Anacapa Review, we invite you to email us at editors@anacapareview.com.
Previously published in Anacapa Review? Thank you! Your poems are what make Anacapa Review successful. Please wait one year before submitting again—diversity of voices is important to us.
Need to withdrawn one of your poems? Congratulations on having your work published elsewhere! Please use the Submittable messaging feature to let us know which poem(s) you'd like to withdraw, and we will keep the others in our consideration.