Gunpowder Press is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit literary organization located in Santa Barbara, California, founded in 2013 by David Starkey. Our name is a nod to our city's namesake, Saint Barbara, the patron saint of gunpowder.
As a member of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, Gunpowder Press believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing.
We value the community we find in poetry. Gunpowder Press is honored to have published many poets we know, especially within the Shoreline Voices Project anthologies or in Anacapa Review. The most meaningful support for poetry comes from poets. We want everyone to feel welcome here.
All submissions to Gunpowder Press are considered by the editors (David Starkey and Chryss Yost). For some book contests, there may be additional readers or a final guest judge. For any contest with a cash award, we request that poets who are close friends or students (current or former) of the editors, readers, and/or the final judge refrain from entering. Each person choosing to enter a Gunpowder Press book contest can be confident that their manuscript is given fair consideration.
Read more about the history of Gunpowder Press on our website. We look forward to reading your work.
Gunpowder Press, in partnership with Letras Latinas, invites all Latinx poets who are current residents of the United States (age 18+) to submit to the Alta California Chapbook Prize contest. This contest is open to poets of all levels, published or unpublished, who self-identify as Latinx.
- Poems may be submitted in English or Spanish (Spanglish is welcome!)
- The selected manuscript will be published in both English and Spanish.
The winning poet will receive $1000.00, publication, and 10 copies of their chapbook, published in a bilingual edition by Gunpowder Press.
About this year’s judge: Raina León, PhD, is Black, Afro-Boricua, and from Philadelphia (Lenni Lenape ancestral lands). She is a mother, daughter, sister, madrina, comadre, partner, poet, writer, and teacher educator. She believes in collective action and community work, the profound power of holding space for the telling of our stories, and the liberatory practice of humanizing education. She is a member of the Carolina African American Writers Collective, Cave Canem, CantoMundo, and Macondo, and is the author of black god mother this body; Canticle of Idols; Boogeyman Dawn; sombra : (dis)locate;and the chapbooksprofeta without refuge and Areyto to Atabey: Essays on the Mother(ing) Self. She has received fellowships and residencies with The Watering Hole, the Obsidian Foundation, Community of Writers, Montana Artists Refuge, Macdowell, Vermont Studio Center, the Tyrone Guthrie Center in Annamaghkerrig, Ireland, and Ragdale, among others. She is a founding editor of The Acentos Review, an online quarterly, international journal devoted to the promotion and publication of Latinx arts. She retired early as a full professor of education at Saint Mary’s College of California, only the third Black person, the first Afro-Latina, and first Boricua to achieve that rank and is now professor emerita there. She supports poets and writers at the Stonecoast MFA at the University of Southern Maine. León is an enrolled member of Higuayagua Taino of the Caribbean.
About the series editor: Emma Trelles is a Cuban-American writer, editor, and educator. She is the 9th poet laureate of Santa Barbara and the author of Tropicalia (University of Notre Dame Press), winner of the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. She is the recipient of an Established Artist Fellowship from the California Arts Council and a Poet Laureate Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets. A current CantoMundo fellow, her poems and translations have recently appeared in Poetry International, New England Review, the Academy’s Poem-A-Day series, and Poetry magazine.
About the series translator: Alexandra Lytton Regalado is a Salvadoran-American author, editor, and translator. She is the author of Relinquenda, winner of the National Poetry Series (Beacon Press, 2022) and Matria (Black Lawrence Press, 2017). Alexandra is the translator of Efímero by heidi restrepo rhodes and Family or Oblivion by Elena Salamanca. Her poetry translations have been published or will appear in New England Review, Poetry International, FENCE, and Tupelo Quarterly.
Letras Latinas strives to enhance the visibility, appreciation, and study of Latinx literature both on and off the campus of the University of Notre Dame with an emphasis on programs that support newer voices, foster a sense of community among writers, and place Latinx writers in community spaces. Letras Latinas is under the direction of Francisco Aragón, who established the initiative in 2004.
How to submit: Entry fee is $20 and includes a copy of the winning chapbook ($15 option for entry only). Submit 8-12 pages of poetry (no more than one poem per page) in Word .doc or .docx or .pdf format. Entries must be sent through Submittable. Simultaneous submissions are welcome, and please notify us immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere. Please include a table of contents and a page which acknowledges previous publication of individual poems. Gunpowder Press will provide translation for the manuscripts selected for publication. This contest is open to US residents only.
If the entry fee at Submittable presents a financial hardship, please email us at gunpowderpoetry@gmail.com.
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.
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Gunpowder Press is inviting poems inspired by or celebrating Santa Barbara County food, drinks, restaurants, and agriculture, to be edited by Santa Barbara Poet Laureate George Yatchisin. Open to poets living in Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties.
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 September 30, 2025 (original deadline extended). 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 September 30 will appear in issue 3.6. Please keep in mind that these poems are being considered for the November/December 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.
The third annual John Ridland Poetry Prize will be awarded for an unpublished book-length manuscript of 48-100 pages. This prize is open to poets 55 years and older.
The Ridland Prize honors poet, professor, and translator John Ridland, who continued to create meaningful and elegantly-crafted work throughout his life.
Submissions are accepted until December 31. The prize includes $500 and publication by Gunpowder Press with 10 author copies.
Previous winners include:
- Joshua McKinney for Sad Animal (published in 2024 by Gunpowder Press)
- Andrea Carter for Figeater (forthcoming in 2025 from Gunpowder Press)
How to Submit: Entry fee is $30 includes entry and copy of the winning book ($18 cover price). $25 option without a copy of the book. Word .doc or .docx format preferred. Please include a table of contents and a page which acknowledges previous publication of individual poems. We ask that close friends or students of the editors refrain 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 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.