Gunpowder Press

Last updated

Gunpowder Press is an independent poetry press based in Santa Barbara, California. [1] [2] The press is co-edited by David Starkey and Chryss Yost. Both Starkey and Yost have served as Santa Barbara Poet Laureate. [3] Gunpowder Press is a member of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses.

Contents

In 2023, Gunpowder Press was recognized by the Santa Barbara Independent as a Local Hero. [4]

Gunpowder Press books have been reviewed in The Adroit Journal , [5] Mom Egg Review, [6] Southern Humanities Review , [7] and elsewhere. Authors published by the press include Barry Spacks, Jim Peterson, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Catherine Abbey Hodges, Catherine Esposito Prescott, and others. [8] Authors published by Gunpowder Press have been interviewed in journals including RHINO Poetry , [9] Atticus Books & Music, [10] Plume, [11] The Christian Century [12] Water-Stone Review. [13]

History

The press was founded in 2013 by David Starkey. Chryss Yost is the co-editor book designer for the press. Starkey launched the press after unsuccessful efforts to find a publisher for a manuscript left by his late friend, poet David Allen Case. [14] That manuscript became The Tarnation of Faust, the first book published by Gunpowder Press, in 2014.

The name of the press comes from the legend of Saint Barbara, who is associated with gunpowder.

Publications

Since 2015, Gunpowder Press has published one book annually as the Barry Spacks Poetry Prize. The Spacks Prize is named in honor of Santa Barbara Poet Laureate Barry Spacks. Judges for the Spacks Prize have included Dan Gerber, Thomas Lux, Jane Hirshfield, Lee Herrick, Stephen Dunn, Jessica Jacobs, Danusha Laméris, and Gary Soto.

Gunpowder Press also publishes anthologies of poems by Central California poets as part of the Shoreline Voices Project imprint. Over 130 poets have appeared in Shoreline Voices print and online publications. [15] The Press has partnered with the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, the Santa Barbara Public Library, Lotusland, and Sansum Clinic. [16]

In 2022, Gunpowder Press launched the California Poets Series. Poets published in the California Poets Series include Susan Kelley-DeWitt (Gatherer's Alphabet, 2022), Sandra McPherson (Speech Crush, 2022), Dennis Schmitz (Our Music, 2022), and Gary Soto (Downtime, 2023).

The Alta California Chapbook Series publishes two books a year in bilingual editions. Emma Trelles, also a Santa Barbara Poet Laureate, is series editor.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poet laureate</span> Officially appointed poet

A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) of Arezzo were the first to be crowned poets laureate after the classical age, respectively in 1315 and 1342. In Britain, the term dates from the appointment of Bernard André by Henry VII of England. The royal office of Poet Laureate in England dates from the appointment of John Dryden in 1668.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Kelly (poet)</span> American poet (born 1935)

Robert Kelly is an American poet associated with the deep image group. He was named the first Dutchess County poet laureate 2016-2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Levine (poet)</span> American poet

Philip Levine was an American poet best known for his poems about working-class Detroit. He taught for more than thirty years in the English department of California State University, Fresno and held teaching positions at other universities as well. He served on the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets from 2000 to 2006, and was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States for 2011–2012.

Susan (Sue) Goyette is a Canadian poet and novelist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Barbara High School</span> Public school in Santa Barbara, California, United States

Santa Barbara Senior High School, "Home of the Dons," is situated on a sprawling 40-acre (160,000 m2) campus in Santa Barbara, California in the Santa Barbara Unified School District. Among the oldest high schools in California and one of five high schools in the District, Santa Barbara High School was established in 1875 at the corner of Anapamu and De La Vina, but relocated to its present Upper Eastside site in 1924. Today, Santa Barbara High School has a diverse, near 65% minority enrollment of over 2000 pupils, 92 full-time teachers, and small learning academies, including Visual Arts and Design (VADA), Computer Science (CSA), and Multimedia Arts and Design (MAD). The school also features a performing arts department that employs professional designers, choreographers, musical directors and guest artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan Felipe Herrera</span> American writer (born 1948)

Juan Felipe Herrera is an American poet, performer, writer, cartoonist, teacher, and activist. Herrera was the 21st United States Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017. He is a major figure in the literary field of Chicano poetry.

Joseph Stroud is an American poet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Sze</span> American poet (born 1950)

Arthur Sze is an American poet, translator, and professor. Since 1972, he has published ten collections of poetry. Sze's ninth collection Compass Rose (2014) was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Sze's tenth collection Sight Lines (2019) won the 2019 National Book Award for Poetry.

Laure-Anne Bosselaar is a Belgian-American poet, translator, professor, and former poet laureate of Santa Barbara, California. She is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently, These Many Rooms. Her collection, Small Gods of Grief, won the 2001 Isabella Gardner Prize for Poetry. A New Hunger, was an American Library Association Notable Book in 2008. She is the author of Artémis, a collection of French poems, published in Belgium. Her chapbook Rooms Remembered appeared from Sungold Editions in 2018.

Dennis Schmitz was an American poet.

Ann Stanford was an American poet.

James Brasfield is an American poet and translator.

Amy Quan Barry is a Vietnamese American poet, novelist, and playwright. She is a recipient of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize. Barry is a Lorraine Hansberry Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Christopher Buckley is an American poet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Spacks</span> American writer

Barry Bernard Spacks, was a prize-winning poet, novelist and first poet laureate of Santa Barbara, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Trelles</span> American poet

Emma Trelles is a Latina poet, writer, professor, and served as poet laureate of Santa Barbara, California from 2021-2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Starkey (poet)</span> American poet

David Starkey is an American poet and academic, and former poet laureate of Santa Barbara, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucille Lang Day</span> American poet

Lucille Lang Day is an American poet, writer, and science and health educator. Day has authored or edited 20 books and is a contributor to over 50 anthologies. She is best known as a poet and writer for her award-winning memoir, Married at Fourteen: A True Story, for her integration of science imagery and concepts into poetry and for advocating use of poetry as a tool in environmental activism. As a science and health educator, her many achievements have included promoting science education for girls and serving as codirector of Health and Biomedical Science for a Diverse Community, a project that was funded by the National Institutes of Health and aimed to make biomedical science more accessible to underrepresented minorities.

The Institute for Energy Efficiency (IEE) is a research institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). IEE is an interdisciplinary research institute dedicated to the development of science and technologies that increase energy efficiency, reduce energy consumption, and support an efficient and sustainable energy future.

References

  1. ↑ Vreeland, Jon (June 1–29, 2018). "Gunpowder Press, the Advocates of Poetry". Santa Barbara Sentinel. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  2. ↑ Columnist | @noozhawknews, Susan Miles Gulbransen, Noozhawk (2017-11-20). "Susan Miles Gulbransen: What Makes Santa Barbara Such a Writing Town? | Homes & Lifestyle". Noozhawk. Retrieved 2023-12-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ↑ "Poet Laureate - City of Santa Barbara". Santa Barbara County Office of Arts & Culture. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  4. ↑ Staff, Indy (2023-11-22). "Local Heroes 2023". The Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  5. ↑ Staples, Catherine (2023-06-29). "A Review of Catherine Esposito Prescott's Accidental Garden - The Adroit Journal" . Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  6. ↑ "Accidental Garden by Catherine Esposito Prescott – MER – Mom Egg Review". 2023-09-04. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  7. ↑ "SHR REVIEW: Dark Matter: Aaron Baker's Posthumous Noon". SOUTHERN HUMANITIES REVIEW. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  8. ↑ "Gunpowder Press Poets". January 8, 2024.
  9. ↑ "REVIEWS — RHINO — Accidental Garden by Catherine Esposito Prescott - Interviewed by Naoko Fujimoto". RHINO. 2023-05-19. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  10. ↑ Meyerhofer, Michael (2018-06-20). "Featured Poet: Catherine Abbey Hodges". Atticus Review. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  11. ↑ Christopher, Buckley (2023-06-25). "Buckley | Hodges". Plume. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  12. ↑ "Ordinary grace". The Christian Century. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  13. ↑ Review, WaterStone (2020-04-21). "In The Field: Conversations With Our Contributors--Michelle Bonczek Evory". Water~Stone Review. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  14. ↑ Columnist | @noozhawknews, Susan Miles Gulbransen, Noozhawk (2016-02-20). "Susan Miles Gulbransen: Poet David Starkey Presses On with Writing, While Marymount Holds Book Fair | Homes & Lifestyle". Noozhawk. Retrieved 2023-12-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ↑ "Shoreline Voices - Gunpowder Press". 2021-03-20. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
  16. ↑ Donelan, Charles (2021-05-06). "'While You Wait: A Collection by Santa Barbara County Poets'". The Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved 2023-12-06.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.