This little group of people changed the world, and you can, too!

Early Quakers were people who had been changed, and this, according to William Penn, is what led to their impact in society: “They were changed ... themselves before they went about to change others.” Brian Drayton and William P. Taber Jr. demonstrate further in A Language for the Inward Landscape that internal change is a process of self-transformation, and the inward struggle “sooner or later leads us to engage outwardly with the powers of culture.”

At the center of what it means to be a Friend, then, is change. And we find in Quaker faith and practice various tools for effecting powerful, life-impacting change of consciousness, of purpose, of relationship, of connection and action and initiative.

At Barclay Press, we are working to craft, shape, and share words that lead to change: essays, testimonies, reflections, memoir, history, polity, and poetry. We invest about $4,000 in every book we bring to life. Last year, your support helped us to release 27 new books, and this year, we’d like to release. To get us started, we aim to raise an additional $20,000 each quarter. You can help us get there!

In 2018, we launched Fernwood Press, the only Quaker publisher of poetry. Our aim, through Fernwood, is to provide a home to all poets whose collections uphold and perpetuate the Quaker pursuit of corporate mysticism. Gathered together in centered silence, we might hear and experience truth. And we will be changed.

In 2021, we joined the Quaker Theological Discussion Group to manage production and distribution for Quaker Religious Thought. Quakers are known for making positive contributions to religious thought outside of Quakerism, and Quaker Religious Thought is one of only a few journals that take a very serious look at the Quaker tradition with the goal of expanding the relevance of Quakerism for Quakers to understand their own tradition, but also to understand the way Quakerism has impacted the religious field in general. That work of analyzing Quakerism is expanding its relevance to the study of religion in general, on a global scale.

In 2023, we finalized our acquisition of Inner Light Books, which was formed in 2009 to publish books by and about Quakers and books that examine Quaker values in order to expand the knowledge of and appreciation for the faith and practice of the Religious Society of Friends.

The work of Barclay Press – as a Christian publisher in the Friends tradition – is to serve as a seed vault. To capture the essence of Quaker tools for change, experiences of change, and reflections on change, to share the words of Friends both present and past in pamphlets, devotional readers, curriculum, trade books, e-books, and booklets.

Barclay Press is a Quaker non-profit, and the work of publishing and distribution is our ministry.