One word at a time

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 four thousand dollars in every book we bring to life. In my first year on staff, we published three books. Last year, your support helped us to release fifty-two books and fifteen periodicals and with a third fewer staff.

We raise just over a third of our budget each year with subscriptions to quarterly publications like Fruit of the Vine and Illuminate and through sales of books. We rely on gifts and donations for the rest – roughly $150,000.

• If you already give, please consider increasing your gift by ten or twenty dollars a month.
• If you've never given to Barclay Press, there's never been a more important time to support our ministry, and there's never been a better time to start! Monthly giving of twenty-five dollars a month (or more) adds up. And every new gift, no matter how large or small, helps us to more confidently plan for the future.
• Finally, our largest donors include less than ten monthly and yearly meetings. Support from just one or two new monthly or yearly meetings in 2027 would make a huge difference for the stability and future of our ministry at Barclay Press.

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

In 2018, we launched Fernwood Press, the world's only Quaker publisher of full-length poetry collections. 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.

In 2024, for the first time ever, we worked with Pendle Hill staff to support the production of Pendle Hill Pamphlets. For over ninety years, Pendle Hill has expanded understanding of Quaker life and witness through the pamphlet series.

In 2025, we launched Rockwood Press, a publisher of right-sized chapbooks and zines suited for revolution, protest, political change, and social critique. Rockwood is making room for all kinds of mighty voices in teeny books that might not otherwise find their way into the world.

In 2026, we partnered with Friends World Committee for Consultation to make their entire catalog of essays, pamphlets, and booklets available as print-on-demand products (at cost and with free shipping) for individual Friends, book groups, youth groups, monthly meetings, yearly meetings, and anyone else who needs these resources.

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.