OUR STORY

Founded in 2018, Flying Ketchup Press is an independent Kansas City publisher devoted to developing new voices in short fiction and poetry. Our mission is to bring world of wonder and delight. 

We believe that new and diverse work inspires more creativity, encourages artistic communities, and keeps great work from getting "lost" in a drawer. Ketchup stands for helping writers catch up. From our beginning, we’ve championed emerging and underrepresented writers through five unique imprints that explore everything from our speculative fiction anthologies, picture books for young readers, to our celebration of poets. Each project has been shaped by a collaborative team of guest editors, poets in residence, and editorial interns mentored through our publishing programs.

Our founder, Polly Alice McCann, is a visual artist, poet, and editor whose research on the subconscious creative process received the Ernest Hartmann Award. Under her leadership, our authors and editorial projects have earned recognition, including awards for poetry, and listings among the “Top 100 Books of the Year.”

In addition to publishing, we developed local resources that support local poets and an annual poetry micro fest. At Flying Ketchup Press, we believe creativity is a daily act of courage—and our mission is to help creatives share their voices with the world.

From 2018 to 2023, we produced short fiction and poetry collections as a traditional publisher, emphasizing new voices. In 2025, we began focusing on hybrid publishing, picture books, and journals.  

*Submission are currently closed for sabbatical. 

 

OUR MISSION

 

At Flying Ketchup Press ® To develop new voices in short fiction and poetry.

Our dream: to share worlds of wonder and delight.

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OUR IMPRINTS

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Flying Ketchup Kids: Our mission is to produce books that help kids catch up on reading. From concept books to folk tales, we want to connect young audiences to artful books in audio, print, and digital books. 

 

Light Shine Books invites readers into creative, courageous moments of daily meditation and faith through journals and devotionals. Light Shine exists to share diverse contemporary expressions of spirituality through thoughtful, engaging books and media. 

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Coyote Point Press is the literary fiction imprint of Flying Ketchup Press, publishing short story collections that push the boundaries for exploration of the form.

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Salt & Fig Books folksy, narrative, free verse that is down to earth and strangely satisfying. Our hybrid imprint is Pinch of Salt Press for regional and national solo poetry collections and chapbooks. 

 

Ketchupedia is an outreach of Flying Ketchup Press ® a grassroots network to connect the Kansas City & regional writers community through weekly blogs, a writer's word of the day podcast, a live poetry radio show, poet-in-residences, open mics, classes, and events like the Kansas City Poetry Jam. These tools allow regional artists to explore motivation, creative goals, and advocacy. Our editorial mentorships create an exponential poet-tree effect. Making room for poetry as a space for personal narrative that empowers, heals, and unites diverse audiences. 

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