Poetry In Motion
Ink & Ribbon Champions Independent Publishing
By Audrey Nelson
Photo by Dinah Satterwhite
Bainbridge has long been a local hub for writers and artists. And now, thanks to its newest independent poetry publisher, Ink & Ribbon Press, the island is amping up its influence on the national literary scene, too.
As founder G.K. Allum tells it, Ink & Ribbon grew out of two second-chance romances. One was with his wife. The other was with writing.
When G.K. and current Bainbridge Performing Arts Executive Director Elizabeth Allum hit a rough patch several years into their marriage, the conflict sidelined his creative work. It was the first time in a decades-long writing career that he couldn’t express himself through poetry.
But then the Allums found love again—renewing their vows and reinvigorating G.K.’s creative process. “All of these words were coming out,” he said. “It was just like a flood.”
G.K. enrolled in a poetry MFA at Pacific University, then quit his marketing job. Around the same time, he stumbled across an old high school classmate’s Instagram account. That classmate, Dave, who was once obsessed with guitars, now builds and sells the instruments full-time.
“That’s exactly what Dave should be doing in life,” he remembered thinking. “He’s so true to himself.” G.K. thought back to his own poetry-loving, 18-year-old self, asking: What would he be doing if he, too, had he stayed true to himself?
“Well, I’d be running a poetry press, creating crafty books, and helping other artists survive and thrive,” he recalled thinking. “And so it was obvious that’s what I needed to do.”
Enter Ink & Ribbon.
And what an entrance it was. G.K decided to start Ink & Ribbon last September. By December, he had the press up and running as a 501c(3) nonprofit. By mid-January 2026, he’d signed its debut author.
Ink & Ribbon has three upcoming 2026 titles: Brooks Lampe’s “Sesquipedalian Rain Chant”; Jan Noble’s “My Name is Swan”; and an anthology featuring the winners of the press’s first annual LemonLight Prize. G.K. and another poet, Cara Waterfall, have works slated for publication in 2027.
G.K’s quick turnaround time isn’t shocking for those who know him, including Ink & Ribbon board member John Ellis. “I just recognize a guy who has great energy and talent,” Ellis said. “It’s a rare combination where people who are artists also have a sense of how to put a business together and how to make it work to serve the art.”
Mel Carson, another board member, agreed: “[G.K.]’s definitely delivering in spades.”
Ink & Ribbon has already exceeded its first-quarter fundraising goals. But G.K has other, loftier ambitions: He wants Ink & Ribbon to disrupt the stranglehold that modern, commercialized culture has on the literary world.
He recalled picking up a printed-on-demand collection of Ezra Pound poems, rife with printing errors.
“The experience of holding that book, of reading that book, really turned me off,” he said. “There was no tactile feeling to it. It really didn’t carry the weight of the artist’s words as he would have wanted in this instance.”
Determined to make Ink & Ribbon a home for small-batch, craft-forward publishing, G.K. has drawn on his own self-publishing experience. Working with a Seattle printer, Ink & Ribbon will release a limited-edition run of each book. He is also partnering with Poulsbo’s McCall Co. Bindery and Book Arts to produce a small collection of intricate artisan editions.
Meanwhile, G.K. has curated a vibrant online presence. “The Inkwell,” Ink & Ribbon’s entry on the digital publishing platform Substack, helps attract diverse, nontraditional poets during the press’s biannual open reading period.
While G.K. is still exploring the press’s editorial identity, he is committed to publishing “heart-forward and human-focused” work.
His own poems—which offer complicated, intimate glimpses into family life—are certainly human focused. For example, “Ballast,” which begins: “Sitting on the sofa with my son / scattered artifacts, a halfway home / yarn, jam jar, a thousand puzzled pieces / an orphaned sock in the room.”
It’s clear that for G.K., poetry’s power lies in its ability to connect one human to another. His mission with Ink & Ribbon is to spark that connection again and again.
“I think when things are traumatic, both from an individual perspective or a societal perspective, poets can help cut through that and help heal communities."
