Poetry Bulletin: October 2023
20+ deadlines, techniques for ending your poems, and more
Hey there, poets — last month I was curious how many of you are actively sending out a manuscript now, and almost 300 poets responded to the poll. I was surprised to see an even split between folks submitting their first book and those submitting their second or later book.
Over the years, I’ve tried to make sure this project is helpful beyond a debut book, but I’d like to get more specific, post-debut resources in the mix going forward.
If you’re writing and/or submitting a second, third, fourth, etc. book, what resources have you found helpful? What posts, podcasts, videos, craft essays or craft books, newsletters, interviews, techniques, or exercises are you leaning on?
Feel free to share in the comments or drop me a note. And of course I’ll give you credit for any resources I pass along in a future bulletin.
With good thoughts for your writing,
Emily
p.s. I try to avoid sharing my own stuff here too much, but it’s ADHD Awareness Month, and if you’re a fellow writer with ADHD, maybe you too want new language, more images, better metaphors for this way of being. If you happen to know of (or have written) poetry in this vein, I’d love a link!
Congrats to several poets who shared the good news that their books found a publisher by using the Poetry Bulletin:
Jennifer Manthey, winner of the first/second book prize at Trio House Press.
Theresa Monteiro, whose book found a home at Fernwood Press.
Jim Landwehr, who is publishing a second book with Kelsay Books.
Has your book found a home through the bulletin? I’d love to know and give you a shout-out in a future issue.
Making the Manuscript
“What is the role of the first poem in a collection of poetry? How do you want to feel after reading it? What do you want to learn? How do you tackle choosing the first poem for your own books?”
—Phillip B. Williams, in a thread full of interesting possibilities
For a long while now, I’ve been thinking about Jane Kenyon and how many of her poems don’t lead with an image but instead turn toward one at the end, sometimes in surprising and out-of-context ways, like in the poem “From Room to Room.” This thread floated back in as I read
’s recent craft tip about exit strategies in poetry, which has more examples of a turn toward imagery at the end of a poem.A great companion to the post above is Mentor & Muse’s newest issue, which is all about poetic closure. They’ve got original essays and interviews, plus a collection of resources with techniques for ending your poems.
W. Todd Kaneko shared important tips on how to research presses, avoid questionable publishers, and submit with care.
Creative Support: Fellowships, Residencies & More
Oct 15 —
has started a new residency, Window Place, and it’s now open for applications for the first season. This is in my corner of the world in northwest Michigan, a special place to work on a book… dark skies, bodies of water in every direction, dunes that are always reorienting you to the horizon line. Not to mention art galleries and craft talks at places like Interlochen and… anyway, I’m biased, but I’d love to see more poets here.Oct 16 — The Poetry Foundation seeks proposals for its Forms & Features Workshop Series. (Thanks to
for sharing this one.)Oct 18 — The John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize is open for nominations of debut books. (This one is also thanks to
.)Oct 27 — The application for the 2024 Periplus Fellowship — offering mentorship and community to writers of color — is now open.
Oct 31 — Sundress Publications is offering the Light Bill Incubator Microgrant for Black and/or Indigenous writers with a chapbook in progress.
The Poetry Society of America Awards are now open.
Upcoming Manuscript Deadlines
Searching for chapbook reading periods rather than full-length possibilities? Check out this spreadsheet created by Anna Lena Phillips Bell and Ryan Bloom.
Oct 15 — Poetic Justice Institute Prizes at Fordham University
Oct 15 — Copper Nickel’s Jake Adam York Prize
Oct 17 — Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize at The Journal (reduced fee for BIPOC poets + waivers available)
Oct 30 — Diode Editions Book Contest (fee waivers available)
Oct 31 — Persea Books First Book Prize
Oct 31 — Elixir Press Annual Poetry Award
Nov 1 — Changes Press Book Prize — For first and second books. This is the most generous and accessible book contest I’ve found. No submission fees, and the winner receives a $10,000 prize, launch event in NYC, and more.
Nov 1 — Cowles Poetry Prize
Nov 3 — Minds on Fire Open Book Prize
New: Gunpowder Press has announced the John Ridland Poetry Prize for poets 55 years and older. The deadline is December 31.
Heads up: The Sowell Emerging Writers Prize will be awarded in poetry this year. They’re interested in books “on themes about and related to the natural world by writers who have published no more than one book in any genre.”
There are more ongoing opportunities on the big list of publishers (as in, presses reading throughout the year).
The bulletin is made by Emily Stoddard. If you have ideas, updates to a publisher’s listing, or want to share a resource, say hello by replying to this note.
RE: If you’re writing and/or submitting a second, third, fourth, etc. book, what resources have you found helpful? What posts, podcasts, videos, craft essays or craft books, newsletters, interviews, techniques, or exercises are you leaning on?
Well, for sure, YOUR newsletter, Emily! The Poetry Bulletin! It's wonderful!
In putting together a book of poems, Susan Rich and I edited Demystifying the Manuscript: Essays and Interviews on Creating a Book of Poems--a book which has a lot of different views and ideas by so many of our favorite poets.
For submitting, learning about putting together a book of poems, (and writing poems), @twosylviaspress Substack the Weekly Muse is a good go to--we always try to include questions about putting together a book of poems in our interview.
The best advice I have received is from Linda Bierds which is --know why you're making the choices you're making. This is for writing a poem, but I always thought this was excellent advice in putting together a book of poems!
Thank you, as always, for your generous curation, Emily.