Poetry Bulletin: Summer 2025

15+ deadlines for poetry books, creative resources / residencies / deadlines, and more

a Lake Michigan horizon line

Hi poets — I’m trying something new and doing a June/July/August bulletin, to group the (northern hemisphere) summer months together. I hope this is more helpful for your planning, since the rhythm of deadlines, child care situations, revision energy, etc. can vary so much during this season.

These months are also, it seems, likely to hold more uncertainty and grief . . . it feels like a(nother) moment to return to Fargo Tbakhi’s “Notes on Craft: Writing in the Hour of Genocide” and George Abraham’s “Toward an Apocalypse of Letters.”

It helps me to remember that I don’t always have to find new words or new questions to keep meeting the moment. Sometimes a frantic-ness of feeling is a sign that I’m anxious for some new idea or new clarity, when what I really need is to remember / return to what’s already true. Like returning to Lake Michigan (photo above) to right-size myself when things get loud.

The acceleration of violence does not worry about trying on new names. It doesn’t worry about being original. Many days it seems to get its power from being one of the oldest stories. It counts on someone saying, “Oh but, it’s complicated. Always has been.” For some of us, that’s an inheritance we’re wrestling with—the way my ancestors¹ wrote about their purpose does not sound all that different from the language of settlers and genocide-enablers now.

So I hope there’s also a counterweight-power in remembering / reaffirming what else is already with us, and returning to clarity like Fargo’s and George’s. To find out if or how our writing practice is still changing in response to the world. To share with another person or in the next writing workshop, like I’m sharing here with you, one more time. To repeat the possibilities, so it’s clear that our love of liberation is / can be / will be just as persistent as some people’s love of occupation.

I know this is just one way to meet the moment. Just wanted to pass it along in case you’re feeling like I am and need a little re-planting or re-orienting now . . . sending love and thanks to the poets who keep sharing the many ways through —

emily

Submission Fee Support

re: the submission fee support fund — I’m a little behind on responses as I balance some big personal deadlines with this project. Those are the emails I’m heading to next after hitting send on this bulletin. As always, it helps a ton if you can reach out about your deadlines at least a week (ideally two) in advance.

Right now there’s enough money to cover submissions for two or three poets’ books. Here’s how to get support—please note the update for 2025!

Creative Resources & Possibilities

• Workshops4Gaza is accepting proposals for new workshops and reading groups.
  

• Appreciated this piece that weaves together poetry-making and website-making, and how different mediums shape the process, by Omayeli Arenyeka: “What is a website good for?” Thinking a bit on this led me back to an old favorite, Tiana Clark’s “Meditations on the Line.”
  

• Boosting again for poets in Australia: check out

  Uplift Poetry
  and their regular posts on upcoming events—the new June edition has 170+ events, sorted by different locations and including some virtual options.
  

• Debutiful is open to books from emerging and debut authors for coverage on its site. They suggest pitching your book at least three months before its release date. Get more details (visual slides) here on Instagram, or check out their full submissions page. They cover about 12 poetry books annually.
  

• Kevin Gotkin
  continues to share a ton of great resources, upcoming events, and deadlines on Crip News.
  

• Due June 27 — Possible Worlds is hosting a summer micro publishing residency in Ottawa, Ontario. This is a one-week opportunity (multiple dates to choose from), and they’ll select two people to participate.
  

• Due June 30 — Seventh Wave’s virtual group program, Narrative Shifts, is accepting applications to its fall 2025 residency. It’s free to apply, and they offer two fully-funded seats in the program.
  

• Due July 15 — Sundress Publications is offering a microgrant and one-week residency for trans writers.
  

• Due September 1 —

  Chill Subs
  is giving $1,000 (each) to five different literary magazines as part of a new Lit Mag Incubator Program. No fee to apply for the program, and they only require two things: you factor in payment for your editors and writers and you can’t rely solely on contests or submission fees for revenue.

Upcoming Deadlines for Poetry Manuscripts

Between now and the end of August, there are over 15 reading periods with presses that do not exclude poets based on their ability to pay. They either charge no submission fee, or if they charge a fee, they offer fee waivers or support of some kind.²

Last I checked, three of these have committed to PACBI: River River Books, Diode Editions, Inverted Syntax

JUNE

• June 30 — Barrow Street Book Contest — fee discounts available upon request

• June 30 — Autumn House Poetry Contest — already reached their cap on fee waivers, but I still wanted to include this for anyone who can afford fees and is prioritizing publishers who practice fee accessibility

• June 30 — Four Way Books Open Reading Period — fee waivers available

• June 30 — Unicorn Press Open Reading Period — no reading fee

• June 30 — River River Books — committed to PACBI and pay what you can, including fee-free ($10 is their suggested fee if you’re able to pay)

• June 30 — Trio House Press Open Reading Period — fee waived for writers with income less than $50,000 annually

• June 30 — Black Lawrence Press Open Reading Period — fee waivers available by emailing: editors@blacklawrencepress.com

• June 30 — Early bird discount period for Black Lawrence Press’ St. Lawrence Book Award

JULY

• July 15 — Word Works Tenth Gate Prize (mid-career poets) — fee waivers available by emailing: editor@wordworksbooks.org

• July 15 — Diode Editions Book Contest — fee waivers available, committed to PACBI

AUGUST

• Aug 1 — Cornerstone Press - Portage Poetry Series — no reading fee

• Aug 15 — Futurepoem Other Futures Award — sliding scale fees, with waivers available

• Aug 16 — Inverted Syntax Tabbikha Prize for Poetry (for SWANA diaspora) — $10 reduced fee available, committed to PACBI

• Aug 16 — Inverted Syntax Aggrey Prize (for BIPOC poets) — $10 reduced fee available, committed to PACBI

• Aug 16 — Inverted Syntax Sublingua Prize for Poetry (for female-identifying) — $10 reduced fee available, committed to PACBI

• Aug 16 — Omnidawn Open Poetry Book Contest — fee waivers available by emailing: free.entry@omnidawn.com

• Aug 31 — Sundress Publications Open Reading Period — waivers for all BIPOC writers

Why PACBI?

If you’re submitting and writing in solidarity with those facing genocide, PACBI is one clear way to find publishers who are in the work too. Publishers for Palestine and Writers Against the War on Gaza have lists of presses committed to PACBI. We know boycotting and protesting works—check out the recent example of the Giller Prize. Don’t be afraid to ask a potential publisher where they stand before you trust them with your work.

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The bulletin is made by Emily Stoddard, and the big list of poetry publishers came together as she found a publisher (Game Over Books) for her poetry debut, Divination with a Human Heart Attached. If you have updates to a publisher’s listing or want to share a resource, leave a comment. Comments are preferred to email replies when possible, as they get the information out to everyone more freely and quickly.

1. [for transparency/to keep it real/a practice to try] I don’t mean “wrestling with inheritance” abstractly. My ancestors were the earliest missionaries to Tonga and Aotearoa/New Zealand and early arrivals in the American colonies too, with people like Solomon Stoddard and his grandson Jonathan Edwards (manifest destiny influencer) being my relatives . . . when I read their words against the backdrop of these times, there’s no such thing as a “distant” ancestor. Spending time with them helps me understand my piece of the struggles now, and how writing is/has long been part of the work, for better or worse.

If you’ve got ancestors like mine, one experiment is to choose a person to spend time with and research, then write or journal about or to them. (Their proximity to power can make documentation easier to find—they were sometimes literally writing the history.) Try writing fragments and rough phrases of reactions to their photos, letters, or other reports . . . I find fragment-writing to be a good place to start. Found or blackout poetry is also a possibility. Ask questions and free-write what follows. I don’t always love what I learn, but I’m often steadied by this practice for some reason. Something about addressing the root, maybe. (This is a very high level sketch of it, fwiw! Just sharing in case some poet out there finds a possibility in it. Take what you need, leave the rest!)

2. Publisher eligibility for inclusion/waive-to-play: Starting in 2025, there’s no more free advertising in these posts for publishers excluding poets who can’t pay to play. If a press wants to be read by this audience, they can offer zero-fee reading periods, fee waivers for poets who need them, early bird fee-free windows, or other creative options, as shared in this newsletter many times over the years.