UPCOMING CONTESTS AND SUBMISSION WINDOWS
Twelve Small Presses That Want to Read Your Manuscript
INSPIRED to submit your manuscript to a small press? These twelve university presses, nonprofits, and other extraordinary indies have general reading periods or contest deadlines this autumn and winter. Count on these presses to boast enthusiastic staff, more personal publishing experiences, and editors ready to champion your work—plus, all the contests offer a prize of $1,000 or more. Find even more great small presses with upcoming calls for submission on the Poets & Writers website at pw.org/ small_presses.
Since its founding in 2004 by poets Kazim Ali and Jennifer Chapis, Nightboat Books (nightboat.org) has published daring, inspired poetry and prose, including work by Fanny Howe, Bernadette Mayer, Reginald Shepherd, Brandon Shimoda, and Anne Waldman. Sail your own course to the stars by submitting to the Nightboat Poetry Prize by November 15. The winner receives publication of their book, $1,000, and twenty-five author copies. General poetry manuscript submissions are also accepted through November 15.
Inspired by the “poetic literary talent of Sylvia Plath and the editorial business sense of Sylvia Beach,” Two Sylvias Press (twosylviaspress.com) may be ready to celebrate another phenomenal literary woman: you. If you’re a writer over age fifty who identifies as a woman, the press’s editors stand by to consider your submission to the Wilder Series Poetry Book Prize now through December 31. Emerging and established writers are welcome to submit, and all manuscripts will be considered for publication.
Driven by a mission of “finding and sharing remarkable voices,” and with particular attention to writers in its home state of North Carolina, Press 53 (press53.com) comprises a thriving book imprint and a quarterly literary magazine. Through two annual book contests, the press accepts submissions of poetry collections and volumes of short stories by writers living anywhere in the U.S. Its next contest deadline is for the Press 53 Award for Short Fiction, which closes December 31. Also based in North Carolina,
Regal House Publishing (regal housepublishing.com) was founded by writer and editor Jaynie Royal in 2014 in hopes of giving authors a different experience from the one she had navigating mainstream publishing. Royal launched Regal House with a vision “in which the publisher functions as an active, long-term collaborator and resource, equally and fervently committed to the success of each of its authors.” Submissions are accepted through multiple annual awards, as well as through general reading periods. The press publishes poetry, short story collections, novels, novellas, essays, memoirs, and more; its next contest deadline, for the W. S. Porter Prize for a short story collection, is December 1.
An abiding commitment to writers also guides Autumn House Press (autumnhouse.org), a nonprofit publisher in Pittsburgh. The press’s editors say they “see our relationships with our authors as partnerships, and we work closely with our authors to support them during the editorial process and well beyond the book’s release.” Your book may join the ranks of the press’s poetry, fiction, and nonfiction titles as a winner of one of several contests it offers. These include the Rising Writer Prize, given this year for a first book of poetry, and the CAAPP Book Prize, for which the press collaborates with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for African American Poetry and Poetics to publish a first or second book in any genre by a writer of African descent. The deadlines for these contests are November 30, 2023, and February 15, 2024, respectively.
Located in upstate New York, Black Lawrence Press (blacklawrencepress.com) is known for showcasing
powerful, nervy works of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Guided by a commitment to social justice that ripples through all facets of its work, the press’s recent undertakings include the development of the Immigrant Writing Series, led by writers including Rigoberto González and Sung Yun Shin, which seeks to make a home for voices that otherwise might remain displaced. The series is open to submissions in any genre, yearround. Other publication opportunities at the press include an annual first book award, chapbook competitions in poetry and prose, and the delightfully named Big Moose Prize. To seize the moose by the antlers, submit a novel manuscript by January 31, 2024, the press’s next contest deadline—or send general submissions during the reading period from November 1 to November 30.
The A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize is one of several awards from BOA Editions (boaeditions.org) that embody the literary nonprofit’s longtime work to elevate contemporary literature’s most exciting new talent; the press was an early champion of beloved writers such as Lucille Clifton and Li-Young Lee. Awarded for a debut book of poetry, this year’s Poulin Prize has a deadline of November 30. Winners will be published as part of the New Poets of America series in spring 2025. Poets who identify as women of color will also want to look ahead to the deadline for its celebrated Blessing the Boats Selections contest, which typically opens for entries in June. Ohio University Press (ohio swallow.com) and its imprint, Swallow Press, publish everything from “academic monographs to regional guides to internationally acclaimed literary works,” reaching readers close to home and abroad since 1964. As of this writing, Swallow Press is seeking book submissions in fiction and literary nonfiction; the university press’s Hollis Summers Poetry Prize for a poetry collection will close on December 31.
Meadowlark Books (meadowlark -books.com) is further proof that literary culture is thriving in America’s heartland. The publisher in Emporia, Kansas, holds regular reading periods to acquire collections of poetry and short fiction, novels, and memoirs, with a special interest in regional authors. Its annual Birdy Poetry Prize is given for a poetry collection; the deadline for the next contest is December 1.
Offered in conjunction with the esteemed literary magazine Prairie Schooner, the Raz-Shumaker Book Prize Series awards publication by one of the nation’s most prolific and respected university presses— the University of Nebraska Press
(nebraskapress.unl.edu). Each year, the contest honors one short story collection and one collection of poetry; submissions to the contest are typically open January 15 to March 15. For more great opportunities to place your work, check out the university press’s several imprints, including Bison Books and the Backwaters Press, both of which make general calls for literary submissions.
The editors of Red Hen Press (redhen.org) believe in literature as “essential human practice.” Located in Pasadena, California, this nonprofit publishes books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as works that confound those categories. Several annual contests seek to make and hold space for marginalized writers; up next is the press’s Quill Prose Award, which offers book publication to a LGBTQIA+ writer working in fiction or nonfiction. Submissions are open through November 30.
If in your writing you strive to “open readers anew to the myriad ways that language may bring new light, insight, awareness, as well as a heightened respect for and appreciation of differences,” your book may find a home with Omnidawn
Publishing (omnidawn.com). For more than twenty years the press has published books and chapbooks of poetry by the likes of Lyn Hejinian, Diana Khoi Nguyen, and Brian Teare. Upcoming opportunities include the Omnidawn First/Second Poetry Book Contest, which is open until February 16, 2024, and will be judged by Desirée Alvarez.
Finally, if you’re a poet, don’t forget about the National Poetry Series. Its annual Open Competition boosts five poets and their winning books to national prominence. Each book is published by one of a rotating cast of esteemed presses. Winners of the 2022 contest received $10,000 each and saw their titles released by independent presses such as Akashic Books and the University of Georgia Press, among other distinguished publishers. Find details about the next round of participating publishers and the 2024 competition, which opens January 1, 2024, at nationalpoetryseries.org.
Count on these presses to boast enthusiastic staff, more personal publishing experiences, and editors ready to champion your work—plus, all the contests offer a prize of $1,000 or more.