We at Thoughtcrime Press are thrilled to announce that we’ll be accepting submissions from December 15th–January 31st for our first ever chapbook competition, the Lorien Prize, and we’ll publish not just one, but two winning authors! We will present the two collections in the summer of 2017 as a single back to back volume, using a tête-bêche binding. This format allows us to join two works whose themes or styles converse with each other, expanding the presence of both in a final book in an otherwise impossible way. If you know someone whose writing would go well with your own, submit together. We are excited to see what you have in mind!
The Basics
-$10 submission fee.
-Submit alone or with another author.
-If submitting with another author, still only $10!
-Each author should send between 15 and 29 poems (though if your manuscript falls a little outside these parameters, still submit!).
-Winners announced at AWP, February 2017.
-Winning authors each receive 50 free copies, guidance with tour preparation and promotion, and access to all benefits of the Thoughtcrime family of authors and artists.
-The book will be crafted with absolute care for the text and authors’ wishes, printed with an ISBN, and will stay in print as long as Thoughtcrime stays a press.
Rather than describe what we’re looking for in a manuscript, it might be more helpful to list a few things we’ve been reading lately, and obsessing over.
Hanif Abdurraqib-The Crown Aint Worth Much
Ocean Vuong-Night Sky With Exit Wounds
Sam Sax-Sad Boy Detective
Ross Gay-Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude
Anders Carlson Wee-Dynamite
Christopher Soto-Sad Girl Poems
Danez Smith-Insert Boy
Ada Limon-Bright Dead Things
Rachel McKibbens-Mammoth
Patricia Smith-Blood Dazzler
Claudia Rankine-Citizen
Natalie Diaz-When My Brother Was An Aztec
Aricka Foreman-Dream With a Glass Chamber
Jamaal May-The Big Book Of Exit Strategies
Roger Reeves-King Me
Aracelis Girmay-Kingdom Animalia
Vievee Francis-Horse in the Dark
Nate Marshall-Wild Hundreds
Phillip B. Williams-Thief in the Interior
