Welcome home, poet.
Frontier Poetry began with the simple mission of being a platform for emerging poets—to uplift, to prepare, and to inspire.
We are looking for poets and poems that strive to place themselves at the edge of what language can do. This does not mean we are only concerned with experimental poetry. We believe sonnets can be at the frontier, book-length poems can be at the frontier, confessional poetry can be at the frontier—as long as a piece is constructed with exceptional consideration for language, craft, and heart, that poem is a fit for us.
Work by new and underrepresented voices is one of our priorities in publication. We take our role as a mediating platform between poet and world seriously and strive to use this role as fairly and justly as we can. The frontier land of poetry, that distant landscape where all voices can be heard clearly and in abundance, where poets from all contexts feel empowered to step into their writing—we seek that place, and hope to plant ourselves in its beauty.
By submitting to Frontier Poetry, submitters agree to receive correspondence about new work and submission opportunities from Frontier Poetry. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Here at Frontier, our digital chapbook contest is one of the highlights of our year. This contest is an opportunity to not only lean into the poetic exploration we encourage in all of our submissions, but also to take us on an extended venture into the terrain of your work, in up to thirty pages of poems. We want to see your breakthrough moments, your obsessions, the journey of your voice. All kinds of poetry are welcome; we set no formal or aesthetic requirements, and we invite manuscripts that still need polishing.
The winner will receive $2,000 and publication, which includes a free, downloadable digital chapbook on our website, fifty physical author copies to share and sell, and the option to enable drop-shipping sales at Amazon, Bookshop.org, and Barnes & Noble, earning 50% royalties. on your chapbook. Additionally, tens of thousands of readers, editors, and magazines will receive chapbook access through our newsletter. This audience can be a formative springboard for your poetic career!
Our guest judge Kemi Alabi will select the winner this year from ten finalists curated by our editorial team.
About Our Judge:
Kemi Alabi is the author of Against Heaven (Graywolf Press, 2022), selected by Claudia Rankine as winner of the Academy of American Poets First Book Award. The collection was a Kate Tufts Discovery Award finalist, Chicago Review of Books Award winner, and one of New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2022. Alabi’s poems appear in The Atlantic, The Nation, Poetry, Boston Review, and Best New Poets. A Periplus Collective mentor, Alabi has received fellowships from MacDowell, Civitella Ranieri, and elsewhere. As Head of Creativity & Impact of the gender justice organization Forward Together, Alabi builds cultural power with organizers and artists. They’re coeditor of The Echoing Ida Collection (Feminist Press, 2021), an anthology of Black reproductive justice writing. Born in Wisconsin on a Sunday in July, they now live in Chicago, IL. Find Kemi on Twitter @kemiaalabi.
Guidelines for Submission:
- Poets of any publication history are welcome to submit.
- BIPOC writers are welcome to submit for a reduced fee until we reach our cap of fifty.
- The manuscript should be fifteen to thirty pages of poems, not including front and back matter.
- The manuscript should be unpublished as a whole, although individual poems may be previously published.
- Do not include any identifying information in the manuscript itself or in the file name.
- Please put any acknowledgements in the cover letter field of Submittable and not in the manuscript.
- Submissions are open internationally, to any poet writing in English. Inclusion of other languages is welcome, as long as the poem is primarily in English.
- Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please notify us immediately if the chapbook is accepted elsewhere.
- Multiple submissions are allowed, but each manuscript must be submitted separately with the $25 reading fee.
- Winners and finalists will be announced late summer 2023.
- If you’d like to view a list of questions that often come up, please see our FAQ page.
Editorial Feedback:
Two options for feedback are available—the Editorial Letter and the Manuscript Consultation.
- For practical feedback on an individual poem from the collection, choose the Editorial Letter (one to two pages of developmental feedback).
- For an in-depth editorial service on the manuscript as a whole, choose the Manuscript Consultation (fifteen to twenty pages of feedback plus a phone consultation).
Our guest editors are paid a significant portion of the fee (at EFA rates) and are all astute, professional poets.
Testimonial for the Manuscript Consultation: "Meeting with a Frontier Poetry editor was well worth it. Poems need to be read out loud and to be heard by more than one person. And if that second listener is generous and curious and knows where to point to a better order and when a line needs torque or the junk pile, then there's a chance for mere words, that mere air, to sound delicious."
Frontier’s Chapbook Catalog:
Our 2022 winner, In my dreams/I love like an idea by Tyler Raso is forthcoming this spring, and you can read the winners of our previous chapbook contests here:
- Opportunity Cost by Abby Johnson (2021)
- In the Year of Our Making & Unmaking by Frederick Speers (2020)
- Shadow Black by Naima Tukunaw (2019)
- How Often I Have Chosen Love by Xiao Yue Shen (2018)
Included Opportunities and Discounts
As a thank you for your support for Frontier, we've partnered with The Poetry School to offer every submitter a 20% off discount code (average of $28 value) to one of their online courses! Head to their platform, find a course you're interested in, and use the code included in your Break confirmation message at checkout.
Frontier is offering a reduced entry fee ($15) to any self-identifying BIPOC poet, until we hit our cap of fifty. Please only use this submission form if fit this category.
Here at Frontier, our digital chapbook contest is one of the highlights of our year. This contest is an opportunity to not only lean into the poetic exploration we encourage in all of our submissions, but also to take us on an extended venture into the terrain of your work, in up to thirty pages of poems. We want to see your breakthrough moments, your obsessions, the journey of your voice. All kinds of poetry are welcome; we set no formal or aesthetic requirements, and we invite manuscripts that still need polishing.
The winner will receive $2,000 and publication, which includes a free, downloadable digital chapbook on our website, fifty physical author copies to share and sell, and the option to enable drop-shipping sales at Amazon, Bookshop.org, and Barnes & Noble, earning 50% royalties on your chapbook. Additionally, tens of thousands of readers, editors, and magazines will receive chapbook access through our newsletter. This audience can be a formative springboard for your poetic career!
Our guest judge Kemi Alabi will select the winner this year from ten finalists curated by our editorial team.
About Our Judge:
Kemi Alabi is the author of Against Heaven (Graywolf Press, 2022), selected by Claudia Rankine as winner of the Academy of American Poets First Book Award. The collection was a Kate Tufts Discovery Award finalist, Chicago Review of Books Award winner, and one of New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2022. Alabi’s poems appear in The Atlantic, The Nation, Poetry, Boston Review, and Best New Poets. A Periplus Collective mentor, Alabi has received fellowships from MacDowell, Civitella Ranieri, and elsewhere. As Head of Creativity & Impact of the gender justice organization Forward Together, Alabi builds cultural power with organizers and artists. They’re coeditor of The Echoing Ida Collection (Feminist Press, 2021), an anthology of Black reproductive justice writing. Born in Wisconsin on a Sunday in July, they now live in Chicago, IL. Find Kemi on Twitter @kemiaalabi.
Guidelines for Submission:
- Poets of any publication history are welcome to submit.
- The manuscript should be fifteen to thirty pages of poems, not including front and back matter.
- The manuscript should be unpublished as a whole, although individual poems may be previously published.
- Do not include any identifying information in the manuscript itself or in the file name.
- Please put any acknowledgements in the cover letter field of Submittable and not in the manuscript.
- Submissions are open internationally, to any poet writing in English. Inclusion of other languages is welcome, as long as the poem is primarily in English.
- Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please notify us immediately if the chapbook is accepted elsewhere.
- Multiple submissions are allowed, but each manuscript must be submitted separately with the $25 reading fee.
- Winners and finalists will be announced late summer 2023.
- If you’d like to view a list of questions that often come up, please see our FAQ page.
Editorial Feedback:
Two options for feedback are available—the Editorial Letter and the Manuscript Consultation.
- For practical feedback on an individual poem from the collection, choose the Editorial Letter (one to two pages of developmental feedback).
- For an in-depth editorial service on the manuscript as a whole, choose the Manuscript Consultation (fifteen to twenty pages of feedback plus a phone consultation).
Our guest editors are paid a significant portion of the fee (at EFA rates) and are all astute, professional poets.
Testimonial for the Manuscript Consultation: "Meeting with a Frontier Poetry editor was well worth it. Poems need to be read out loud and to be heard by more than one person. And if that second listener is generous and curious and knows where to point to a better order and when a line needs torque or the junk pile, then there's a chance for mere words, that mere air, to sound delicious."
Frontier’s Chapbook Catalog:
Our 2022 winner, In my dreams/I love like an idea by Tyler Raso is forthcoming this spring, and you can read the winners of our previous chapbook contests here:
- Opportunity Cost by Abby Johnson (2021)
- In the Year of Our Making & Unmaking by Frederick Speers (2020)
- Shadow Black by Naima Tukunaw (2019)
- How Often I Have Chosen Love by Xiao Yue Shen (2018)
Included Opportunities and Discounts
As a thank you for your support for Frontier, we've partnered with The Poetry School to offer every submitter a 20% off discount code (average of $28 value) to one of their online courses! Head to their platform, find a course you're interested in, and use the code included in your Break confirmation message at checkout.
Submissions for our New Voices poetry category are open year round to any new and emerging poet who has not published more than one full-length collection of poetry. New Voices are published online only and will feature a number of poems from new authors each month.
We are thrilled to offer significant payment to our partner poets: $50 per poem, up to $150. We are proud to be paying for published pieces but will be highly selective in our choices for publication.
We also warmly invite under-represented and marginalized voices to submit. Our aim is to be an accurate representation of the diversity of our beautiful community. Your voice is valued here.
Guidelines
- Submissions are open to new and emerging poets only (no more than two full-length published works forthcoming at the time of submission—email us about self-published works)
- We accept simultaneous submissions—just please send us a note if your work is picked up elsewhere (We want to say congrats!)
- All submissions must be no more than 10 pages and no more than 5 poems.
- We do not accept multiple submissions. Please submit all your poems in ONE document.
- Please include a cover letter with your publication history
- Expect 8-12 weeks for a response
- Please review our FAQ page for more information. Almost all other questions are answered here: www.frontierpoetry.com/faq
Editorial Feedback Option
This option costs $59 and will provide you with two pages of detailed and actionable feedback on a poem of your choice from the submission, including suggestions for future submissions. Our guest editors are paid a significant portion of the fee (at EFA rates) and are all incredibly astute and professional poets.
We have a problem in publishing. The 2019 survey of industry professionals found that, "There is no discernible change to any of the other racial categories. In other words, the field is just as White today as it was four years ago." If we all don't work to individually push for progress, then progress stagnates. We can't rely on anyone but ourselves to move the needle.
Toward that end, we're offering this space as an opportunity for BIPOC writers to get fast results on their submissions. Your voice is valued here.
These will be considered as submissions for our New Voices poetry category. New Voices are published online only and will feature a number of poems from new authors each month.
We are thrilled to offer significant payment to our partner poets: $50 per poem, up to $150. We are proud to be paying for published pieces but will be highly selective in our choices for publication.
Guidelines
- Submissions are open to all self-identifying BIPOC authors
- Submissions are open to new and emerging poets only (no more than one full-length published work forthcoming at the time of submission—email us about self-published works)
- We accept simultaneous submissions—just please send us a note if your work is picked up elsewhere (We want to say congrats!)
- All submissions must be no more than 10 pages and no more than 5 poems.
- We do not accept multiple submissions. Please submit all your poems in ONE document.
- Please include a cover letter with your publication history
- Expect 2-4 weeks for a response
- Please review our FAQ page for more information. Almost all other questions are answered here: www.frontierpoetry.com/faq