Open in May to all poets writing in English.

Use our general Guidelines. If you have any questions, please contact editor@wordworksbooks.org.

Since 2014, the editors had accepted manuscripts from our community of writers, and in 2020 for the first time we opened this submission period to all poets. Part of our “Poets Against the Pandemic” efforts, the experiment led us to declare May to be our open reading period. 

In addition, we use this reading period to review submissions from our own authors, and aim to publish two books per year from that group.

Selection Process

Nancy White reads every manuscript submitted and discusses with a small team of readers which varies from year to year. Submissions by our past authors are reviewed by the editorial board. Four to six books per year are selected for publication in the next two years.