Submissions window for first full-length collections open 01 June 2022
Dedalus Press is pleased to announce a call for book-length manuscript submissions from poets who have not previously published a full-length volume of poems.
BACKGROUND
It’s been an incredibly busy two years at Dedalus Press. As well as new books by individual poets, in an attempt to involve and connect with the wider community of poets and readers, since the beginning of the pandemic we’ve published no fewer than four anthologies (with two more due to appear before the end of the year). A single anthology is a massive extra amount of work for a small press; to produce six of them in so short a period is arguably a kind of madness. Yet we felt it was an important thing to do, and we were bowled over by the public response to our efforts, and delighted to reach an ever-wider audience with each in turn, culminating in Local Wonders, one of our most popular publications to date.
NEW POETS, FIRST COLLECTIONS
Now, however, it’s time to return our focus to an area that is at the heart of our mission but which has received somewhat less attention in recent times than it deserves.
Applicable to POETS BORN IN IRELAND OR CURRENTLY LIVING HERE, this call for first collection manuscripts will run from 01 JUNE to 31 JULY (i.e. the months of June and July inclusive). We’re looking for your best 20-50 pages of poems from an unpublished first collection manuscript; individual poems may have been previously published in journals, chapbooks, social media, etc. This call is open to poets writing IN ENGLISH ONLY: though we do publish books in translation, these are by invitation only. (We are unable to consider illustrated books, books by more than one author or books combining poetry and fiction.)
ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
Mindful of the challenges faced by poets writing outside of their native language, where we receive a manuscript of sufficient interest, we may offer an extended mentorship/editorial relationship with the poet in order to produce a final text of which all parties can be proud.
For an idea of the kind of books we’re interested in, please familiarise yourself with some of our publications. Poets who published their first collection with Dedalus Press are too numerous to mention but include Doireann Ní Ghríofa, John Kelly, Polina Cosgrave, John Sheahan, Ross Thompson, Enda Coyle-Greene, Erin Fornoff, Billy Ramsell, Mary Noonan, Eleanor Hooker, Iggy McGovern, Grace Wells and Leeanne Quinn.
Full submissions details will be published on social media, on our website, and through our Mailing List (be sure to sign up at www.dedaluspress.com) from late May.
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