- Our mission
We are starting 2026 off with a call for single poems to print as high quality broadsides.
Poems must be original, unpublished work. Publication on social media and personal websites counts as published.
We will choose four poems from the submissions received, pair them with beautiful original art and announce winners at a launch party in mid April, celebrating your work, and National Poetry Month.
We also hope to find and bring to print four extraordinary poetry chapbooks a year.
Editions will be perfect bound, with a flat spine and an ISBN and a Library of Congress number. We will support each book with a launch party, social media posts, reading/signing events, and the opportunity to share our table at local and regional literary festivals.
- We're looking for
Poetry that is accessible and surprising.
Poetry that we feel in our bodies as we read it. Poetry that makes us think differently about a thing we thought we knew. Poetry with a hinge line halfway through or near the end that blows the whole poem wide open again. Poetry that plays around in known narratives of myth, folklore, tradition, and superstition in surprising and curious ways. Poetry with a strong sense of place, or time. Your poetry, seriously. Just send it to us, we want to read it.
- We won't tolerate
Hate speech of any kind.
Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, ageism, etc. Pornography that serves no other purpose. AI created content. You know exactly what we mean, don’t pretend you don’t.
- Broadside compitition
Single poems
Open to Chicagoland poets. If you tell people from other places that you are from Chicago, then this competition is for you.
Submit no more than 3 unpublished poems (yes, social media and personal websites count as published).
All manuscripts should be in a .doc file. Other formats will, to our great sadness, not be read.
- How we decide
We read blind.
Please be sure that no identifying information appears anywhere in your manuscript. If your work is chosen for publication we will request a brief bio.
- If you are chosen
We will choose four poems
We will choose four poems from the submissions received, pair them with beautiful original art and announce winners at a launch party in mid April, celebrating your work, and National Poetry Month. The poet will be given a 75 numbered print run. 25 copies to the poet, 25 copies to the artist, and 25 copies will be listed for sale on our website and gently carried to festivals and events by Lost Penny Press.
- Chapbooks
Submissions
Submissions for Lost Penny Press Chapbook series open on March 1st and will remain open until we receive 200 manuscripts or until May 31th whichever comes first.
All manuscripts should be in a .doc file. Other formats will, to our great sadness, not be read. It is ok if individual poems have been previously published, but the manuscript as a whole must be unpublished. Please include an acknowledgment page for previously published poems.
- How we decide
We read blind.
Please be sure that no identifying information appears anywhere in your manuscript. If your work is chosen for publication we will request a brief bio.
- If you are chosen
Four manuscripts will be chosen
Four manuscripts will be chosen for publication from the submissions received. Selected manuscripts will be printed as perfect bound chapbooks with ISBNs, and Library of Congress Catalog Numbers, in an open edition press run. Authors receive 25 copies and a discounted rate should they wish to purchase additional copies. Books will be supported with a launch party, social media posts, a reading in the community, and space at local and regional literary festivals that Lost Penny Press attends.
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