A NEW CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR THE YOOPER POETRY SERIES
If you’re a Yooper poet or a poet with a strong connection to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, this CFS may be just for you.
Raymond Luczak, the editor of Yooper Poetry: On Experiencing Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the author of Chlorophyll: Poems about Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, will be in charge of the brand-new Yooper Poetry Series (YPS). Modern History Press, an imprint of Loving Healing Press, will publish.
What is YPS?
Inspired by the overwhelmingly positive reaction to his recent anthology Yooper Poetry, Raymond thought it’d be even better if he could help publish full-length single-author collections by poets with a strong U.P. connection.
How should you submit your new book of poetry?
In your email, please share your connection to the U.P. How long have you been living there? If you no longer live there, tell us about your connection to the U.P. along with a brief bio. Explaining your U.P. connection upfront in your email is an absolute requirement for consideration. You can add a quick line or two about what your book is about, but this is not required.
- If you are a current U.P. resident, your poetry collection doesn’t have to focus solely on the U.P. experience.
- If you are a former resident of the U.P., your poetry collection *must* focus solely on the U.P. experience.
How should your manuscript be formatted?
- Your manuscript must be a minimum of 60 pages and a maximum of 100 pages in a Word file. (PDFs are acceptable but if you are accepted, you will need to provide a Word file.)
- List the book’s title and your contact info on the cover and your poem titles in a table of contents. Make sure that your book is paginated throughout. Use a 12-point standard font.
- Your acknowledgments page must list each previously published poem and where it first appeared. No reprints from your previous poetry collections.
- Each poem must start on a new page. Single-spaced lines are preferred, but if some of your poems are double-spaced for a specific reason, it’s fine.
- Oddly-formatted poems are acceptable, but please be aware that such poems may need to be restructured to accommodate the ebook’s formatting limitations.
When should you submit your manuscript?
Anytime in the month of May 2024 at this email address ONLY: yooperpoetry@gmail.com. Please add “YPS” and your book’s title to your email’s subject field. Raymond will take a month or two to read everyone’s submissions before he narrows down to maybe three or four strong contenders. (A word of advice: Some of you may already have Raymond’s personal email address. Please do NOT use that address ever for YPS-related questions and submissions. Thank you.)
Just what is Raymond looking for?
He is wide open in terms of subject, style, and structure, but he does not particularly like religious or sing-song poems. (Yes, spiritual poems and lyrical poetry are great.) Ableism, homophobia, racism, antisemitism, transphobia, and misogyny are total turn-offs. A manuscript that is somehow unified in theme and/or subject matter from beginning to end always stands a better chance of getting accepted. However, be aware of the
What will happen if your book gets accepted?
Modern History Press will offer you a standard contract. By then Raymond will have sequenced the accepted titles and tentative publication dates. He wants to focus fully on each poet and their book sequentially, so the more quickly you work with Raymond in making your book stronger, the sooner your pub date can be determined, most likely three to four months after your book is finalized for print. At that point you will work directly with the publisher to get the word out about your new book. Once your book is sent out to be published, Raymond will move on to the next poet on his list. It is his expectation that May 2025 will have rolled around by then, and the next YPS submission period can begin.
Just who is Raymond Luczak?
Raymond Luczak is the author and editor of over thirty books, including U.P.-centric titles such as Animals Out-There W-i-l-d: A Bestiary in English and ASL Gloss (forthcoming), Far from Atlantis: Poems, and Compassion, Michigan: The Ironwood Stories. His collection once upon a twin: poems was selected as a U.P. Notable Book of the Year for 2021. Growing up as the only one deaf in a hearing family of nine children, Luczak spent the first eighteen years of his life in both Ironwood and Houghton, Michigan. A proud Yooper native and an inaugural Zoeglossia Poetry Fellow, he resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota. You can learn more at raymondluczak.com.
What’s the submission period again?
Anytime in the month of May 2024. (Another tip: Work on your manuscript now and have it ready to go by then. Last-minute efforts tend to come off as sloppily done. Make each word, each line, each poem truly count. Seriously.)
What if you have more questions about YPS?
You can email Raymond directly at yooperpoetry@gmail.com. Yes, you may share this email with others you think who might be interested.
