Welcome to the Yooper Poetry Series!
Most readers outside of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula aren’t aware that the U.P. has a growing body of literature, particularly poetry, that needs more attention. The Yooper Poetry Series (YPS) is our attempt to spotlight poets whose lives have been shaped and transformed by living in the U.P. at some point in their lives.
Raymond Luczak, author of Chlorophyll: Poems about Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Compassion, Michigan: The Ironwood Stories is the acquisitions editor for YPS. While you may contact him directly via email (yooperpoetry@gmail.com), please be aware that the new guidelines will be posted sometime in January 2025 to give prospective poets time to prepare their manuscripts for submission in May 2025. YPS is open to poets who not only live in the U.P. but also to those who have spent substantial time there. Please check back in January 2025 for the updated guidelines.
We will be announcing the first two YPS titles as soon as they are available for pre-orders. Please check back in the fall of 2024.
In the meantime, if you’d like to grab a feast of Yooper poetry now, start with the anthology that inspired YPS: Yooper Poetry. You can also watch the editor perform two poems translated from English into American Sign Language (ASL) at these YouTube links:
- Doe After a Blizzard by Martin Achatz
- Tonight by Suzanne Sunflower
