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.
What is the Yooper Poetry Series?
Inspired by the overwhelmingly positive reaction to his recent anthology Yooper Poetry, Raymond Luczak 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 2025 at this email address ONLY: yooperpoetry@gmail.com. Raymond will take a month or two to read everyone’s submissions before he narrows down to two titles for publication (one in the fall of 2025 and the other in the spring of 2026).
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. It may help to read such amazing YPS titles published so far: Martin Achatz’s A Bigfoot Bestiary and Other Wonders and Kathleen M. Heideman’s The Caving Grounds. They couldn’t be more different in approach and subject matter, but they’re both Yooper in spirit! (And yes, Modern History Press will always appreciate your business if you buy directly from them.)
What will happen if your book gets accepted?
Modern History Press will offer you a standard contract. The more quickly you work with Raymond in making your book stronger, the sooner your publication date can be determined. At that point, you will work directly with the publisher to get the word out about your new book.
Just who is Raymond Luczak?
Raymond Luczak is the author and editor of 35 books, including U.P.-centric titles such as Chlorophyll: Poems about Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Far from Atlantis: Poems, and Compassion, Michigan: The Ironwood Stories. His collections once upon a twin: poems and Animals Out-There W-i-l-d: A Bestiary in English and ASL Gloss were selected respectively as a top ten U.P. Notable Book of the Year for 2021 and 2024. 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 2025. (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 address with others you think who might be interested.
