9:03 AM 12th March 2021

Apart Together 2021 : Sheffield's Poetry Business Calls for Submissions

Renowned Sheffield Arts organization, The Poetry Business, is calling for submissions for two poetry collections to be edited by Apprentice Editor-in-Residence Gboyega Odubanjo as part of their ‘Apart Together’ 2021 project.

Two full-length poetry collections are to be published by Smith|Doorstop in January 2022, and writers should submit a sample of 15 poems and a 200-word book proposal before March 31st 2021, in the first instance. Shortlisted writers will be informed by April 30th 2021 and asked to submit a complete collection of 48+ A4 pages of poetry before May 16th 2021.

Writers are requested not to submit a sample if they do not already have a full collection manuscript ready. Poets submitting may have previously published a pamphlet, but their work should not have appeared as a full length collection. Poets of all backgrounds are eligible and Poetry Business encourage international submissions and submissions from groups currently under-represented in poetry publishing, for example: D/deaf or disabled, low-income, Black, Asian, minority ethnic, and LGBTQI+ poets.

Gboyega Odubanjo
Gboyega Odubanjo
Gboyega’s explains what he will be looking for in the successful collections:

“The poetry collection is a medium of possibilities and I am interested in collections that, through unique approaches to language and form, question what is possible. I want to see poetry, rooted in a dedication to craft, that asks questions of the world and of itself in original and surprising ways. Poetry that listens before telling. I am more interested in the specific than the universal. As such, the realities presented should be built with care and recognisable as their own, forming something that is greater than the sum of its parts. Think concept album, as opposed to greatest hits. I want to read collections that guide me through a new place even if the guide isn’t entirely sure where we will end up.”

Please note that Poetry Business are not accepting submissions of poetry for children or poetry in translation at the moment.



Open Call for Submissions Information: https://poetrybusiness.co.uk/about/submissions/

‘Apart Together’ Online Announcement: https://poetrybusiness.co.uk/2020/03/24/writing-together/