NB: the guidelines give contradictory deadlines of 12/31/08 and 1/30/09:Best Gay/Best Lesbian Poetry 2009 Seeking Nominations - Deadline December 31For the 2009 editions of this exciting new series celebrating the best in gay/lesbian poetry, A Midsummer Night's Press invites submissions of poems PUBLISHED during 2008 for BEST GAY POETRY edited by Lawrence Schimel and BEST LESBIAN POETRY edited by Linda Alvarez.
Poems can have appeared in print or online magazines, journals, or anthologies; we are also willing to consider poems from books or chapbooks published in 2008, even if the poem was originally published previously in periodicals--so long as the poet has the right to reprint the poem.
We are open to all styles of poetry, from formal to free verse; we are likewise open-minded in terms of content, so long as it somehow fits (even if pushing the boundaries of) what might be considered "gay poetry" or "lesbian poetry".
We are willing to consider slam poetry, so long as it has been published in text form, not merely performed; the poem must also work on the page, for these anthologies.
We are open to English-language poetry from all over the world, and actively look to include non-North American voices.
Please title documents with the poet's surname. Please include contact information (both street and email address), bio, and where the poem was published WITHIN the .doc file, as documents will be read separately from the emails. Submissions from individual poets or queries should be sent by email in .doc format to one of the following addresses, as appropriate:
BestGayPoetry@gmail.comBestLesbianPoetry@gmail.comDeadline is January 31, 2009.
In each volume, A Midsummer Night's Press also plans to include a round-up of all books/ journals/ anthologies of gay/lesbian poetry published the previous year. (We also welcome recommendations or suggestions of appropriate poems from editors of journals, anthologies, or presses.) Books and journals for review can be sent to the attention of the appropriate editor at:
A Midsummer Night's Press
16 West 36th Street
2nd Floor
New York NY 10018
http://www.amidsummernightspress.com/About the Editors:
Linda Alvarez is the editor of the anthologies
Best Lesbian Poetry 2008 (A Midsummer Night's Press),
Best Date Ever: True Stories That Celebrate Lesbian Relationships (Alyson) and
Dyke the Halls: Erotic Lesbian Christman Tales (Circlet) and lives in New York City.
Lawrence Schimel is an award-winning author and anthologist who has published over 90 books, including
First Person Queer (Arsenal Pulp),
Two Boys in Love (Seventh Window),
The Future is Queer (Arsenal Pulp),
PoMoSEXUALS (Cleis), and
Two Hearts Desire (St. Martin's Press), as well as
Best Gay Poetry 2008 (A Midsummer Night's Press). His first collection of poems written in Spanish,
Desayuno en la Cama (Desatada/Egales) , was published in 2008. He also edited the first (and so far only) anthology of gay love poetry to appear in Catalan,
Ells S'Estimen (Llibres de l'Index). His poems have appeared in a diverse array of periodicals, from
The Christian Science Monitor to
Physics Today to
The Lyric, and have been widely anthologized in
Gay Love Poetry, The Practice of Peace, Chicken Soup for the Horse-Lover' s Soul 2, and
The Random House Treasury of Light Verse, among others. He lives in Madrid, Spain.
About the Publisher:
A Midsummer Night's Press (
http://www.amidsummernightspress.com/) is an independent publisher devoted primarily to poetry, publishing under three imprints: Fabula Rasa for work inspired by fairy tales or mythology, Funny Bones for light verse and humor, and Body Language for works exploring sexuality and queer subjects. The press' titles include
This is What Happened in Our Other Life by Achy Obejas,
Banalities by Brane Mozetic (translated by Elizabeta Zargi with Timothy Liu),
The Good-Neighbor Policy: A Double-Cross in Double Dactyls by Charles Ardai, and
Fairy Tales For Writers by Lawrence Schimel. A Midsummer Night's Press is distributed by SPD (
http://www.spdbooks.org/).
