Chapbook Competitions

The Summer Tiny Chapbook Competition Is Open!

Tiny Chapbook Competitions

Our tiny chapbook competitions, held in the winter and summer of each year, give us the opportunity to locate and publish small collections of the best work of established and emerging poets. To that end, we are looking for 8-16 pages of strong, accomplished poems that speak to one another lyrically and thematically. Poems may be composed in English or in translation.

Winning chapbooks will be announced on our websites and on social media and published as portfolios. Translations will be published in English and in the original language. Scroll down to find information on recent winners and a list of previous winners.

We look forward to reading your work.

Prize: Publication in Poetry International and contributor copy.

Reading Periods: Winter competition open January 1 to Feb 1; Summer competition open June 1 to Sept 1

Reading Fee: $20

See guidelines here.

Summer 2025 Chapbook Competition Winner

Sandra Gustin, Hungarian Sounds Like Soft Percussion

Sandra Gustin, MD, lived and worked cross-culturally on three different continents for a total of three and a half decades before returning to Texas to retire. She is the author of Balloons Beyond Our Borders (Main Street Rag, 2025) and This Treasured View (Redbird Chapbooks, 2015). Her work has appeared in Poetry, Bellevue Literary Review, AAP’s Poem-a-Day series, Silk Road, Kestrel and others. Sandra is a late-life graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso Online MFA Program.

Previous Tiny Chapbook Competition Winners

Carlos Andrés Gómez’s Circling Fatherhood, appearing in a forthcoming issue of Poetry International.

Daniella Ndubuisi-Ike’s Coat of Arms, appearing in a forthcoming issue of Poetry International.

C.W. Emerson’s The Thoracic Diaries, appearing in a forthcoming issue of Poetry International.

Lisa Krueger’s “So American Re:, appearing in a forthcoming issue of Poetry International.

David Moolten’s The Moirologist, appearing in a forth coming issue of Poetry International.

Armen Davoudian’s Berlin, translations of selected poems by Fatemeh Shams, appearing in issue 29 of Poetry International.

Andrew Gebhardt’s In Light of My Tropic of Water, translations of selected poems by Lêdo Ivo, appearing in issue 29 of Poetry International.

Carmen Leigh Keates’ Feldspar, appearing in issue 29 of Poetry International.

Vasiliki Albedo’s Arcadia, appearing in issue 29 of Poetry International

Don Bogen’s The Art of Shadows, translations of poems by Juan Lamillar, appearing in issue 29 of Poetry International.

Guidelines

Work must be previously unpublished as a whole (individual poem publication is okay).
Simultaneous submissions are okay as long as you inform us immediately if the chapbook has been accepted for publication elsewhere.
All individual poems will be considered for publication.
Manuscripts can be anywhere from 8-16 page pages in length.
Collaborations and translations are welcome as long as the submitting author has the rights to the work. For translations, please send only the English version. Should your chapbook win, we will ask for the poems in the original language.
Please include a cover letter with the following information: Your name, phone number, and email address.
All chapbooks should have a separate title page.
NOTE: Your submission title & the name of the document you attach should be your chapbook title.

We only accept submissions electronically through Submittable.

No current or former staff of Poetry International or recent graduates of San Diego State University are eligible to submit.

Poetry International reserves the right to re-print the work already published in Poetry International in our future issues or anthologies.

Poetry International