Editorial Focus
The Word Works looks for dynamically arranged manuscripts of well crafted poems. No subject, style, or form restrictions. Manuscripts are read anonymously by poet-readers, editors, and (sometimes) judges, all of whom care about strong voice and original work.
Each reading period has its own focus. We run three prizes (see guidelines), as well as opportunities for collaborations, New & Selceted, and translations. The Hilary Tham Capital Collection publishes work by poets who volunteer to help literary ventures succeed.
Tips From the Editor
The Word Works seeks brave, well-crafted work that is doing something new. We accept collections during 6 reading periods, each dedicated to one of our series: the Washington Prize,; Hilary Tham Capital Collection; open reading period; Tenth Gate Prise; Bartow Prize for Ecopopetry; and International Editions (work in translation). Poets should remove all identifying information, including acknowledgments, from their manuscript before uploading into our submission manager; we read all work anonymously. Note that each series or imprint uses different readers and its own selection process, so submitting to mulitple imprints presents additional access to publication.