Genre: Poetry

Poets of African descent sitting on a first or second collection (including work that intersects with poetry, such as hybrid text, speculative prose, and translation) should not miss out on the chance to submit to the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics/Autumn House Press Book Prize. This year’s deadline is February 15. The annual prize awards $3,000 and publication to a writer “embodying African American, African, or African diasporic experiences.”

Using only the online submission system, submit 48 to 168 pages of poetry or poetry-adjacent work. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines. 

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Founded in 1998, Autumn House Press publishes books in all genres with the belief “that literature is an affirmation of the deep and elemental range of our human experience” and that “our need for it is crucial now more than ever.” Over the years, the press has met this commitment by putting out debut poetry collections such as Ada Limón’s Lucky Wreck (2006), Danusha Laméris’s The Moons of August (2014), Cameron Barnett’s The Drowning Boy’s Guide to Water (2017), and Eric Tran’s The Gutter Spread Guide to Prayer (2020). This year’s CAAPP Book Prize judge, Aracelis Girmay, is a hybrid genre poet whose most recent work is the chapbook and was a flower (Center for Book Arts, 2023), made in collaboration with book artist Valentina Améstica.