Each November, we look for one or two poetry manuscripts to publish in our Allison Joseph Series, featuring BIPOC women writers. There are no restrictions on content or form. Please check our complete guidelines and send us your best work!
We’re very happy to announce the publication of Fia Montero’s Everything but the Bones, Number 4 in our Allison Joseph Series. Please join us in congratulating Fia, and click here to read a sample poem and order your copy!
We’re thrilled to announce that our selection for the Allison Joseph Series is The Pillar Dwellers’ Handbook by Isabel Cristina Legarda. Isabel’s chapbook will be published midyear as Number 5 in the series. Manuscripts for the Allison Joseph Series are considered annually during the month of November.
Isabel Cristina Legarda was born in the Philippines and spent her early childhood there before moving to the U.S. She is currently a practicing physician in Boston. Her chapbook Beyond the Galleons was published in April 2024 by Yellow Arrow Publishing.
Please join us in welcoming Isabel to the Seven Kitchens family.
We are eager to read your poetry manuscripts during the month of November, when we welcome work by BIPOC women writers for the annual Allison Joseph Series. Poets selected for this series present a wide range of voices, and we are super excited to add new work to the chorus. If you identify as a BIPOC woman, please send your chapbooks. Previous authors in this series are Paloma Martínez-Cruz, Asani Charles, Sheila Carter-Jones, and Fia Montero. Full guidelines may be found here.
We’re thrilled to announce the publication of Elegy-ish by Sheila Carter-Jones as Number Three in our Allison Joseph Series. Please join us in welcoming Sheila to the Seven Kitchens family, and then click here to read a sample poem and order your copy!
The next reading period for the Allison Joseph Series will be in November.
We are proud to announce the selection of two manuscripts for the Allison Joseph Series: elegy-ish by Sheila Carter-Jones, and Everything But the Bones by Fia Montero. We hope to publish both chapbooks this October. Please join us in welcoming these poets to the Seven Kitchens family.
Thank you to everyone who submitted work to the Allison Joseph Series. It was an honor to read such brilliant, diverse voices. Our next reading period will open in November.
Hi. Ron here. I want to be fully transparent about our selection process for the Allison Joseph Series, and to invite folks to help out if they can.
Our first two published chapbooks in the series, by Paloma Martinez-Cruz and Asani Charles, have been well supported (thank you). Last spring, however, we received no manuscripts. It was a shock, because I fully believe in this series and feel that it absolutely represents our commitment to publishing a diverse range of poets. So I decided to move the window to November, which would give me time to reach out individually to hundreds of poets of color–which I did, by email, in hopes of spreading the word and bringing in new work.
In November, we received seven manuscripts. Three have now been accepted for publication elsewhere. I would have gladly published one or two of them, but that’s not possible now.
How, you might wonder, does it take three months to decide among seven manuscripts? The answer: it shouldn’t. But this has not been an ideal year for me or for our series editor–we’ve both had personal challenges–I am okay to talk about my own but that’s all I will say publicly.
So we are left with four manuscripts, each with promise, but none at the level of the first year’s selections (I am so sorry to say). I can’t in good faith promote publication of any of the remaining four manuscripts.
I am reopening the submission window for the Allison Joseph Series for the month of March. I am enlisting the help of two new readers. If you would like to be a reader, please contact me at sevenkitchenspress@gmail.com. If you would like to send work, we would love to consider it. If you could share this opportunity with eligible poets (BIPOC women writers), thank you.
I welcome your comments, well-wishes, critical input. If Seven Kitchens has failed to adequately promote and support this series, the fault would be mine.
Our nineteenth release this year is Asani Charles‘s Wordsongs for Grandmas, selected by Allison Joseph as Number 2 in our Allison Joseph Series. We are delighted to launch this chapbook just as we prepare to open the November reading period for this series by BIPOC women poets. The first title in the series, by Paloma Martínez-Cruz, was launched October 25. Please join us in celebrating these vibrant women’s voices!
Our eighteenth release this year is Paloma Martínez-Cruz‘s Other Bombs, selected by Allison Joseph as Number 1 in our Allison Joseph Series. We are delighted to launch this chapbook just as we prepare to open the November reading period for this series by BIPOC women poets. The second title in the series, by Asani Charles, will launch October 28. Please join us in celebrating these vibrant women’s voices!
Because we received no manuscripts through May 30 of this year, we have shifted the reading period to November. We hope that this will provide sufficient time to better spread the word and generate interest in this series. The first two selected chapbooks are scheduled for publication this September. We are very open to dialogue about this series and are actively looking for ways to better promote it. If you are interested in being a series reader or have any comments or suggestions, please write to us at sevenkitchenspress at gmail dot com.
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