Guidelines: The A.V. Christie Chapbook Series

Submissions for the A.V. Christie Chapbook Series are considered annually in February. Thank you for your interest in Seven Kitchens Press and this series. Complete guidelines are below.

Guidelines:

Seven Kitchens Press is proud to sponsor the annual A.V. Christie Chapbook Series for an original, unpublished poetry manuscript by a woman writer over the age of 50. This series honors the vision of poet & teacher A.V. Christie and was launched in 2022 thanks to the generous donations of A.V.’s friends and colleagues. We are especially proud to offer this series in her memory as part of our long-term commitment to publish women and other traditionally underrepresented voices, with the goal of making them a significant majority of our catalog.

  • Our goal is to select one or two manuscripts, with a balance between writers with, and those without, previous book or chapbook publication. Each of our chapbooks is published in a limited edition of 100 copies, with an option for subsequent print runs.
  • Selected poet(s) will receive 20 copies of their chapbook, which will be designed, printed, and hand-assembled by Seven Kitchens Press. All our authors may purchase additional copies of their chapbook at a 50% discount. Additionally, the publisher will distribute ten review copies to reviewers, libraries, and organizations at the author’s recommendation.
  • The annual reading period will extend from February 1 – February 28 (29th in leap years) with the selected title(s) scheduled for publication in fall. 
  • There are no restrictions on content or form. 
  • There is no reading fee, though we encourage readers to purchase copies of our chapbooks and we gratefully accept donations large or small. Seven Kitchens survives solely on your donations and on the sale of our chapbooks.
  • Manuscripts will be read by Ron Mohring and selected readers. Finalists will be passed along to the series editor.
    • The series editor and publisher may, at their discretion, choose not to award publication in either category. Provided we have sufficient response, and depending on the quality of work submitted, we will select two manuscripts for the series through this submission window. It is also possible that more than one manuscript in either category may be offered publication. Please send your very best work.
  • Submit a paginated manuscript of 16-20 pages of poems with no more than one poem per page. Include a title page and a table of contents, but no identifying information in the manuscript. Please title the document according to the following format: Christie_Your Title. Do not include illustrations of any kind. Please don’t use fancy fonts.
  • In a separate file, please provide the manuscript title, author name, address, email and phone number. This file should include acknowledgments if anything in the manuscript has been previously published. Please also provide a brief biographical note, and title the document according to the following format: Christie_Your Last Name.
  • In your brief (one paragraph) biographical note, include a statement of any previous or pending book or chapbook publication. (We need this information in order to read your manuscript in its proper category; we are very open to work by new writers and this series is designed to showcase both emerging and established poets.) 
  • Please follow all guidelines. Manuscripts received without necessary information will indicate to us that you have not spent adequate attention to presenting your work. (It’s always a good idea to check any publisher’s website for complete guidelines rather than rely on second-hand sources.)
  • The collection may contain a series of poems or one single chapbook-length poem.
  • Collaborative works are welcome. Should a winning manuscript be collaboratively written, author copies will be distributed equally (for example, two authors writing collaboratively would receive 10 copies apiece, or 20% of the print run).
  • Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please notify us promptly if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere by sending an e-mail to sevenkitchenspress at gmail dot com.
  • Submissions must be emailed or posted during the month of February.
  • Please do not double-dip: If your manuscript is currently under consideration for another of our series, please do not send the same work for this series.
  • Multiple submissions are welcome as long as they are not already under consideration for another of our series.
  • We hope to announce the winning manuscript(s) on or before June 1; manuscripts will be scheduled for publication in fall of the year they are selected. 
  • Authors will receive updates throughout the process: once finalists have been selected, they will be notified by email, and all other entrants will be individually notified via email. 
  • Manuscripts will not be returned. E-mailed submission is preferred, but you may send via regular mail.
  • If sending by mail, please use a binder clip and mail flat in an 8.5 x 11 envelope. Please do not use expedited delivery services; your postmark date is sufficient to ensure your entry qualification, and we will allow 7-10 days for receipt of all entries mailed after February 28. Use First-Class Mail and consider spending the money you’ve saved on a chapbook from a small, independent press! Mail your manuscript to: Ron Mohring, Publisher; Seven Kitchens Press; 2547 Losantiville Ave; Cincinnati OH 45237.
  • If sending by e-mail, please send your manuscript in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx file); include the words “A.V. Christie Chapbook” in the subject line of your e-mail, and please title your document Christie_Your Title. Send to sevenkitchenspress at gmail dot com.
  • Manuscript titles will be posted, alphabetically by title, on the Seven Kitchens Press site (remember to refresh this page to see the most current information).
  • There is no reading fee; however, we will gratefully accept any donation that you wish to make in support of this series. Checks may be made out to Ron Mohring; Paypal donations may be sent to sevenkitchenspress at gmail dot com. Please feel free to reach out directly via the email address above if you would like to discuss other options.
  • Please consider purchasing titles in this series. For a modest donation of $10 with your manuscript entry, we are happy to send you a copy of A.V. Christie’s The Wonders, which was selected as Number 6 in Volume 2 of our Editor’s Series in 2014, or any of the titles currently available in this series.  
  • Please direct any inquiries to publisher Ron Mohring via the above email address. Though we welcome and appreciate social media connections, we might not see questions posted there.
  • Please notify us of any changes in your contact information, especially your e-mail address!

The Series:

This chapbook series honors the vision of A.V. Christie. Her poems appeared in Poetry, Commonweal, The Iowa Review, Crazyhorse, and Ploughshares, among many other journals. Christie received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the Maryland and Pennsylvania State Arts Councils. A visiting writer at Villanova and LaSalle Universities, at Bryn Mawr and Goucher Colleges, at Penn State Abington and at the University of Maryland, she also taught private workshops and was Associate Director at the Chester County Art Association. Her first poetry collection, Nine Skies, was selected by Henri Cole for the 1996 National Poetry Series, followed by The Housing (2006, Ashland Poetry Press), The Wonders (2014, Seven Kitchens Press), and And I Began to Entertain Doubts (2016, Folded Word Press). Christie passed away in April of 2016.

The Series Editor:

Sandra (Sandy) Yannone (2024 – ) was named Poet Laureate of her hometown of Old Saybrook, Connecticut, in December, 2024.  Her poems and book reviews have appeared in both print and digital anthologies and literary journals, including Ploughshares, Poetry Ireland Review, Prairie Schooner, Women’s Review of Books, and The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide. Her work has received the Academy of American Poets Prize and Associated Writing Programs (AWP) Intro Award, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net Award. She earned her BA in writing and literature from Wheaton College (MA); an MFA from Emerson College; and a PhD in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is the author of two poetry collections: Boats for Women and The Glass Studio, both from Salmon Press.

Sandy is co-founder and host of Cultivating Voices LIVE Poetry, an international, intersectional, intergenerational poetry group and reading series.

Titles in this series: