Pen & Anvil contains multitudes. Our editorial and production staff service numerous journals, imprints, chapbook series, poster and broadside projects, and online publications. We are always eager to connect with new authors, whether they have been writing for years or are just starting it. It's seldom the case that we hear from someone of good will, and aren't able to connect them to an immediate publication opportunity.
It is our long-term project to provide a single pass-through portal at this submissions page, where potential contributors can learn how, when and why to submit their work for consideration to each of these. We are at present working to dial up our website functionality; in the meantime, we invite you to use these links to learn how to submit to some of the venues we publish or support, now or in the past:
For chapbook submissions questions or proposals, please visit our Chapbooks information page. For all other submissions questions or publication proposals, email our general editorial account at press@penandanvil.com. You can search here for previous chapbook calls for submission on our blog.
Regarding book proposal submissions: We will consider most projects proposed with a standard cover letter, with manuscript (or sample chapter and outline), rights declaration, personal bio (with social media metrics, if available), and marketing prospectus. Do keep in mind, however, that we are a small shop, and we cannot promise a fast reply to submissions or queries. We invest a lot of energy, acumen, and resources in our projects, and trust that authors will appreciate this and our good will despite our slow tempo in correspondence.
We are especially interested in seeing manuscripts from authors in underrepresented identify groups, and manuscripts in the following categories:
- Plays in English translation, for the Pusteblume drama series. Please include in your query letter details about your rights to publish the work in translation and contact information for the current rightsholder, as well as an account of other translations of the text, whether they are in print or not.
- Monograph- or book-length works of academic or critical scholarship, for Botolph Books. Please include a letter in which you describe the way you envision this book being used by scholars, students, and common readers, as well as the usual pitch information.
- Literary texts, recent or historical, translated from languages of the Middle East or Central Asia (Urdu, Persian, Arabic, etc.) Please include in your query letter details about your rights to publish the work in translation and contact information for the current rightsholder, as well as an account of other translations of the text, whether they are in print or not.
- Children's fiction, illustrated or not. (We do not consider proposals for board books.)
- Essay collections dealing with nature and the environment.
- Essay collections dealing with the principles, practices, or culture of literary translation.
- First collections, by poets with a relationship to Boston or New England. Please include a letter of introduction including an introduction to your aesthetic, description of your manuscript, and any previous editorial or critical response to poems published by little magazines.
- Collections of short fiction. Please submit only one sample story with your query letter.
For submissions in any of the above categories, letters and manuscripts may be sent by email attachment to press@penandanvil.com. Authors wishing to query for projects which aren't included in any of the above categories, are welcome to do so.
You can search here for previous general calls for submission on our blog.
Please note that we receive a large volume of incoming correspondence; if your message doesn't receive a reply in a timely fashion, feel free to ping us again.
graphic: Erik Desmazières, illustrations for "The Library of Babel" (1997)
