The World of Poetry Chapbooks

The term chapbook comes from the “chapmen,” or peddlers, who sold small, quickly made books on the streets of sixteenth-century England. 500 years later, chapbooks are hot again. This series maps the world of poetry chapbooks. Its first two workshops will address completing and submitting cohesive chapbook manuscripts, including writing a compelling manuscript title and/or selecting and perfecting a title poem. The third workshop will address the nuts and bolts of the chapbook submission process. To that end, we will examine some work by chapbook presses with an eye toward these presses’ specific aesthetics. This workshop is for intermediate/advanced poets who have 8-24 pages of poetry that they are ready to think about publishing.