LIGHTHOUSE POETRY SERIES

The CSU Poetry Center welcomes submissions of book-length manuscripts of poetry from November 1–December 15, 2023. Selected books will be published by the CSU Poetry Center accompanied by a standard royalty contract, national promotion and distribution, and an invitation to read in Cleveland. This year, CSU Poetry Center editors will choose one or more books for publication in our forthcoming catalogues. To familiarize yourself with our press, read any of our recent publications.

ELIGIBILITY

1. The Lighthouse Poetry Series is open to poets with any history of publication. Translations are not eligible. Manuscripts should be approximately 55-150 pages in length.

2. Current and former students of our press’s editors are not eligible to submit. Faculty, staff, students, and alumni of Cleveland State University or the Northeast Ohio MFA Program (NEOMFA) are not eligible to submit.

GUIDELINES & NOTES

1. Make sure to record your name, manuscript title, address, phone number, and email address in your Submittable account; this is the information we will use to contact you. No other cover page or biographical information should be included in your submission and your name should not appear in the manuscript. You may include an acknowledgments page that lists previously published poems, but it is not required.

2. Multiple submissions are welcome and simultaneous submissions are acceptable (please inform us immediately if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere). 

3. The CSU Poetry Center reserves the right to consider all entrants for publication; a list of selections and finalists will be posted on the Poetry Center website in late spring/early summer of 2024.

TO SUBMIT

1. Upload your manuscript as a .docx or .pdf to Submittable (mail submissions are not eligible).

2. The Lighthouse Poetry Series fee must be paid through Submittable. You may choose the amount you wish to contribute: $1, $12, or $28. Fees go to the press’s operational costs and publishing the selected book(s).

3. Email poetrycenter@csuohio.edu with any further questions.

* As a token of our appreciation for your readership and support of small press literary publishing, authors who send a manuscript to the Lighthouse Poetry Series will receive a discount code for 25% off any single book from the CSUPC catalogue (active between 11/1/23 and 1/15/24). The code will appear in your receipt email.

* Please know that all manuscripts submitted to us are reviewed with great care and are read by our editors. We do not read manuscripts directly in Submittable’s software and do not use their labels to identify the status of a manuscript.