Copper Canyon Press

Thank you for your interest in submitting to Copper Canyon Press.

Copper Canyon Press is a nonprofit independent book publisher dedicated to poetry. We look forward to reviewing your work! 

Our next reading period opens on Thursday, May 1st at 9:00 am Pacific Time and will have a cap of 1,000 submissions. 

We recommend submitting your manuscript sample as early as possible within any given reading period. An announcement will be made via our website and social media platforms when the cap is met.

Copper Canyon Press is interested in reading manuscript samples from:

• Poetry collections, including works in translation
• Prose manuscripts with a focus on poetry
• Manuscripts in hybrid genres that will delight a poetry-reading audience

We encourage you to familiarize yourself with our mission and catalog before submitting a manuscript sample and query letter. Detailed information on submission materials can be found below.

Submission Guidelines

For our May 2025 Open Reading Period, poets and translators are invited to submit a 15 to 20 page manuscript sample along with a query letter. This is not a contest and submissions will not be read anonymously. 

Copper Canyon Press does not have the staff capacity to read or respond to unsolicited manuscripts submitted by email or mail. However, if you need accommodations to make the submission process more accessible, please contact poetry@coppercanyonpress.org with your request using the following subject line: “2025 ORP Submission Accessibility Request.”

Please thoroughly read all guidelines and instructions below. 

Eligibility

Poets and translators at every stage of their career, whether living in the United States or abroad, are eligible to submit to our open reading period. However, those who have worked with Copper Canyon Press in the past five years (interns, volunteers, full-time and part-time employees) are not eligible to submit. Previously self-published books are also not eligible for submission.

Returning Copper Canyon poets are encouraged to reach out to their Editor directly. If there are any questions regarding your eligibility, please email poetry@coppercanyonpress.org with the subject line “2025 Open Reading Period Eligibility Inquiry.”

Reading fee:

A reading fee will be charged for all submissions. These reading fees help Copper Canyon Press, as a nonprofit publisher, to staff our open reading periods, and to continue to support poets and poetry from around the world. The amount of your payment will not impact editorial decisions. 

$35 reading fee, Standard Level—This fee allows Copper Canyon to continue the consideration of unsolicited manuscripts. 

$50 reading fee, Generosity Level—Those who pay at the generosity level will not only enable Copper Canyon to waive reading fees for poets experiencing financial hardship, but you will also help the Press continue to support poetry from different cultures, identities, ideologies, and beliefs. 

Since the start of 2025, many of the granting organizations that have long supported Copper Canyon Press and other arts nonprofits throughout the country, have been forced to make programmatic changes that go against their missions and values, as well as the spirit of the arts. 

As these changes continue to create an air of uncertainty in the arts and literary world, Copper Canyon Press stands firm in our belief that poetry is vital to language and living, and that inclusivity is essential to the health of the literary landscape. We thank you for your support.

Fee Waiver—If you are currently experiencing financial difficulty and cannot afford the reading fee, please submit a fee waiver request to poetry@coppercanyonpress.org using the subject line “2025 ORP Fee Waiver Request.”

Copper Canyon Press has a limited number of fee waivers available, and requests will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis. Fee waiver requests will be accepted between 12:00am Pacific Time on Thursday, April 17th through 11:59 pm Pacific Time  on Wednesday, April 30th. Requests sent outside of this window will not be honored.

UPDATE: As of Monday, April 28th, we have reached the maximum number of fee waivers available this reading period.

Submission Materials

1. Manuscript Sample:

• Manuscript samples should be between 15-20 pages, Times New Roman, 12 point font (unless changes in font style and size are elements of the poem). Do not include your query letter in the manuscript sample. A text box will be provided for query letters directly in the Submittable platform. 
  • If you need accommodations to make the submission process more accessible, please contact poetry@coppercanyonpress.org using the subject line “2025 ORP Submission Accessibility Request.”
• Select a sample that illustrates the strengths and key themes of your book. You may opt to share consecutive pages or pull poems from throughout the book.
• While the individual poems of a manuscript sample may have been previously published in magazines, journals, anthologies, chapbooks, etc., the work as a whole must be unpublished. Previously self-published books are not eligible for submission.
• If applicable, in addition to your manuscript sample of 15 to 20 pages, you may include an acknowledgments page with a list of prior publications. For example, 20 pages of poems and one acknowledgments page.
• Even though you are submitting a manuscript sample of 15 to 20 pages, you should still have a full manuscript ready for submission upon request.
• Make certain your submission is your best draft. Corrections and revisions will not be accepted during the reading period. If your manuscript still needs revisions, we encourage you to submit to the next open reading period.
• Simultaneous submissions are permitted. If your manuscript is accepted for publication elsewhere, please officially withdraw it using the Submittable system.
• Please do not submit more than one manuscript sample per reading period. Additional samples, whether from the same manuscript or a different manuscript, will not be read.

Translations:

Copper Canyon Press takes pride in publishing high-quality translations. We have published poetry originally composed in Spanish, Chinese, Belarusian, Japanese, Arabic, and many other languages. We select books in this category based on the excellence of the English translation and our interest in the original text. It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with translations we have already published.

• Translation submissions should be bilingual; we want to see the original text as well as the English translation. If this is not possible due to technical or other concerns, please indicate this in your query letter.
• If you are submitting a bilingual manuscript sample, you may submit up to 20 pages in English, and those same 20 pages in the original language, for 40 pages total. If your sample is just in English, you must adhere to the 20-page limit. 
• Indicate in your query letter that you have identified the rights holder, unless the book is in the public domain. Ideally, a conversation regarding the rights to the book will have been engaged with the rights holder prior to your submission.

2. Query letter: 

• Query letters should be 500 words or fewer. Again, please do not include your query letter in the manuscript sample. Copy and paste your query letter into the text box provided in the Submittable platform.
  • If you need accommodations to make the submission process more accessible, please contact poetry@coppercanyonpress.org using the subject line “Submission Accessibility Request.”
• What to include in your query letter: Your query letter is an opportunity to briefly pitch your book beyond what we see in the manuscript sample. For example, is your book organized in sections? Does it have a narrative arc? Does it pull from archives? Does it rely on a set of formal or stylistic elements? Translators will want to include information about the rights holder of the original text as well.
• Make certain the query letter you submit is your best draft. Corrections and revisions will not be accepted during the reading period.

3. Author Bio:

• An author bio of up to 200 words. Copy and paste your author bio into the text box provided in the Submittable platform. If you are a translator, include both an author and translator bio.

Next steps:

Your manuscript sample will be read and collectively evaluated by the Copper Canyon Press editorial team including (but not limited to) our current interns, contracted readers, Editor, and Executive Editor. After reading sample submissions, the editorial team will request full manuscripts from a select number of poets or translators each open reading period. We ask that you refrain from sending a full manuscript unless you have specifically been invited to do so. 

Please remember that the open reading period is NOT a contest. While we take seriously the opportunity to consider your work for publication, there is no guarantee that we will choose a book to publish in any given reading period. 

Copper Canyon Press aims to send a status update to each poet or translator within seven months of submission. However, reading submissions can sometimes take longer than we hope. Our goal is to give each manuscript sample the time and attention it deserves and to be as communicative as possible about the review process and the status of manuscripts. Please wait the full seven months before inquiring about the status of your submission.

Each poet and translator is a vital part of our community and we thank you for trusting us with your work!