The call for entries to the Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets 2020 is now open. The Awards are for poetry pamphlets published in the UK, and entries are encouraged from any UK publisher.

The Awards celebrate the printed poetry pamphlet as an accessible and innovative form for new poetry. There are four Awards, for Poetry Pamphlet; Poetry Pamphlet in a Celtic Language; Publisher and Illustrator.

Each year, the Awards shortlist and winners demonstrate the vitality and range of poetry pamphlet publishing in the UK, and we have a mix of new writers and publishers alongside more established entrants. Our past winners have included:

Rowan Evans, for The Last Verses of Beccán

Carol Rumens, for Bezdelki

Charlotte Wetton, for I Refuse to Turn Into a Hatstand (Charlotte’s first pamphlet collection)

Richard Scott, for Wound

Winners of the Publisher Award have included: Verve Poetry Press, Guillemot Press, Smith Doorstop (the Poetry Business) and Emma Press.

We are very impressed by and proud of the quality of entrants that we get every year, and that is down to the continuing commitment of publishers across the UK to the Awards. It’s very important to us that our entries reflect the full diversity of both styles and forms of poetry and poetry publishing, but also the lived experience of the poets themselves.

If you are a publisher of poetry pamphlets, however large or small, we’d really love you to take part in this year’s Awards.

The closing date for this year’s Awards is 30^th September. More details on how to enter can be found at https://michaelmarksawards.org/awards-2020/

The Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets is supported by the Michael Marks Charitable Trust, in collaboration with the British Library, the Wordsworth Trust, the TLS and the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies, and in association with the National Library of Wales and National Library of Scotland.