Chapbook Proposal Call - 2026

The editorial staff of Penumbra is pleased to announce the annual call for poetry chapbook proposals. The term “chapbook” emerged in seventeenth-century England, when itinerant peddlers, or “chapmen,” sold small pamphlets filled with ballads, lyrical tales, and miscellaneous bits of popular literature. The “chap-” in “chapbook” derives from an Old English word meaning “cheap,” reflecting the accessibility of these books to the newly literate population who were eager to read and willing to fork over what little money they had to own one. Nowadays, chapbooks are typically produced by emerging poets entering the literary marketplace. They are short, ranging from 18-36 pages in length, and tend to focus on a particular theme or explore a resonant idea, motif, or set of images. Chapbook poets for Penumbra collaborate with students from Stan State’s Art and Graphic Design programs to produce original cover art, and the result is a beautifully crafted book of poetry produced and printed by Penumbra Press. We hope to gather a variety of submissions from poets of all backgrounds and levels of experience. Even if you’ve never published a poem before, we are eager for the opportunity to consider your work! We ask that you provide a sampling of your poetry and a brief prose synopsis of the projected contents of the collection to follow. The poems featured in your chapbook submission should be original and unpublished. We will accept proposals from July 17th until August 19th. Finalists will be contacted by August 26th and completed chapbooks will be due by September 23rd. To propose a chapbook, follow these steps: 

· Review the manuscript guidelines on the Penumbra website

· On Submittable, upload a PDF containing 3-5 poems and a 200-300-word proposal for the projected collection that will be built around the poems. In other words, your chapbook should express a unifying theme or concept that is clearly specified in your proposal. The single document containing your poems and your proposal must not exceed seven pages in length. 

· Email us with questions or comments at penumbra@csustan.edu. For examples of some of the past chap books we’ve published, look here.