Deadline: May 31st: 2021
Payment: $5 and a contributors copy
Theme: Poetry about body horror
Note: Open to all poets who are women (cis and trans) and non-binary femmes.

To celebrate National Poetry Month, Black Spot Books will be publishing its inaugural Women in Horror Poetry Collection in April 2022: UNDER HER SKIN. This collection is open to all poets who are women (cis and trans) and non-binary femmes. Submissions open March 2021 and will close May 30, 2021, with decisions made on a rolling basis. Poems to be included in the collection will be chosen by Black Spot Book’s editorial staff and guest judges.

The theme of the inaugural collection is body horror. This is a broad spectrum and poets are welcome to interpret the prompt in their own vision–so long as it’s dark, unsettling, an on-theme.

The showcase will feature a cover with hand-drawn illustration by respected horror artist Lynne Hansen and will be distributed in both print and ebook.

Poems must be previously unpublished, though published poets are, of course, welcome. We accept submissions of poems up to fifty lines. Free verse preferred (please, no forced rhyme or clichés).

We accept up to three poems per poet. Submissions should be submitted along with a brief bio.

Each poem chosen for publication will be paid $5 and each poet will receive a copy of the collection upon publication. Poet will retain rights to any accepted poem, with first right of publication by Black Spot Books.

Showcase Judges:

For the 2022 collection the judges will be Black Spot Books president and award-winning author/editor, Lindy Ryan, and Toni Miller, a founding member of the Ladies of Horror Fiction (LOHF).

Lindy Ryan is the president and publisher of Black Spot Books, an imprint of Vesuvian Media Group. She is an award-winning and bestselling author and editor. Lindy currently serves on the board of directors for the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and was recognized as one of Publishers Weekly’s Star Watch Honorees in 2020.

Toni Miller is one of the co-founders of the Ladies of Horror Fiction and the host of the Ladies of Horror Fiction Podcast. She also reviews horror and dark fiction at The Misadventures of a Reader and has published several non-fiction pieces in Aphotic Realm Magazine. Toni lives in the Sonoran desert with her husband, son, and the spotted one.

To submit, click below:

Via: Black Spot Books.