2025 Poetry Chapbook Contest
Raven Chapbooks announces the 2025 Poetry Chapbook Contest. This year’s contest is open to all emerging and established poets who reside in the province of British Columbia.
THE WINNING MANUSCRIPT WILL BE PUBLISHED IN JUNE 2025
Manuscripts are blind judged
Judges for the 2025 contest are B.C. poets, John Barton and Arlene Paré.
John Barton’s tenth poetry chapbook, Stopwatch, was published last spring by Emergency Flash Mob Press. His twelfth collection of poetry, Lost Family: A Memoir, was nominated for the 2021 Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry. His thirteenth, Compulsory Figures, is forthcoming from Caitlin in 2025. His other books include Hymn, For the Boy with the Eyes of the Virgin: Selected Poems, Polari, We Are Not Avatars: Essays, Memoirs, Manifestos, and Best Canadian Poetry 2023. John lives in Victoria, where he edited The Malahat Review from 2004 to 2018 and was the city’s fifth poet laureate from 2019 to 2022.
Arleen Paré is a Salish Sea writer with ten books of poetry and an eleventh book to be released next spring. She has been a finalist for the Dorothy Livesay BC Book Award for Poetry, and she has won the American Golden Crown Award for Lesbian Poetry, twice, the Victoria Butler Book Prize, a CBC Bookie Award, the bp nichols chapbook award and a Governor Generals’ Award for Poetry. She lives in Victoria with her wife Chris Fox.
Click Here to download Chapbook Contest GUIDELINES PDF
Click Here to view Guidelines
Guidelines for the 2025 RAVEN CHAPBOOKS Poetry Contest
The winning manuscript will be published in June 2025
- The 2025 contest is open to all emerging and established poets who reside in British Columbia.
- A $30 entry fee must be submitted with the manuscript by cheque or e-transfer, payable to Diana Hayes (Raven Chapbooks Publisher) 138 McAllister Road, Salt Spring Island BC V8K 1M4; e-transfers to DianaHayes@shaw.ca
- Contest entry fees are non-refundable, and manuscripts cannot be edited after submission. Please be sure to submit only your final version of the poems.
- Manuscripts must be postmarked no later than November 30, 2024.
- Manuscripts must comprise 15–25 pages of poems (not including title page and table of contents). Each poem should begin on a new page. Manuscripts may contain some poems previously published in journals if the poet retains copyright and the manuscript as a whole has not been previously published. Please note journal acknowledgements in your covering letter.
- Manuscripts must be formatted in 12 pt. font, single spaced, and pages must be numbered. A title page and table of contents should be included. Do not include any identifying information within the manuscript itself. Manuscripts will be blind judged. Please include a SEPARATE one-page cover letter identifying the title of your submission and include a short biographical paragraph along with contact information, including email and phone number.
- Manuscripts may be submitted in hard copy to: Diana Hayes, Raven Chapbooks, 138 McAllister Road, Salt Spring Island BC V8K 1M4, or electronically as separate PDF files: one file for the manuscript which should include title page, table of contests, and page numbers but no identifying information, and a separate PDF file which includes cover letter, manuscript title, and short bio. Email digital files to: RainbowPublishers@shaw.ca. Include your name and Raven Contest 2025 in the subject line. For mailed copies, include an SASE if you wish to receive your manuscript back after the contest.
- The shortlist will be announced by February 15, 2025 and the winning manuscript will be announced on March 1st, 2025. The winner will be contacted by phone and the announcement will be posted on the website: www.ravenchapbooks.ca/contest/
- The winning manuscript will be published in June 2025 in an edition of 135 copies. Design and production details will be negotiated with the poet. A publishing contract will be provided.
