Verve Poetry Press is a prize-winning Birmingham based publisher dedicated to promoting and showcasing unnoticed and overlooked poetic talent in colourful and exciting ways. Co-founded by Stuart Bartholomew and Amerah Saleh, the press works hard to publish poets from all corners of the UK and beyond – poets that chime with our city’s varied and energetic qualities. While our horizons have expanded beyond our original focus on Birmingham, there will always be a place for excellent poets from our home city at Verve!

We are thrilled to say we are now OPEN for pamphlet submissions throughout April 2026!!!
For the first times since April 2024, we at VERVE Poetry Press are opening a month long submissions window to find a limited number of poetry pamphlet manuscripts. Those that are successful will either be published later in 2026 or early in our 2027 season.

Unfortunately we aren't able to open for full length poetry collections this year.

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Our submissions window for pamphlets is open from 0.01am on April 1st 2026 and close at midnight on April 30th.

THE DETAILS

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What are we looking for?

We are after pamphlet* length works to add to our Michael Marks Publishers Award winning series or poetry pamphlets. Manuscripts should be complete although we will consider high quality early drafts.

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How would we like them?

Manuscripts should be attached to your application email as a separate file on either Word or PDF. Send your submission to us at mail@vervepoetryfestival.com marked clearly as a Pamphlet Submission

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What would we like with them?

We would like your manuscript to be accompanied by a one page document detailing your poetic journey so far - favourite poetry books read, favourite poetry performers watched, favourite poetry events attended actually or remotely – (you should have answers for all of these) - alongside a full list of workshops attended, publishing history, readings given – (it matters less if you don’t have answers for all of these). And finally details of the ambitions you have for the book you hope to make and what things you intend to do personally, outside of submitting to Verve, to help it reach a wide audience. One page is the maximum allowed for this part of the submission.

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PLEASE NOTE: Those with difficulties accessing physical poetry books, performances and workshops due to disabilities or limited incomes can and should absolutely still please apply. Tell us instead about online readings and events you have attended and enjoyed and which of the mountains of free online poems you have read, loved and been influenced by.

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What kind of things do we like?

If you know us at all, you will know the answer to this. Like our sister festival, we have a love and respect for poetry in all its forms and from all sources. We love poetry designed for the page that is read-out-able and poetry designed to perform that is readable in book form. We love poetry shows, long narrative poems, short quirky poems, one poem manuscripts, seventy poem manuscripts, dramatic poems, quiet poems, free-form poems, fully formed poems, heavily edited poems, poems written in one go. But they must be excellent, generous, open-minded, ambitious and informed. We not only welcome but would encourage submissions from poets who identify as BAME and/or LGBTQ+. And we are also keen to see manuscripts that involve more than one language or which are bi-lingual.

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What don’t we mind?

We don’t mind if you submit titles already submitted elsewhere – but do tell us if they are successful and you need to withdraw your submission with us.

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What we will and won’t do for you

There is no charge to submit to Verve Poetry Press during this window. Similarly we do not insist that you buy a book from our website before submitting (although we truly hope you will have already or will do soon).

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Also those who are chosen to publish with us won’t be charged for the privilege. Instead, they will be paid royalties on the books we sell and have the opportunity to buy copies at a deep discount to sell themselves. But all that is for later once this process is over.

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We will give you an initial answer on the success or otherwise of your submission within twelve weeks of the submission window closing. Unfortunately we won’t be able to give any feedback on submissions which are unsuccessful.