Graywolf Press is a literary press that publishes about twenty-seven books annually, mostly collections of poetry, memoir, essays, novels, and short stories. Our editors are looking for high quality literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that combines a distinct voice with a distinct vision.

Please note: Our next open submission period will be May 2012.

We no longer accept submissions of first collections of poetry or short stories. Instead, we ask that you submit those collections to the Bakeless Prizes, which are first-book publication prizes administered by the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. Each year Graywolf Press publishes the Bakeless Prize winners in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. It is our hope that this will still provide access to Graywolf for those seeking publication of a first collection of short stories or poetry. For more details, please visit the Bread Loaf website. We will continue to accept second and subsequent collections of poetry and short stories during our open submission periods. In addition, we will continue to accept submission of novels and works of nonfiction as usual.

We've also moved our open submissions to Submishmash, a new online submission system. We feel that Submishmash brings a new level of simplicity and flexibility to submitting online, and we hope that you feel the same. All submissions have been transferred to the new system, so if you have a manuscript that is still under consideration, there's no need to worry. We'll respond to your work as soon as we can.

 

With the transition to Submishmash comes one more change: we will no longer accept paper submissions. Since we first began accepting electronic submissions in 2010 we've seen our submitters increasing embrace the ease and simplicity of submitting online, and we've done so as well. Closing our doors to paper submissions means that we'll be able to focus all our efforts on reading and responding in as timely a manner as possible, and we're excited about this change.

 

Poetry: Each year, Graywolf publishes around nine collections of poetry, one or two collections of poetry in translation, and one or two collections of essays on poetry. Our list focuses on contemporary poets, contemporary translators, and contemporary perspectives on craft. We very rarely publish poetry anthologies.

 

Prose: Each year, Graywolf publishes around nine works of fiction, including novels, short stories, and literature in translation. We also publish around nine works of creative nonfiction, including lyric essays, memoir, literary criticism, and sponsor the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize, which supports innovative nonfiction by a writer not yet established in the genre. Within all genres, we look for innovative manuscripts that in some way take on the social and cultural challenges of contemporary life; our list focuses on contemporary authors and translators. We do not publish children’s or young adult literature, plays, self-help books, or how-to guides. We also do not publish any genre fiction, such as romance, science fiction, thrillers, detective fiction, horror stories, westerns, historical fiction, etc. We very rarely publish anthologies.

 

Reading Period: We accept submissions in the months of January, May, and September. Submissions received outside of these months will not be considered. If a stamped mailer is enclosed, your submission will be returned; if not, it will be recycled. PLEASE NOTE: Our next open submission period will be in May 2012.

 

Submission Procedure: We only accept submissions through our online submission manager. Online submissions allow us to spend more time reading and less time logging, filing, and handling paper submissions. Electronic submissions are also author-friendly, since they don’t require the printing and mailing costs typically incurred when submitting via regular mail.

 

When submitting, please upload your finished, book-length manuscript as a Word document (either .doc or .docx), and include a cover letter as the first page of your file. Please make sure it contains contact information, relevant biographical information, a brief description of the manuscript, and relevant previous publication history. All prose manuscripts should be double-spaced, and all poetry manuscripts should be single-spaced. All manuscripts, regardless of genre, should be submitted in a twelve-point font.

 

Please do not submit query letters, sample chapters, or proposals to the submission manager. We are interested in seeing your completed manuscript, not a query. Also note that we do not publish stand-alone poems or stories. We prefer to consider only one manuscript from a given author during a submission period, so please do not submit multiple manuscripts. Once you’ve heard back from us, you are welcome to submit again.

 

Submit to Graywolf using our online submission manager.

 

Response Procedure: We will respond to submissions via email. You will receive a notification email confirming receipt of your submission, and when a decision is made, you will be notified by email as well. You may check the status of your manuscript at any time by logging in.

Response Time: We have a small editorial staff, and we respond to submissions within three to six months. Because of the volume of submissions, we simply cannot take phone calls or respond to emails inquiring about the status of manuscripts. If you haven’t heard from us in six months, please send an email to us at this address.

Bakeless Prizes: Graywolf Press publishes the winners of the Bakeless Literary Prizes, an annual first book contest for writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The Bakeless Prizes are administered by the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference of Middlebury College. All those wishing to submit first collections of poetry or short stories should send them to the Bakeless Prize. If you choose to submit to the Bakeless Prizes, please do not submit your work directly to Graywolf until Bakeless decisions are final (and vice versa). More information is available at the Bread Loaf website.

 

Cave Canem Poetry Prize: Graywolf Press is one of the publishers of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, a first book award dedicated to the discovery of exceptional manuscripts by African American poets. Graywolf publishes every third winner of the Prize, and will be publishing the winner of the 2012 Prize. If you choose to submit your work to the Cave Canem Prize, please do not submit your work directly to Graywolf until Cave Canem decisions are final (and vice versa). More information is available at the Cave Canem website.

Summer Literary Seminars' Unified Literary Contest: Graywolf Press is proud to be partnering with the Summer Literary Seminars this year for the Graywolf Prize for the best novel excerpt by an emerging writer, part of SLS's 2012 Unified Literary Contests. The winner of this prize will receive full tuition to any SLS Program (Montreal, Quebec; Vilnius, Lithuania; or Nairobi-Lamu, Kenya), a prize of $500 towards travel expenses, and will have their winning novel excerpt published on the Graywolf Press website. The SLS Unified Literary Contests also offer prizes in poetry and nonfiction, as well as additional prizes in fiction. For a complete list of prizes, and for more information on how to submit your work, please visit the SLS website. The deadline to submit to the SLS 2012 Unified Literary Contests is February 28th, 2012.

Final Thoughts: Graywolf Press is happy to accept unsolicited manuscripts from authors of all backgrounds. In return, we ask that you take the time to familiarize yourself with our list in order to determine whether or not Graywolf is a good fit for your manuscript. Many of the unsolicited manuscripts we receive are inappropriate for our press. You can ensure that your manuscript will be fully read and considered by taking a little time before submission to make sure it is appropriate for us.

For questions about submissions, please email us at this address. Please do not submit queries, sample chapters, or proposals to this email address.

Updated 2/2/12.