VERVE POETRY BOOKSHOP Log In VERVE HOME About The Press Our Books Submissions News Meet The Editor Contact More Submissions News for 2026 This year's submissions window for pamphlets CLOSED at midnight on April 30th 2026!!! GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE WHO SUBMITTED! [Thinking about submitting next time? Need help? Read about our pamphlet short course HERE ] For the first time 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. Our submissions window for pamphlets is open from 0.01am on April 1st 2026 and close at midnight on April 30th. THE DETAILS 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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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. 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). 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. 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. And finally... If you are unsuccessful, please don’t give up on your poetry! We are very particular about what we publish and have an aesthetic that we are aiming to achieve. Your poems may well be accepted elsewhere having been unsuccessful with us. Take a breath, get some input, and carry on! We are excited and look forward to reading your wonderful work! *A note on Pamphlets This might well be different at other presses. At Verve, our pamphlets are generally between 22 and 36 pages long and contain between 20 and 30 poems. If in doubt shorter is better! For any collection of poems you need to look beyond the individual poems and begin to think of them as a group that work together and influence each other - about the pace and movement of the whole work as well as the elements within it. Poems can be as short or as long as they need to be, but if they are all one length that might (but won’t necessarily) become irksome for the reader. Good luck! INTRODUCING: New for 2026 Our online four week Pamphlet Short Course Limited to 12 places - running in the evenings on Wednesdays in July (March, April, May (twice) and June have all SOLD OUT! July is selling fast!)* MARCH SOLD OUT APRIL SOLD OUT MAY SOLD OUT MAY II SOLD OUT JUNE SOLD OUT Book on to JULY At the stage where you are considering putting together a pamphlet or are about to begin? Or perhaps you've written a pamphlet but need some help understanding how successful you have been before you submit it? Or just interested to hear more about the process? Ahead of our forthcoming open submissions window for pamphlets , join this lively four week short course run by Birmingham and Michael Marks Award winning publisher VERVE Poetry Press for a deep dive into all things pamphlet! Session 1: Thinking About Pamphlets in Detail This introductory session will cover questions like, what makes a great pamphlet (incl recommended reading list) and what a list like this can teach us. We’ll look at different publishers and their expectations for pamphlet submissions – how can you communicate your idea and make it stand out (incl how to keep on a publisher’s good side!) With plenty of time for questions and discussion on good practice and common pitfalls, you’ll leave with a firm idea of how to move forward. NB After this session you will receive three pamphlets to read and think about before the next session. Session 2: Looking at Pamphlets In the spirit of 'you can't do what you don't know' in this session we will look at the three exemplary pamphlets (which you will have been sent to read before hand). We will ask things like - what is the narrative arc? What role do the first and last poem perform? Which are the key poems and what do they do for the whole? What we would change if anything? We will discuss what learnings we can take forward from the session to guide our approach to our own work in forming a collection. Session 3: Designing and Submitting your Pamphlet In this session, we’ll look at good ideas for sequencing a pamphlet. Which rules about putting pamphlets together are helpful and which are less so? How can we understand what each poem is doing for the entire book? We will look closely at the pitfalls and also the opportunities that occur when poems are placed alongside each other. How can you position your poems to really utilise their power as a group? What changes might need to be made to your poems now that they are part of a larger whole? We will also look in more detail at how to submit your work - the do's and don't do's of this process, and help get us all inside of what opportunities for publishing pamphlets are out there and when? NB After this session you will be encouraged to send an early draft of your pamphlet for one to one discussion. Session 4: Pamphlet One to One - One hour either during the day or evening during the last week of the month to take a detailed look at your pamphlet so far. This session will help you to produce a concrete plan for making your pamphlet even better than it already is, so that you can begin to submit it with confidence. Our pamphlet short course will be run by VERVE Poetry Press editor Stuart Bartholomew. MARCH SOLD OUT APRIL SOLD OUT MAY SOLD OUT MAY II SOLD OUT JUNE SOLD OUT Book on to JULY VERVE Poetry Bookshop 07713236205 info@vervepoetrybookshop.com Join our mailer to keep in touch Sign Up © 2025 by VERVE Poetry Bookshop

VERVE Poetry Bookshop multi-publisher contemporary poetry-only store DIVE In Start Browsing Coming Soon in 2026 (Pre-orders) SEE ALL Pre-Order (Save £1) Pain Songs - Daniel Sluman Regular Price £11.99 Sale Price £10.99 Pre-Order Pre-Order (Save £2) Cafes - Holly Pester Regular Price £12.99 Sale Price £10.99 Pre-Order Pre-Order (Save £2) Sparrow on the Rooftop - Rachel Long Regular Price £12.99 Sale Price £10.99 Pre-Order Pre-Order (Save £2) Stepmother - Helen Mort Regular Price £12.99 Sale Price £10.99 Pre-Order Pre-Order (Save £2) Killing Spree - Jorie Graham Regular Price £12.99 Sale Price £10.99 Pre-Order Pre-Order (Save £2) Egrets, While War - Tishani Doshi Regular Price £14.00 Sale Price £12.00 Pre-Order Best Recent Paperbacks SEE ALL Little Bitch - Ellora Sutton Price £11.99 Add to Cart I Do Know Some Things - Richard Siken Price £12.99 Add to Cart Crowd Voltage - John McMullough Price £12.99 Add to Cart Girl, Swooning - Imogen Wade Price £12.99 Add to Cart Mirrorstage - Peter Scalpello Price £11.99 Add to Cart Light Year - Jennifer Wong Price £11.99 Add to Cart Unsafe - Karen McCarthy Woolf Price £12.99 Add to Cart NEW Poetry In Hardback SEE ALL House of Broken Things - Kim Moore Price £14.99 Add to Cart (Save £2) Maryville - Joelle Taylor Regular Price £14.99 Sale Price £12.99 Add to Cart (Save £2) Nature Matters - Mona Arshi, Karen McCarthy Woolf Regular Price £16.99 Sale Price £14.99 Add to Cart (Save £2) 44 Poems on Being with Each Other: Poetry Unbound - Padraig O Tuama Ed. Regular Price £20.00 Sale Price £18.00 Add to Cart (Save £2) Versus Versus - Rachael Boast Ed. Regular Price £14.99 Sale Price £12.99 Add to Cart (Save £4) History of England in 25 Poems - Catherine Clarke Regular Price £25.00 Sale Price £21.00 Add to Cart (Save £2) Ariel - Sylvia Plath (Anniversary Edition Hardback) Regular Price £16.99 Sale Price £14.99 Add to Cart (Save £2) Penguin's Poems for Life - Laura Barber Regular Price £20.00 Sale Price £18.00 Add to Cart Our Bestsellers SEE ALL Home Child, The -Liz Berry Price £9.99 Add to Cart Night Sky with Exit Wounds - Ocean Vuong Price £12.00 Add to Cart All the Men I Never Married - Kim Moore Price £9.99 Add to Cart C+nto -Joelle Taylor Price £10.99 Add to Cart Adam - Gboyega Odubanjo Price £12.99 Add to Cart Your Silence Will Not Protect You - Audre Lorde Price £13.99 Add to Cart Imported Titles SEE ALL Quick View Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear - Mosab Abu Toha Price £12.99 Add to Cart Quick View Portrait of the Self as Nation: New and Selected Poems - Marilyn Chin Price £18.00 Add to Cart Quick View Mojave Ghost - Forrest Gander Price £14.00 Add to Cart Quick View Envelope Poems - Emily Dickinson Price £12.99 Add to Cart Quick View What Is This Thing Called Love -Kim Addonizio Price £14.99 Add to Cart Quick View Diving into the Wreck - Adrienne Rich Price £13.99 Add to Cart Collected Works SEE ALL Quick View Complete Poems -Alice Walker Price £12.99 Add to Cart Quick View Complete Poems - CP Cavafy Price £25.00 Add to Cart Quick View Poems - Elizabeth Bishop Price £14.99 Add to Cart Quick View Poems of - Norman MacCaig Price £25.00 Add to Cart Quick View Collected Poems - Emily Dickinson Price £20.00 Add to Cart Quick View (Save £10) Collected Poems - Mimi Khalvati Regular Price £30.00 Sale Price £20.00 Add to Cart How To Write Poetry SEE ALL Quick View 52: Write a Poem a Week. Start Now. Keep Going - Jo Bell Price £14.99 Add to Cart Quick View Poetry Projects to Make and Do : Getting your poetry out into the -Deborah Alma Price £16.99 Add to Cart Quick View Poetry Handbook - Mary Oliver Price £11.99 Add to Cart Quick View Making of a Poem : A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms -Eavan Boland Ed.r Price £16.99 Add to Cart Quick View Process of Poetry - Rosanna McGlone Price £10.99 Add to Cart Quick View Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry - Kim Addonizio Price £21.99 Add to Cart Anthologies SEE ALL Quick View 100 Poems on the Underground : 40th Anniversary Edition Price £9.99 Add to Cart Quick View Forward Book of Poetry 2026 - Various Poets Price £9.99 Add to Cart Quick View (Save £3) Somewhere There's a Sky For Us: An Anthology of Queer Poetry from India and UK Regular Price £12.99 Sale Price £9.99 Add to Cart Quick View (Save £2) Versus Versus - Rachael Boast Ed. Regular Price £14.99 Sale Price £12.99 Add to Cart Quick View (Save £2) 44 Poems on Being with Each Other: Poetry Unbound - Padraig O Tuama Ed. Regular Price £20.00 Sale Price £18.00 Add to Cart Quick View Mapping the Future: The Complete Works - Karen McCarthy Woolf, Nathalie Teitler Price £14.99 Add to Cart Quick View Staying Human - Neil Astley Ed. Price £12.99 Add to Cart Quick View 100 Queer Poems - Andrew McMillan, Mary Jean Chan Eds. Price £10.99 Add to Cart Quick View Out of Time : Poetry from the Climate Emergency -Kate Simpson Ed. Price £12.99 Add to Cart LGBT+ SEE ALL Quick View Hide Me Under the Blood and I Shall Be Satisfied - Keith Jarrett Price £12.99 Add to Cart Quick View Well Done, You Didn’t Die - Max Wallis Price £8.99 Add to Cart Quick View (Save £2) Maryville - Joelle Taylor Regular Price £14.99 Sale Price £12.99 Add to Cart Quick View Neon Manila - Troy Cabida Price £11.99 Add to Cart Quick View (Save £3) Super Gay Poems: LGBTQIA+ Poetry after Stonewall by Stephanie Burt Ed. Regular Price £24.95 Sale Price £21.95 Add to Cart Quick View (Save £3) Somewhere There's a Sky For Us: An Anthology of Queer Poetry from India and UK Regular Price £12.99 Sale Price £9.99 Add to Cart Quick View Lunch Poems - Frank O'Hara Price £7.99 Add to Cart Quick View When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities -Chen Chen Price £12.00 Add to Cart Quick View Crush - Richard Siken Price £16.99 Add to Cart Quick View Air Year, The - Caroline Bird Price £9.99 Add to Cart Quick View Physical -Andrew McMillan Price £12.00 Add to Cart Quick View Fleche - Mary Jean Chan Price £10.99 Add to Cart Pamphlet Favourites SEE ALL Quick View dance as if - Katrina Naomi Price £8.99 Add to Cart Quick View Fruits of Labour - Betty Doyle Price £6.00 Add to Cart Quick View Tapping At Glass -Tim Tim Cheng Price £7.99 Add to Cart Quick View antonyms for burial - Ellora Sutton Price £8.00 Add to Cart Quick View Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth - Warsan Shire Price £6.00 Add to Cart Quick View Pamper Me to Hell & Back - Hera Lindsay Bird Price £7.50 Add to Cart Contemporary Classics SEE ALL Quick View American Anthem - Kelly Michels Price £17.95 Add to Cart Quick View Considering the Women -Choman Hardi Price £9.99 Add to Cart Quick View Thousand Mornings - Mary Oliver Price £10.99 Add to Cart Quick View Fat Black Woman's Poems - Grace Nichols Price £10.99 Add to Cart Quick View Poems : 1962–2020 - Louise Gluck Price £12.99 Add to Cart Quick View Terrorist at my Table -Imtiaz Dharker Price £12.99 Add to Cart Quick View Stag's Leap -Sharon Olds Price £12.00 Add to Cart Translated Titles SEE ALL Quick View Living in Language: International reflections for the practising poet - EHesketh Price £15.00 Add to Cart Quick View Essential Neruda: Selected Poems - Pablo Neruda Price £12.99 Add to Cart Quick View Selected Poems - Federico Garcia Lorca Price £12.99 Add to Cart Quick View Butterfly's Burden - Mahmoud Darwish Price £20.00 Add to Cart Quick View Still City: A Diary of an Invasion - Oksana Maksymchuk Price £12.99 Add to Cart Quick View Holy Winter 20/21 - Maria Stepanova Price £12.00 Add to Cart Classic Gift Editions SEE ALL Quick View Complete Poetry - Maya Angelou Price £16.99 Add to Cart Quick View (Save £2) Penguin's Poems for Life - Laura Barber Regular Price £20.00 Sale Price £18.00 Add to Cart Quick View Death of a Naturalist - Seamus Heaney Price £14.99 Add to Cart Quick View Four Quartets - TS Eliot Price £12.99 Add to Cart Quick View Collected Poems - Anna Akhmatova Price £35.00 Add to Cart Quick View Devotions - Mary Oliver Price £30.00 Add to Cart Quick View And Still I Rise -Maya Angelou Price £10.99 Add to Cart VERVE Poetry Press SEE ALL Quick View My Dearest Friend - Lady Red Ego Price £11.99 Add to Cart Quick View (Save £3) Somewhere There's a Sky For Us: An Anthology of Queer Poetry from India and UK Regular Price £12.99 Sale Price £9.99 Add to Cart Quick View sikfan glaschu - Sean Wai Keung Price £11.99 Add to Cart Quick View Postcolonial Banter - Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan Price £10.99 Add to Cart Quick View Where Else: An International Hong Kong Poetry Anthology - Jennifer Wong Ed. Price £14.99 Add to Cart Quick View Healing The Pack - clare e. potter Price £10.99 Add to Cart

VERVE POETRY BOOKSHOP Log In VERVE HOME About The Press Our Books Submissions News Meet The Editor Contact More About us 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. (Just what you’d expect from a press that had grown out of the giddy and flamboyant annual four days of poetry and spoken word that is Verve Poetry Festival.) 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! As we continue to grow so we are beginning to get noticed. We've been voted Most Innovative Publisher at the Sabotage Awards, and have won the Publishers’ Prize at the Michael Marks Pamphlets Awards. One of our first books, the wonderful Besharam by Birmingham poet Nafeesa Hamid, was highly commended for the Forward Prize 2020. This has been followed by further commendations for Qudsai Akhtar and Sarah James, while Golnoosh Nour’s ROCKSONG was short-listed for the Polari Prize. Andrew McMillan called us ‘the always exciting Verve Poetry Press.’ With poets such as Luke Kennard, Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan, Carrie Etter and exciting debutants such as Betty Doyle, Roshni Gallagher, Ellora Sutton & Sean Wai Keung on our list, you really can’t afford to take your eyes off of us! ABOUT VERVE Poetry Festival: Birmingham’s own VERVE Festival of Poetry and Spoken Word is based at Birmingham Hippodrome and online! Over the years, VERVE has become synonymous with a lively and celebratory approach to programming poetry of every different kind, whether it be raucous performance poetry events, quiet reading events, studious workshops, mind-blowing dramatic poetry, collaborative work and open mic. We encourage our audience to see their favourite poets and try something new, to join in and create or listen and learn. Most importantly, ALL are welcome at our poetry party of national standing. Whether new to poetry or an old hand, there will be something for everyone to enjoy at VERVE! VERVE Poetry Bookshop 07713236205 info@vervepoetrybookshop.com Join our mailer to keep in touch Sign Up © 2025 by VERVE Poetry Bookshop