We certainly agree with Samuel Watson that you can’t go wrong with poetry on Valentine’s Day — he features The Salt Book of Younger Poets in his top ten. Don’t miss it, your significant other will simply love it.

5148 N. Clark Red Line EL to Berwyn

This year The Crashaw Prize — England’s only international prize for full-length collections of poetry — received more than eighty entries from four continents; however, worryingly, only sixteen entries were from women.

The prize, now in its fourth year, attracts attention from around the English-speaking world and the winning writers, along with [...]]]>

This year The Crashaw Prize — England’s only international prize for full-length collections of poetry — received more than eighty entries from four continents; however, worryingly, only sixteen entries were from women.

The prize, now in its fourth year, attracts attention from around the English-speaking world and the winning writers, along with many of those shortlisted, have gone on to become significant voices on an international basis. The aim of the prize — to support debut writers by providing them with a platform to draw attention to their unique talents — is reaching more people than ever. This is especially satisfying during uncertain times for all small presses and, indeed, the broader world of physical books and bookshops. We are confident that the prize will remain a feature of our publishing and we intend to develop the prize further during 2012 and beyond.

It is interesting to note, that as the routes to publication continue to shift and (dramatically) expand in our digital world, there can be no replacement for literary judgement and selection; the Crashaw Prize continues to focus on making those tough choices around the books that we believe truly matter for readers. It may sound trite to say, but this year’s entries were all of a very high standard and we wish the writers every success with their work. Sadly, not everyone can reach the final and after much deliberation, we have selected a shortlist of ten writers we believe have produced superb first collections of poetry. We will profile the writers during February and March and announce our winner, or winners, in the first UK National Poetry Month in April.

The shortlist (in alphabetical order)

Micah Bateman Bastard Star (USA)

Kaddy Benyon Milk Fever (England)

Luke Heeley Untitled (England)

Caleb Klaces Bottled Air (England)

Julie Maclean Burlesque (Australia)

Alice Miller Fist-Shaped Harbour (New Zealand)

Benjamin Morris Litany (USA)

Charlotte Pence Spike (USA)

Fritz Ward Letters from the Handmade Dark (USA)

J.T. Welsch Rejections of Marriage (USA/England)

Notes for editors

1. The Crashaw Prize is the only international poetry prize for full length collections of poetry written in English.
2. The prize is administered by Salt and judged by Publisher, Chris Hamilton-Emery.
3. The prize began in  2008. Winners are published the following year of entry.
4. Since the prize began it has successfully published thirteen first collections.
5. Crashaw Prize winners Nathan Hoks, Rebecca Lehmann, Jared Stanley and Catherine Theis will all be reading at the AWP Conference in Chicago on March 1st 2012.
6. Previous winners include:

2010 Winners

Vesna Goldsworthy The Angel of Salonika (UK/Serbia)

Rebecca Lehmann Between the Crackups (USA)

Catherine Theis The Fraud of Good Sleep (USA)

2009 Winners

Nathan Hoks, Reveilles (USA)

Andrew Pidoux, Year of the Lion (UK)

Nick Potamitis, The Book of Night Terrors (UK)

Jonty Tiplady, Zam Bonk Dip (UK)

Ryan van Winkle, Tomorrow, We Will Live Here (UK)

Anna Woodford, Birdhouse (UK)

2008 Winners

Tom Chivers, How to Build a City (UK)

Abi Curtis, Unexpected Weather (UK)

Jamey Dunham, The Bible of Lost Pets (USA)

Jared Stanley, Book Made of Forest (USA)

Don’t miss a super line up for the National Poetry Month reading in Manchester on April 12th.  More information on Facebook.

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You can read an interview with Sean Ohlenkamp about this video at the National Post website.

Will Stone’s Drawing in Ash wins 3:AM Magazine’s 2011 Award for Best Poetry Book.

“In his fine debut collection The Frost Fairs (Salt, £9.99), John McCullough turns out tender love poems and imaginative thought experiments with equal aplomb.” —Suzi Feay The Independent

I’m delighted to announce the development of a major new anthology from Salt, Shared Earth: The Salt Book of Modern European Poetry will be published in National Poetry Month 2013.

We’re taking submissions for this book, if you would like to send translations, please email chris at saltpublishing dot [...]]]>

I’m delighted to announce the development of a major new anthology from Salt, Shared Earth: The Salt Book of Modern European Poetry will be published in National Poetry Month 2013.

We’re taking submissions for this book, if you would like to send translations, please email chris at saltpublishing dot com.