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Submission Guidelines

Carcanet announces its next submission window. It opens on 1 December 2023 and closes 21 December 2023. We are accepting Translations only. Submissions received outside these dates or outside of this specification will not be considered or held for consideration.


For translation submissions, we are generally looking for 20th- and 21st- century poetry and poetry-related material (very exceptional exceptions will be considered). A formal proposal of up to 400 words outlining the nature of the project, the rationale for translation, the translator's formal approach, and the copyright situation are required, along with up to 15 pages of specimen translations and copies of the original work being translated.

It makes sense for poets and agents submitting work to be familiar with the Carcanet list. The readiest way to get to know about Carcanet is through its catalogues, the New Poetries anthologies, and PN Review which appears six times a year and is an index (or fever chart) of our interests and enthusiasms. It is in PN Review that we first meet many of our key poets.

Carcanet will consider work sent in PDF form to Submissions@carcanet.co.uk. Please include an email and provide a digital address for our response. If you are an individual subscriber to PN Review, please indicate this in your covering e-mail.

The Editors’ decision is final. Given the volume of submissions we receive, it is not possible for us to offer feedback on work submitted. We discourage simultaneous submissions.

Please note that during this next submissions window (1 December 2023 - 21 December 2023) we are accepting Translations only.

After this, the next submissions windows are as follows.

1-21 March 2024 - Classics

Carcanet's new Classics list is various and eccentric. Proposals can be drawn from the Carcanet backlist itself or can entail work new to the list. Issues of copyright should be addressed in any proposal. Neglected English-language writers from around the Anglophone world and writers in translation will be considered. A 1000 word extract from the introduction and up to 20 pages of text are welcome.

1-21 June 2024 - Lives & Letters

Carcanet has a rich list of prose titles entailing critical volumes, essays, biographies and eccentric texts of various kinds. A close familiarity with the list will help in determining whether a proposal is likely to prosper in this highly selective area of Carcanet's activity. A 5000 word extract and a publishing rationale are welcome.

1-14 March 2025 - New Collections

We will be looking primarily for full-length poetry manuscripts in English or translation. Submissions must be between 15 - 20 pages - you may also include an outline of the book, but this is optional. If we like the substantial specimen, we will ask to see the full typescript.






Further information:

Listen to an interview with Michael Schmidt about submissions.

Subscribe to PN Review

PN Review appears every two months. It publishes outstanding poetry from the English-speaking world and in translation, accompanied by essays, interviews, reviews and features.

Subscribers receive:
Six issues of PN Review each year
Unlimited access to five decades of archive
The freedom to submit work electronically for editorial consideration
Invitations to PN Review sponsored lectures and events
Discounts on Gift Subscriptions

Contact us at:

Carcanet Press
4th Floor
Alliance House
Cross Street
Manchester
M2 7AQ

Telephone: +44 (0) 161 834 8730
email: info@carcanet.co.uk
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