Listed below are our current open calls. We are open for our chapbook contests from March to May, our open reading period for full-length poetry manuscripts from June to August, our broadside contest from September to November, and our open reading period for prose manuscripts from December to February. Our residency applications are open year-round. Other calls will be published here as they open.
Sundress Publications Open for Broadside Contest
Deadline: November 30, 2026
Sundress Publications is pleased to announce that we are now open for submissions for our annual poetry broadside contest. The contest will be open for submission between September 1st to November 30th, 2026.
The winner’s poem will be letterpress-printed as an 8.5” x 11” broadside complete with custom art and made available for sale on our online store. The winner will receive $200 and 20 copies of their broadside.
To submit, send up to three poems, no longer than 28 lines each (line limit includes stanza breaks but not the title) through our Google Form by November 30, 2025. Be sure to include a copy of your payment receipt or purchase order number (see below for payment of fees).
Please make sure that no identifying information is included in the submitted poems.
From September 1st through 14th, submissions to this contest are free for the first submission for any and all writers. If you submit more than one set of poems during the free period, only the first set will be accepted without payment.
Beginning September 15th, the reading fee is $10 per batch of three poems, though the fee will be waived for entrants who purchase or pre-order any Sundress title. Entrants can place book orders or pay submission fees at our store.
Once the purchase is made, the store will send a receipt with a purchase code. This code should be included in the submission, or you may forward the email receipt at the same time as you send the submission. This fee is waived for all writers of color.
Previously published material is welcome so long as you maintain the rights to the work. Let us know in your cover letter if any of your submitted poems have been previously published.
Poems translated from another language will not be accepted.
Simultaneous submissions are fine, but we ask that authors notify us immediately if their work has been accepted elsewhere; poems accepted for publication are still qualified provided the author retains the rights to the work at the time of printing.
Any questions or concerns, as well as withdrawal notifications, can be sent to sundresscontest@gmail.com.
The judge this year is Ashley Elizabeth. Ashley Elizabeth (she/her) is a Pushcart nominated writer and educator living on Piscataway and Susquehannock land (Baltimore, MD). She is the author of A Family Thing, CHARM(ed), red line, black has every right to be angry, and you were supposed to be a friend. When Ashley isn’t teaching, editing with Porcupine Lit, working as the Chapbook Editor with Sundress Publications, or coordinating workshops for fifth wheel press, she habitually posts on Twitter and Instagram (@ae_thepoet). Ashley is Black before she is anything else. You can find her at aetheblkpoet.com.
Sundress Publications Open for Light Bill Microgrant Applications for Black and/or Indigenous Writers
Deadline: December 1, 2026
Sundress Publications is open for submissions for grant applications from Black and/or Indigenous identifying writers with a chapbook in progress. All eligible authors are welcome to submit during our application period which closes on December 1, 2026.
The Light Bill Incubator Microgrant will award $500 to one Black and/or Indigenous writer with a chapbook in progress to support the completion of said project. The winner will also be invited to submit their manuscript for potential publication. One writer will be selected as the recipient of this year’s grant.
Applicants may apply for any genre; however, the proposed project must be a chapbook-length project, meaning the planned final version will be fewer than 48 pages.
To apply, please include a sample of the chapbook in progress along with a brief (no more than 500 words) artist/personal statement. There is no fee to apply.
Applications must be submitted here.
Sundress Academy for the Arts Open for Summer Residency Applications
Deadline: February 1, 2027
The Sundress Academy for the Arts (SAFTA) is now accepting applications for short-term writing residencies in all genres—poetry, fiction, nonfiction, playwriting, screenwriting, journalism, academic writing, and more—for their summer residency period which runs from May 9th through August 15th, 2027. These residencies are designed to give artists time and space to complete their creative projects in a quiet and productive environment.
Each farmhouse residency costs $300/week, which includes a room of one’s own, as well as access to our communal kitchen, bathroom, office, and living space, plus wireless internet. Residencies in the Writers Coop are $175/week and include your own private dry cabin as well as access to the farmhouse amenities.
Residents will stay at the SAFTA farmhouse, located on a working farm on a 45-acre wooded plot in a Tennessee “holler” perfect for hiking, birdwatching, and foraging. The farmhouse is also just 20 minutes from downtown Knoxville, an exciting and creative city that is home to a thriving arts community. SAFTA is ideal for writers looking for a rural retreat with urban amenities.
Sundress is dedicated to supporting the diversity in the literary community. As part of our commitment to anti-racist work, we use a reparations payment model for our farmhouse residencies which consists of the following:
- 3 reparations weeks of equally divided payments for Black and/or Indigenous identifying writers at $150/week
- 3 discounted weeks of equally divided payments for writers of color at $250/week
- 6 equitable weeks of equally divided payments at $350/week
Black and/or Indigenous identifying writers are also invited to apply for a $350 support grant to help cover the costs of food, travel, childcare, and/or any other needs while they are at the residency. We are currently able to offer two of these grants per residency period (spring/summer/fall).
For the Summer 2027 residency period, SAFTA will be offering the following fellowships:
- Smokelong Quarterly Fellowship for Trans writers: One full fellowship given to a trans writer for a week-long farmhouse residency
- Black & Indigenous Writers Fellowship: One full fellowship for Black and/or Indigenous identifying writers
- Writers of Color Fellowships: One full and one 50% fellowships for writers of color
The application deadline for the summer residency period is February 1st, 2027.
The application fee is waived for all writers of color. For all fellowship applications, the application fee will also be waived for those who demonstrate financial need; please state this in your application under the financial need section.
Sundress Reads Looking for Recently Published Books to Review
Deadline: Rolling
As part of Sundress’ Publications’ ongoing commitment to service and the importance of highlighting work from other small presses, we are now accepting submissions for consideration for inclusion in our review series, Sundress Reads. We’re looking to feature reviews for any books published or to be published in 2026 or 2027.
We at Sundress champion writers whose work highlights human resilience and challenges misconceptions. We will not consider reviewing any book that promotes actions or includes language that contribute to oppression. Books by authors from LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, neurodivergent, disabled, immigrant, incarcerated, and otherwise marginalized communities are encouraged to submit.
Authors or publishers of books published within this date range are invited to submit books, chapbooks, or anthologies in any genre for consideration by our reviewers who are standing by. Books must be published by independent presses, university presses, or small presses; we do not accept submissions from “the Big 5” or self-published collections. Submissions will be considered on a rolling basis.