Slate Roof Press

2024 ELYSE WOLF PRIZE, OFFERED BY SLATE ROOF PRESS

SLATE ROOF PRESS POETRY CONTESTS

Winners of the Slate Roof Press Poetry Chapbook Contest/Elyse Wolf Prize are awarded publication and $500. We produce beautiful books with letterpress covers by an award-winning bookmaker, using high-quality papers. Elyse Wolf Prize winners become active members of the press, making a three-year commitment, gaining valuable experience in publishing, and participating in monthly meetings and the tasks of running the press. Based in Greenfield, MA, Slate Roof is a member-run, not-for-profit collaborative, publishing art-quality chapbooks since 2004.

Winners of the Slate Roof Press Glass Prize for an original broadside will each receive $250. Each poem will be printed in a beautiful limited letterpress edition of 100 numbered and signed copies.

Twenty Years of Poetry

Slate Roof Press offers a wonderful opportunity to learn about small press publishing and to join a community of poets. Slate Roof Members are involved in all aspects of publishing, such as working with local vendors, sending out promotion, managing bookstore accounts, participating in book fairs and presentations, designing promotional materials, providing feedback on other members’ manuscripts, editing/proofreading final copy, book assembly, and book distribution. The chapbooks are designed by the poet; we attend to papers, binding, and typography. Currently, our print run is 350 copies; of that, 25 copies are given to the author and 50 are retained by Slate Roof for promotional purposes. Poets retain copyright. All profits return to the press.

The contest is closed. Please see information on the 2024 winning manuscript here.

Slate Roof Press announces its Annual Poetry Chapbook Contest. The winner will be granted the 2024 Elyse Wolf Prize of $500 and will become an active member of the press. Runner up receives $100. Slate Roof’s award-winning bookmaker produces beautiful books with letterpress covers and high-quality papers. Based in Greenfield, MA, Slate Roof is a member-run, not-for-profit collaborative, which has published the best new voices in poetry in art-quality chapbooks since 2004.

  1. To enter, review Membership Requirements below and to the right.

  2. Prepare your submission:
    • A title page with title of the manuscript only; a table of contents page; no more than 28 pages of poems; 12 pt. Times (or equivalent), 8.5 x 11 paper, 1” margins, pages numbered. No identifying information on any pages.
    • A separate cover sheet with title of manuscript, your name, address, telephone number, email address, and a short bio. Please also tell us what attracts you about joining a collaborative press.
    • Note that while individual poems may have been published, the collection as a whole must be unpublished, including self-publication.

  3. Determine your method of submission:
    • If submitting online (preferred method),  go here . Paste cover sheet into text box. Upload title page, table of contents, and manuscript (all three as a single document, no identifying information); pdf strongly preferred; doc, docx, txt, or rtf acceptable; other formats will not be accepted. See full instructions online.
    • If submitting hard copies, mail two copies of all materials to the Slate Roof address below by June 30, 2024. (postmark). No staples. Confirmation and contest notification will be by email unless you include SASE postcard and envelope.

  4. Submit $10 reading fee.

    If submitting online, make payment via credit card. If submitting by post, make check out to Slate Roof Press and send with submission to Slate Roof Press, 15 Warwick Avenue, Northfield, MA 01360-9638.

    Sliding scale: If the reading fee presents a hardship, please 1) email us your manuscript at info@slateroofpress.com; and 2) go to http://slateroofpress.com/about.html to make a donation in an amount that feels accessible. If you feel you are in a position to make a donation exceeding the $10 reading fee in support of a fellow poet, we welcome your generosity. Your manuscript submission will be considered complete once both the text and the donation have been received.

All entries will be considered complete once payment is received.

A winning manuscript will be chosen by the press via a blind review. In addition, we may offer publication and membership to finalists. For additional information on Slate Roof Press, contact us here, or email us at info@slateroofpress.com. We reserve the right not to select a winner, in which case entry fees will be refunded. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but please notify us immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.


 

MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS

Our collaborative is dedicated to publishing the best in poetry and involving poets in the process. Contest winners agree to a three-year work commitment, averaging 8-10 hours/month, including attending monthly meetings on Zoom. Contest winners will work with the collaborative to publish and market their work, as well as the work of other members. Members receive feedback on drafts, and final manuscripts are edited by Slate Roof members.

ABOUT ELYSE WOLF

Elyse Wolf is a signature member and five-year Merit Award recipient of the Colored Pencil Society of America. She received a B.A. in Art from UMass Amherst and went to the Art Students League in New York for two years on a Ford Foundation Scholarship where she studied with Morris Kantor and Theodoros Stamos. After moving to Washington, D.C., she took classes at the Corcoran Museum School Open Program with William Christenberry and Brockie Stevenson.

Her Artwork has appeared in numerous shows, including the Susan K. Black Blossom Two-Year Museum Traveling show, the John Pence Gallery in San Francisco, the Salmagundi Club and The National Arts Club in New York City, the Corcoran Museum Biennial, numerous CPSA International shows, The Art League in Alexandria, VA, The Troika Gallery in Easton, MD.

Her work has also appeared in these books: Blossom II Art of Flowers, The CPSA Signature Showcase, The Best of Colored Pencil, 2 volumes; as well as American Artist Magazine and The Artist’s Magazine.

Elyse is a member of the Jackson Art Center in Washington, D.C. and the Torpedo Factory Art Association in Alexandria, VA; and she is a Signature/Merit Member of the Colored Pencil Society of America. www.elysewolf.com









  • For information on the 2023 SRP Chapbook Award/Elyse Wolf Prize winner Amy GordonAmy Gordon. Click here.

  • For information on the 2022 SRP Chapbook Award/Elyse Wolf Prize winner Candace R. Curran. Click here.

  • For information on the 2020 SRP Chapbook Award/Elyse Wolf Prize winner Lynn Shorter, please click here.

  • For information on the 2019 Broadside Award and Glass Prize and winners Jendi Reiter and Armen Davoudian, please please click here.

  • For information on the 2018 SRP Chapbook Award/Elyse Wolf Prize winner Audrey Gidman, please click here.