Start A Riot! Poetry Chapbook Prize — Publication, $3000 Prize, $1000 for Tour/Promo

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In response to rapid gentrification and displacement of QTBIPOC+ literary artists in the San Francisco Bay Area, and in celebration of these communities’ revolutionary history, Foglifter Press and Still Here San Francisco joined forces to create a poetry chapbook prize for local emerging queer and trans Black writers, indigenous writers, and writers of color. Each year, one chapbook author is awarded publication, a $3,000 prize, and $1,000 to support their book tour/promotion.
 

Judges:

  • Grayson Thompson, author of 2024 Start A Riot! winning chapbook Sand Bodied Florida Boy
  • Dani Putney
  • Zara Jamshed
     

Eligibility:

  • Submitter is a QTBIPOC+ literary artist
  • AND is a current resident of the larger San Francisco Bay Area (Alameda, Napa, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Solano, Marin, San Mateo, Sonoma counties)
  • AND does not have a previous full-length poetry book publication

Manuscript Details:

  • Poetry (Literally anything that falls under the verse genre—prose poetry, hybrid, etc. We want all your wild experiments!)
  • 25 pages max; 15 pages minimum
  • Remove all identifying information, including acknowledgments. There should be one title page with the name of the chapbook only.
  • Microsoft Word doc preferred; PDF also accepted

Important Dates:

  • Submissions: September 1 to December 1, 2025
  • Results Announced: January 2026
  • Chapbook Release: June (Pride Month) 2026
We use Submittable to accept and review our submissions.