Palimpsest Press is looking for submissions by BIPOC, deaf, and disabled authors. Submit by the deadline of March 31 to be considered for this round!

Palimpsest Press publishes poetry, literary fiction, and non-fiction titles that deal with poetics, cultural criticism, and literary biography. Their objective is to seek out the best new and established voices in Canadian literature and they have committed at least 30% of their titles to authors living with disability.

Palimpsest Press highly encourages women, Black authors, writers of color, Indigenous writers, members of the LGTBQ2S+ community, and Deaf/Disabled writers to submit. They are currently looking for literary fiction by BIPOC, deaf, and disabled authors.

Poetry Guidelines:

  • Please submit a cover letter.
  • Please submit a publishing history.
  • Full manuscript in .doc, .docx, or pdf.
  • Poetry collections should be over 50 pages.
  • Email the above info here.

Nonfiction Guidelines:

  • Please submit a cover letter.
  • Please submit a publishing history.
  • Full manuscript in .doc, .docx, or pdf.
  • Nonfiction manuscripts have no page number requirements.
  • Email the above info here.

Fiction Guidelines:

  • No works of short fiction (novella/short story collections) accepted.
  • The press does not publish historical fiction.

Step One: Cover letter & Sample pages

  • Please submit a cover letter that includes a description of the work (no more than one page).
  • Please submit a list of publications (all genres).
  • Please send an up to 4-page writing sample. Attach in a .pdf.
  • Email the above info here.

Step Two: Manuscript

  • After the press receives your cover letter, if they would like to read more, they will let you know, and then you can send your full manuscript.
  • Fiction manuscripts have no page requirement.
  • Please double space the manuscript.
  • File formats – .doc, .docx, .pdf.
  • Email the above info here.

Deadline: March 31, 2024

Please note that it might take up to six months for a response. It takes time to read the manuscripts carefully and in full. More information may be solicited from you during this time. If you don’t hear anything from the press after six months, please email a kind note to follow up.

Good luck to all applicants!