Caitlin Thomson – The Poetry Marathon

Caitlin Thomson
Caitlin Thomson

I am a poet, mother, editor and teacher living in Toronto, Ont. I came up with this idea while eating lunch a decade ago. I thought it would be a fun way to creatively torture myself. My husband thought it would work better with community, and really that makes all the difference. To learn more about my writing you can visit my website here: http://www.caitlinthomson.com/

A Digital Anthology Opportunity

Erin Lorandos, a long time poetry marathoner who organized a digital anthology in the past, is organizing another one this year. Jacob and I are not involved, but we are grateful to Erin for doing this and are passing on the information below, which is all from Erin.

Hello fellow poets!

My name is Erin, and I’m reaching out to everyone to say I’ve volunteered to create an online (digital only) anthology for this year’s marathon.

I did this a couple of years back, and it was such an honor! I’m thrilled that Jacob and Caitlyn are letting me go ahead and do it again. This will be made available (as a downloadable PDF) for free, via The Poetry Marathon website.

Here’s what I put together last time, so you get an idea of what the final product will be like: https://thepoetrymarathon.com/blog/2024/04/the-online-anthology-is-now-available/

2025 MARATHON RULES FOR SUBMISSION:
Please send one (1) poem written during the Poetry Marathon via email by July 31st to the Online Anthology email: poetrymarathononline@gmail.com

Pick your favorite!! I want to showcase what the Marathon means to YOU! What are you most proud of creating? Send me that, so I can help you share it with the world!

Submissions should include: Your Name, Location, and the Hour the poem was written. If formatting is important, you can attach your poem in a separate document.

Please edit your poems for punctuation, spelling and grammar before sending.

DO NOT send any poems that contain racist or vulgar themes, or contain profanity. If you do, we’ll be unable to include your work in the online anthology.

If you have any questions, please direct them to me via email: poetrymarathononline@gmail.com

Registration for the 2024 Marathon is now closed!

Thank you so much to everyone who registered to participate in the 2024 Poetry Marathon!

We had an unprecedented 627 people apply to participate this year! That does not mean all 627 will make it to the starting line but it’s still over 100 more potential participants than we have ever had before. The majority of participants are from North America. We’ve had over 50 people sign up to participate in India, over 30 in the UK, at least 17 in Africa, and 19 from Oceania.This year again, we had at least one person sign up from every continent except Antarctica.

We have just sent out the final round of responses. If you have not received a response from us yet, feel encouraged to email us at poets@thepoetrymarathon.com. We are looking forward to writing with everyone this weekend!

Introduction

Hi! I’m Caitlin Jans, I did my first marathon a decade ago when Jacob and I came up with the idea. We’ve taken a few years off during that decade to have kids, but I’ve done the half or full marathon most years since then.

This year I plan on doing the half marathon, but I said that last year, and 24 hours later I had 24 poems, so we’ll see what happens.

I write a lot in modern form. I don’t have a particular vision for the poems this year, other than I plan to write them at home, with Jacob, as I usually do

The Poetry Marathon Anthology Update

The Poetry Marathon Anthology have closed to submissions for the year. July 25th was the last chance to submit.

If you have any questions about the status of your submission, please email poets@thepoetrymarathon.com, and Caitlin will double check.

We are very grateful for all the wonderful submissions we received this year. Acceptances have started to go out. All authors should hear back from Editor Cynthia Hernandez, within two weeks of submitting. We are very grateful for her hard work.

There will be a 2019 Poetry Marathon Anthology

Thanks to a generous donation from an anonymous donor there will be a 2019 Marathon Anthology!

All individuals who complete the 2019 Poetry Marathon and Half Marathon are eligible to submit to the anthology. Submissions will open about two weeks after the Marathon is over.

Jennifer Faylor a poet, editor, and past poetry marathon participant will be the editor of the 2019 Poetry Marathon Anthology. We are very excited in every way for this to happen!

The 2017 Poetry Marathon Anthology

The 2017 Poetry Marathon Anthology is now available for purchase.

I am so happy with how it turned out this year, visually and lyrically. This anthology reflects the magic and madness of the event, not to mention the wide range of writers that participate in it.

You can buy copies of the anthology here,

If you are outside of the US, the UK, and France, you might have to wait a few weeks. CreateSpace takes their time making it available in other countries and it will not be available to buy directly for the price we set, in all countries. We wish this wasn’t the case and apologize for the delay and potential availability issues. If only publishing internationally was easier.