Submissions to the 2023 Print Poetry Marathon Anthology are open now and will stay open through the 30th of September. For the first time the anthology will only contain curated submissions. That is to say, this year’s editor,  will only be choosing between 80-100 poems to include in the anthology.

We understand that this is a real shift, and we ourselves have lots of doubts about it, but the growing length of the anthology was causing serious logistical issues every year. This is the last year the marathon founders, Caitlin and Jacob, plan to host the anthology, although we hope there continues to be some version of it going forward.

This year, there will also be an electronic anthology that still accepts all submissions. Erin Lorandos, a long time marathoner and compelling poet (you can read one of her poems here), is putting together that anthology and will consider submissions between the 7th and 21st of October.

We are very excited to have Blessing Omeiza Ojo as our print anthology editor this year. He is the Deputy Editor of Litvo Magazine and the Chairman of Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation, Abuja. His works have been translated into several languages including Yoruba, French and Italian. His poetry has received nominations for Best of the Net, Eriata Oribhabor Poetry Prize, Creators of Justice Awards, Castello di Duino International Poetry and Theatre Competition, Jack Grapes Poetry Prize, Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest and the Korea-Nigeria Poetry Prize. His literary awards include the Korea-Nigeria Poetry Prize (Ambassador Special Prize 2019), the 2020 Artslounge Literature Teacher of the Year Award, the 2021 Words Rhymes & Rhythm Nigerian Teacher’s Award, 2022 & 2023 Maryam Aliyu Award for Best Teacher (Male) and the 2023 Nigeria Prize for Indigenous Languages (Yoruba). Omeiza is a Creative Writing Mentor with progenies already prize winners and slam champs.

The anthology is only possible if people follow the guidelines, so please follow them.

All poems submitted must be written during the 2023 Marathon, and the writer must have completed the full marathon or half marathon in 2023.

All poems should be completely edited and as much as possible contain no major grammatical errors. Revisions are allowed and encouraged before submitting. Please check your punctuation. All poems should be single spaced. Any extra space will probably be interpreted as a stanza break. The first word of every line should not have a capitalization unless it is intentional.

When you submit you must include in the email the following:

1. The subject line should read “2023 Marathon Submissions”.
2. The body of the email should make it clear if you are a half or full marathoner.
3. You should then state your location (e.g Nigeria, Abuja).
4. It should also include the hour of the marathon the poem was written in.
5. As well as a link to your poetry marathon page. If your poetry marathon name is different than your name, include both and make it clear which name you want to appear in the anthology.
6. Two poems pasted into the body of the email. All submissions must include two poems, no more, no less.

Please follow all these guidelines. Use the above list as a checklist for your email submission and only press send once you’ve reviewed it twice.

All marathon submissions must be made via this email address: poetrymarathonsubmissions@gmail.com

DO NOT email us at the email address we use for all other communications.

Due to issues that happened in the past, no one is allowed to announce that their poem has been accepted for publication till November 15th, unless notified otherwise. Announcements made on the marathon groups before November 15th, will be deleted.  Please do not query about the status of your submission via email or the FB page till after November 15th.

Thank you for following the guidelines! I know they might seem strict but they make it possible to put together an anthology in a few months.

After the poems are published in the anthology all rights return to you.

Digital copies will be made available for free to any participant in the marathon, even those not included in the anthology. Print copies will be available for a reasonable price and any money that is made from selling the anthology will go towards covering the cost of the marathon.