Submit to Shō Poetry Journal
Submissions for Shō No. 6 (Winter 2025) are open via Submittable.
Reading Periods
Shō No. 6 (Winter 2025): July 1, 2024 to September 30, 2024
Shō No. 7 (Summer 2025): January 1, 2025 to March 31, 2025
As an Arizona-based journal, we offer free submissions to Native American poets as a gesture of solidarity. This includes Native Hawaiian poets and Canadian First Nations, Inuit, and Métis poets.
We also offer one free pop-up window to BIPOC poets during every reading period. Dates will be announced—with advance notice—on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook. Follow us on Submittable to see when we’re open!
Guidelines
• Submit up to five poems at a time. Please do not submit additional work until you’ve heard back from us regarding a previous submission.
• Your cover letter should include the titles you are submitting and any information you’d like us to know. If your poem is ‘after’ another poet, please name the poem it’s after, or provide any relevant details in your cover letter.
Submit a short third-person bio (60 words or less).
• Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you specify this in your cover letter and send us a message through Submittable if your work is accepted elsewhere. Please do not withdraw your poems via our contact form or email.
• We do not accept AI generated work.
Formatting
• Poems should be single-spaced and formatted in a standard 12-point font. Begin each poem on a new page.
• Please include page numbers and your name on every page.
• If a poem is longer than one page, and it isn’t obvious, please indicate if the second or successive page begins with a new stanza.
• Save your packet as a PDF or Word (doc or docx) file. Name your file as follows: FirstName_LastName
Response time
Our average response time is 2 weeks. We attempt to respond to all submissions within one month or less.
Payment
Shō is a print journal. Payment is one contributor’s copy. US-based authors also receive a discount on the purchase of extra copies.
All work accepted for publication will be considered for the Shō Poetry Prize (best poem in issue) and the Sita Martin Prize (best poem by an emerging poet). Each winner receives $250 and a one-year subscription to Shō.
Copyright
Shō Poetry Journal requests first serial rights, except for work that has been previously published, as well as the right to republish accepted works on our website and/or to use excerpts in our social media feeds and submit work to venues such as Verse Daily. Rights revert to the author upon publication; however, please credit Shō Poetry Journal with first publication if the work is republished elsewhere.
Mail submissions
Submissions are currently closed.
About Shō Poetry Journal
Shō Poetry Journal is a small-press print journal coming out of a 20-year hibernation. Our mission is to publish a diverse range of voices, including poets who have been historically underrepresented or overlooked. We seek to champion poets at all stages of their careers, with special attention given to the work of emerging poets.
Shō No. 3, our revival issue, was released in summer 2023 and featured poets such as Sean Thomas Dougherty, Alison Pelegrin, Bunkong Tuon, Luke Johnson and Megan Merchant, Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Ally Ang, and Sage Ravenwood (See the full list of contributors here). “Behind the Buddha,” a poem by Cooper Young, was selected for inclusion in Best Spiritual Literature (Vol 9, 2024). Poems by Andrew Payton, Robert Okaji, Sage Ravenwood, and Bunkong Tuon were featured on Verse Daily.
Shō No. 4, released in Winter 2024, featured poets such as Laura Villareal, Marisa P. Clark, Stephanie Niu, Arah Ko, Jane Zwart, Nazifa Islam, Lisa Bellamy, Sophia Terazawa, and Richard Vargas (See the full list of contributors here). Poems by Faith Gómez Clark, Sage Ravenwood, Jane Zwart, and Nathan Xavier Osorio were featured on Verse Daily.
We welcome submissions of previously unpublished poetry from all poets and especially encourage submissions from historically underrepresented poets.
We nominate select works for the Pushcart Prize, Best New Poets, and Best Spiritual Literature.