Announcing the 2016 Chapbook Winners

It is always bittersweet to announce these winners each year. I am thrilled that enough writers trusted us to send us 220 manuscripts to review, and that I had the honor of reading these collections that few others have had the opportunity to read. And then knowing that I’ll get to work closely with a handful of these writers and help make their manuscript a finished chapbook is always exciting. All of that is pretty incredible. But it’s also sometimes hard to deliver over 200 rejections to individual writers in one sitting on a Saturday morning, knowing that at least some of these people will probably be pretty disappointed, and perhaps doubt the quality of their work. There were many, many more manuscripts even beyond the finalists listed here that I would publish in a heartbeat if Paper Nautilus could take them on. So, please keep writing and doing your important work, and it will find the right press at the right time.

Below is a list of winners and finalists in each category. We received almost 90 Debut Series entries, and over 130 Vella Entries.

Debut Series Winners:
Jess Kim: These, Our Bodies
John Miller: Heat Lightning

Debut Series Finalists:
Lisa DeSiro: Simple as a Sonnet
Melody Nielsen: Navelgazer
Jennifer Bradpiece: Lullabies for End Times
Jacquelyn Shah: Small Fry
Woody Woodger: Postcards from Glasshouse Drive
Robin Parsons: Burnt Offering
Ellene Moore: What We Do with our Hands after Flood
Kelly Bancroft: Agnes
Laurie Barton: Ring My Bell
Kolleen Carney: Your Hand Has Fixed the Firmament

Vella Chapbook Winners:
Eloisa Amezcua: Symptoms of Teething
Michael Cuglietta: The Feast of Jupiter
Anita Olivia Koester: Arrow Songs

Vella Chapbook Finalists:
Jennifer Van Alstyne: Pelt
Eliot Khalil Wilson: The Lunatic’s Left-Hand Man
Massiel Ladron De Guevara: Wild Horse
Kat Meads: Miss Jane Repurposes
Vivian Wagner: Erratics
Joyce Goldenstern: Way Stops Americana
Billi MacTighe: Simulacrum
Brett Riley: Movies and Daydreams
Marina Carreira: I sing to that bird knowing he won’t sing back
Victoria Moore: Au Bateau
Anne-Marie Yerks: The Cat Photographer
Holly Woodward: Read Whatever You Want Into This
Pedro Ponce: The Sign Crash

Thank you again for sharing your work with us.

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