Meet the team.
Learn more about the creative staff behind the broken spine
Submission Guidelines
Dates & Categories
What are we looking for?
We are looking for work that excites us and shakes us to the bone. We enjoy reading work that employs an imaginative use of language, shows rather than tells, and offers a genuine sense of place.
Print Opportunities
Editor: Alan Parry
At The Broken Spine, we seek poetry that has edge, is inventive, and showcases meticulous craft. Our upcoming thematic slimline anthologies aim to showcase narrative free verse or blank verse that captures the imagination and provokes thought. We value poetry that tells a compelling story, that paints vivid characters and employs wild imagery.
Stay tuned to our social media for updates on submission windows and detailed guidelines. We’re looking for poetry that avoids cliché, rejects rhyme without purpose, and employs form and shape only to enhance impact. We welcome a wide array of voices and subjects but ask you to steer clear of explicit content.
Submissions are made through the advertised form on our platforms, with a small fee of £3 to support our commitment to quality and independence. Contributors can purchase any publication they appear in at half the cover price, plus delivery.
We ask that you do not submit works that explicitly deal with SA/SV, or graphic depictions of: sexual acts, violence, suicide and/or self-harm.
Poetry (Online)
Editors: David Hanlon and Katie Jenkins
We are not fans of rhyming poetry, not traditional form and meter. We prefer Narrative poetry that shines and has a sense of flair/voice/style. We believe that emotions, feelings, honesty and bravery are great if they are cultivated.
We will read submissions of poetry during the months of June and December.
Submissions are to be made by completing this form. See our social media feeds.
We are seeking poetry submissions to publish on a rolling schedule in clusters over the course of the year on thebrokenspine.co.uk
Please submit a maximum of TWO poems in one document.
Annual Poetry Prize
Each February we will announce the winner of our annual poetry prize. The winner will receive a physical trophy – all poems published on our website by way of the online poetry submissions and selected poems from our #PoemsAbout initiative on Twitter will be entered for this prize which will be judged by our in house editing team.
Annual Chapbook Competition
We will run a poetry chapbook competition during the month of August with specific details to be given at the time, the winner will receive a book deal from us. There will be an entry fee that will serve to cover costs incurred.
About & Our Ethos
LEARN MORE ABOUT FOUNDING AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF THE BROKEN SPINE
