This competition is for full collections.

Deadline 31st October 2023

Submit here: https://livecanon.submittable.com/submit

There is a category for FIRST collections, and a category for SECOND AND SUBSEQUENT collections.

We consider a collection to be 35+ poems, but if the poems are particularly long (or short) please use your judgment. A collection is generally over 40 A5 pages. Less than that would be a pamphlet/chapbook (we also run a pamphlet/chapbook competition, so do take a look at that).

The collection should not have been published before. It is fine if individual poems within the collection have already been published elsewhere (journals, magazines, online) but please flag this up at the start of the manuscript.

If you are unsure whether your collection is eligible, please get in touch.

You may enter more than once.

All work must be, predominantly, in the English language. All work must be original.
Please do not include your name on your manuscript, so it an be judged anonymously.

6 books will be long listed in the FIRST COLLECTION category, and 6 books will be long listed in the SECOND AND SUBSEQUENT COLLECTION category.

3 books will win a publication contract with Live Canon. If you'd like to find out more about books published by Live Canon visit our website: http://www.livecanon.co.uk/store

There is a an entry fee of £14 for each manuscript. To be absolutely transparent, this contributes to the cost of running the competition and to publication of the winning books. We are a small independent publishing company with no regular funding.  

2022 Winners

Eve Said, Jane Wilkinson

Signs, Lucy Ingrams

A Spotter’s Guide for Invisible Things, Laura Theis

2022 Shortlist

A House of Keys, Dominic Weston

Love + excavations, Henry St Leger

Man Up, Peter Kenny

The Marker Committee, Lydia Kennaway

Guadalajara, Thea Smiley

Watching Social Workers in Your Living Room, Stuart Charlesworth

Stardust and Oceans, Jose Varghese

Hot Tub Music, Stuart Pickford

Shimmer, Colin Pink