Omnidawn

ABOUT

Omnidawn is an independent poetry (and increasingly fabulist fiction) press founded in 1999 by Rusty Morrison and Ken Keegan, initially run out of the Bay Area and now based in Oakland/Richmond, California. It has built its reputation as a home for innovative, formally adventurous poetry, publishing writers who work at the edges of lyric, hybrid, and experimental modes. The press operates a network of annual juried contests — the Open Book Prize, 1st/2nd Book Prize, Poetry Chapbook Prize, Single Poem Broadside Prize, and a Fabulist Fiction Chapbook Prize — each judged by a rotating guest poet or writer, with winners and a slate of finalists announced publicly each cycle. Since 2020s, Omnidawn's books have been distributed through the University of Chicago Press, giving the list wider retail and library reach than most small presses.

For poets, the practical path into Omnidawn is almost entirely through its contests rather than open, unsolicited manuscript submissions — each prize (Open, 1st/2nd Book, Chapbook, Broadside, Fabulist Fiction) runs on its own annual deadline and judge, with finalists and a single winner announced roughly a year before the book actually appears in print (recent winners are slated for release two-plus years out, e.g., a 2025 winner scheduled for Fall/Spring 2027-28). Omnidawn releases books seasonally in two main catalogs a year, Spring and Fall, so a poet's manuscript acceptance timeline is long by design. As with most contest-model presses, expect a reading/entry fee per submission (not disclosed on this page) and publication as the main prize, though cash awards are standard for the format; poets should check the specific contest guidelines page for current fee amounts, page-length limits, and judge names before entering.