Tupelo Press

ABOUT

Tupelo Press was founded in 1999 and has since become one of the more prominent independent nonprofit literary presses in the country, now based in North Adams, Massachusetts. Its tagline, "fostering the literary arts since 1999," reflects a catalog built largely through open submissions rather than a narrow prize model, and the press has published work by poets such as Larissa Szporluk, Cornelius Eady, Naoko Fujimoto, and Diana Cao. Beyond books, Tupelo runs public programming, readings, and events (including appearances at bookstores and conferences), and has diversified into ancillary literary products like a poetry-themed tarot deck.

The main route in for poets is the Summer Open Reading Period, held July 1–August 31, for previously unpublished full-length or chapbook manuscripts; Tupelo is explicit that this is a selection process, not a contest, with no submission fee implied by the copy provided and no entry fee mentioned. Selected manuscripts receive publication, a $1,000 advance, a launch event, and national distribution with publicity support — making this one of the more generous small-press advances in poetry publishing. Most of Tupelo's list is drawn from this open period rather than juried contests, so poets should watch for the July–August window specifically rather than submitting book manuscripts year-round.