The Ottoline Book Prize is open to full-length poetry manuscripts by any person who identifies as a woman and/or female, including trans women as well as people of variable gender who were Assigned Female at Birth. People who identify as men are not eligible for this prize.
An award of $5,000 will be paid upon publication.
The selected book will be published in fall/winter 2028.
The poet will be given a two-week residency at the T.S. Eliot House in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
The book will be distributed throughout North America by Consortium Books / Ingram.
The author will receive 40 complimentary books and royalties, as part of the contract with Fence Books.
The first printing of 1,000 will be printed offset at Versa Press in East Peoria, Illinois.
First round readers include Fence editors and volunteers.
Emily Wallis Hughes will select the manuscript for the Ottoline Book Prize, which she will edit in collaboration with the author.
The submission fee is $25, and all entrants receive a complimentary two-issue subscription or renewal to Fence. International applicants will receive a digital subscription to Fence through Exact Editions.
Please review the following:
First, second, third, fourth, and beyond books are welcome. Poets at any stage in their writing life, published or unpublished, are eligible to submit.
Poets living in any country are welcome to submit their manuscripts. There are no limitations on country of origin or immigration status.
Manuscripts should be at least 45 pages. There is no maximum page limit.
Multilingual poetry manuscripts are welcome, as well as self-translations into English.
Manuscripts may be submitted to other Fence Book submission calls simultaneously.
Poetry created through collaboration is welcome. Please provide the contact information of your collaborator(s) in the ‘cover letter’ field. Your collaborators need to also qualify based on the Ottoline guidelines.
Current and/or former students and teaching colleagues of Emily Wallis Hughes are ineligible to submit.
Current Fence volunteers, editors, board members, and editorial advisors are ineligible to submit, as well as family and partners of the above-mentioned Fence community.
Fence Books is an imprint of Fence Magazine, Inc., a small, fully independent literary publisher. The reading fees help cover the editorial labor involved in the serious, deep process of fully considering each manuscript we receive and may be allocated to various necessary operational expenses.
Fence Magazine, Inc., a 501(c)(3) independent not-for-profit based in New York, is a member of the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses [CLMP].
While Fence does not have an identity-hidden reading process for this prize, the editors care deeply about editorial integrity and reading objectively; all Fence editors and readers agree to the "Editorial Guidelines and Code of Conduct" approved by the Board of Directors.
Please write to fence.fencebooks@gmail.com with any questions.
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We look forward to reading your work!
Warmest Cheers,
Emily Wallis Hughes
Editorial Director & Fence Books Editor
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P.S.
Wondering what we are looking for?
Something that responds to the Fence Books mission:
Fence Books redefines the terms of accessibility by publishing challenging writing distinguished by idiosyncrasy and intelligence rather than by allegiance with camps, schools, or cliques. Fence Books supports writers who might have difficulty being recognized because their work doesn’t answer either to the mainstream or to recognizable modes of experimentation. Through this openness, Fence Books is free to explore and connect the many literary communities and aesthetic lineages.
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