Tinderbox Poetry Journal

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Tinderbox Poetry Journal

A bi-annual online journal devoted to uplifting vibrant voices in poetry. EIC:
Lauren K.

Carlson | Poetry Editors: Threa Almontaser, Geramee Hensley, and Emily Wolahan | Full Masthead Here: http://tinderboxpoetry.com/about

10/01/2024

📚 We are accepting book review submissions! 📚 Is there a poetry collection that you want to uplift? How about a chapbook or micro collection that stunned you? We want to hear about it! Please read our Review Guidelines here: https://bit.ly/3GuVd54.

Pitch us a review at our email: [email protected]. Or submit a complete review for consideration at our Submittable: https://rb.gy/jhj2hc Questions? Email [email protected]. We encourage first-time reviewers to submit as well!

:: Tinderbox Poetry Journal welcomes new and emerging voices. We are a paying market and pay each contributor $15 regardless of number of poems selected. We publish four issues per year timed with the lunar calendar: Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumnal Equinox and Winter Solstice. Past contri...

15/09/2023

✨ Our sub box is open for the next two weeks! ✨ Submissions are free, but we appreciate Tip Jar submissions ($3) that help us keep the proverbial lights on. Guidelines here:

:: Tinderbox Poetry Journal welcomes new and emerging voices. We are a paying market and pay each contributor $15 regardless of number of poems selected. We publish two issues per year on or around Summer and Winter Solstice and nominate for Pushcart Prizes, Best New Poets, and Best of the Net. Pas...

02/08/2023

For our 2023 BEJ Prize, we invite Latinx/Latine writers to submit to the contest for free. You can find the Sponsored Submission option at our Submittable link:

01/08/2023

Tinderbox is pleased to announce our 2023 poetry prizes, the Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Poetry Prize and the Majda Gama Editors’ Prize.

There are no limitations in form or content; we are interested in everything from traditional forms to free verse to lyric essay to flash fiction. Poems can be multiple pages as long as the total entry does not exceed eight pages. The entry fee is $15 for 3 poems, 1 poem per page.

In order to support vital literary community, we are offering sponsored submissions for readers for whom fees are a barrier to access. A portion of each submission fee supports sponsored submissions. This year we invite the Latinx/Latine poetry community to submit to the contest for free.

Tinderbox readers and editors will read submissions, 15 of which will be passed on to our judge for their final decision. The judge will select the winner of the Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Poetry Prize. This year’s final judge is Paul Hlava Ceballos. The editors will select the Majda Gama Editors’ Prize winner from the remaining finalists.

The winners of each prize will receive $500. The winners and all finalists will be published in our Winter Solstice issue in December. Please put all poems in one document, as only one document is permitted per entry. For more details, see the guidelines on our Submittable page: https://tinderboxpoetryjournal.submittable.com/submit

30/07/2023

One of our Poetry Readers, Bo Hee Moon, will be one of the featured readers at the next Poets in Pajamas! This virtual reading takes place on Sunday, July 30th at 7pm EST.

From PiP: Poets in Pajamas (PiP) is a live-feed online reading series presented by Sundress Publications. We bring live poetry, complete with Q&A and poet interaction, to you. We don’t ask you to dig out a scarf, no, we welcome you as you are and bring the poetry. Won’t you join us? We often draw a diverse audience from around the world and we’d love it if you, too, were there.

Our next episode will air on Sunday, July 30th 2023, featuring Ashia Ajani and Bo Hee Moon. On behalf of Sundress Publications, Sarah Jordan Stout and Aslan Gossett will host.

28/12/2022

We are accepting review submissions! Want to share your thoughts on a book of poems that knocked your socks off? You can help us champion deserving poets and introduce them to a wider audience. Guidelines will go live on Jan 1st:

21/12/2022

🌲 Happy Winter Solstice Issue Release Day! 🌲 We are honored to be the home of these poems, and thrilled to introduce them to you. Read them now at tinderboxpoetry.com.

15/12/2022

✨We're open again!✨ From 12/15-12/31, send us your finest poems and hybrid pieces. We are a poetry journal that holds an expansive definition of what a poem can be. Nitty-gritty details are in the pic and alt-text below. Submittable: https://bit.ly/3PyAxvX

07/12/2022

✨Congratulations to our BEJ Contest Winners!✨ Sara Elkamel is the Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Prize winner, and River Hall is the winner of the Majda Gama Editor's Prize. The winning poems and the eight finalists will be published in our Winter Solstice Issue on Dec. 22. at tinderboxpoetry.com.

We also want to shout-out our 2022 finalists. You can look forward to reading the following poems in our December issue:

"Loss Mom" by Whittney Jones

"I Continue My Love Affair" by M. Soledad Caballero

"Tell Dad I Say Hi" by Isaac Escobar

"If The Blues Are A Kind Of Resistance, Then I Must Not Be Blue Enough" & "I Used To Think Those Strawberry Candies Spontaneously Generated In Old Black Ladies's Purses" by Justin Davis

"In Praise of Minor" by Abbie Kiefer

"In Praise of the Empty Sink" by Madison Gill

"Ferber Method" by Elizabeth Cranford Garcia

08/08/2022

🌲 We're coming out of hiatus to announce the 2022 Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Contest! 🌲 We will start accepting submissions on Aug 1 through our Submittable account: https://bit.ly/3On7UzC. This year's judge is the one and only Sally Keith. There are no limitations in form or content; we are interested in everything from traditional forms to free verse to lyric essay to flash fiction. The contest judge will select one winner, and the editors will select another from the remaining submissions.

The BEJ winner will receive $750. The editor’s prize winner will receive $500. Winners and finalists will receive publication in the Winter Solstice issue, which will be published in December.

All finalist contributors will receive our standard payment of $15. Semi-finalists will also be considered for publication. The entry fee is $15 for up to three poems. For $20, you can opt to receive feedback on your submission.

Tinderbox readers and editors will read submissions, 15 of which will be passed on to Sally Keith for her final decision.

08/08/2022

✨Congrats to Megan Kim for her poem "On The Road" featured in Poetry Daily!✨ This poem was originally published in Tinderbox 7.3, our most recent issue. See Megan's poem here: https://bit.ly/3detFF3 Read all of issue 7.3 at https://tinderboxpoetry.com

18/05/2022

We're seeking a Web Editor and Editor-in-Chief or Managing Editor to join our team! These are volunteer positions. More information and how to apply here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zDv8bcK2yzMscRSo1YUZKrdwM28wB6w3/edit

Tinderbox Poetry Journal is expanding our team! In efforts to make our journal more sustainable, we are looking to bring on an Editor-in-Chief and a Web Editor. All positions at Tinderbox are currently filled by volunteers, though we do provide stipends to our readers and editors. Learn more bel...

17/07/2021

Tinderbox is pleased to announce the 2021 Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Poetry Prize and the Majda Gama Editors' Prize. There are no limitations in form or content; we are interested in everything from traditional forms to free verse to lyric essay to flash fiction. The contest judge will select one winner, and the editors will select another from the remaining submissions. Each winner will receive $500. Winners and finalists will receive publication in the Winter Solstice issue, which will be published on or around December 21. All finalist contributors will receive our standard payment of $15. Semi-finalists will also be considered for publication.

The entry fee is $15 for up to three poems. For $20, you can opt to receive feedback on your submission. We are also offering a limited number of fee-free submissions to BIPOC writers.

Tinderbox readers and editors will read submissions,15 of which will be passed on to our judge for their final decision. This year’s judge is Tiana Clark. The editors will select another winning poem from the pool of finalists. Send your favorite pieces to our Duosuma page: https://duotrope.com/duosuma/submit/brett-elizabeth-jenkins-poetry-prize-majda-1Ep6G

16/06/2021

We're looking for an Assistant Reviews Editor - someone who'd be interested in helping organize our reviews section (which includes Catching up with Tinderbox, Reviews, and Interviews), to help us keep in touch with our reviewers and former Tinderbox contributors. No previous editing experience required, but an interest in working to nurture community and promote the voices of historically under-represented voices is essential. Please contact Sarah Ann Winn at [email protected] with a short statement of interest and/or for more information.

Image Description: white text on a green background with a pine branch border, text reads: Join the Tinderbox Team! We're looking for an Assistant Reviews Editor. Please contact Sarah Ann Winn at [email protected] with a short statement of interest and/or for more information.

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Videos

We're thrilled to share judge Zeina Hashem Beck's choices this year for our contest winners! Of the poems, she writes: Winner: “Yemen Is” Threa Almontaser’s poem for Yemen is not just beautiful and heartbreaking in its strong voice and imagery—it is also necessary. Almontaser describes the warn-torn Yemen of today and vividly summons the Yemen of her childhood, the country of “heavy mocha,” family, fresh bread, and “something growing.” Her line “I sit on our front porch, safe from seeing” reads like an invitation for us to ask ourselves, “What have we been safe from seeing?” Runner-up: “At Home, in the Empire” The voice, language, setting, and pace of Raena Shirali's “At Home, in the Empire” take you in immediately. The poem flows from detail to detail, country to country, question to question. I felt I was sitting with the two immigrant women at the bar, smoking, laughing, fearing, wondering, defying. I was in the presence of their beauty, their strength, and the threats against their bodies. The persona asks “Who sees us,” and the poet makes sure the reader does. ~ Threa Almontaser is an Arab-American writer from New York City. She is a MFA candidate in creative writing at North Carolina State University and the recipient of scholarships from Tin House, Winter Tangerine, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and others. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best New Poets, she is winner of the 2017 Unsilenced Grant for Muslim American Women Writers as well as the 9th annual Nazim Hikmet poetry competition. Her work is published in Baltimore Review, Track//Four, Kakalak, Gravel, Day One, and elsewhere. She currently teaches English to immigrants and refugees in Raleigh. Raena Shirali is a poet, teaching artist, and editor from Charleston, South Carolina. Raena is the author of GILT (YesYes Books, 2017), winner of the 2018 Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award. A first-generation Indian American, Raena is the recipient of prizes and honors fro