VersoFrontera
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About
Series Editor: Octavio Quintanilla
In collaboration with the VersoFrontera Literature and Arts Festival, TRP's VersoFrontera series seeks to publish one debut full-length poetry collection per year by an emerging poet.
Submissions open each year on August 1 and close on September 30.
Books in this series:
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No. 001 – Victoria Buitron – Unburying the Bones
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No. 002 – Angelica Esquivel – Crying My Best
Series Editor: Octavio Quintanilla
Octavio Quintanilla is the 2025 Texas Poet Laureate and the author of the poetry collections, If I Go Missing (Slough Press, 2014), The Book of Wounded Sparrows (TRP, 2024), which was longlisted for the National Book Award, and Las Horas Imposibles / The Impossible Hours, winner of the 2024 Ambroggio Prize of the Academy of American Poets (University of Arizona Press, 2025).
Octavio is the founder and director of the literature & arts festival, VersoFrontera, publisher of Alabrava Press, and former Poet Laureate of San Antonio, TX. His Frontextos (visual poems) have been published and exhibited widely. He teaches Literature and Creative Writing at Our Lady of the Lake University and was recently inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters.
About the VersoFrontera Literature and Arts Festival
Established in 2019, VersoFrontera is an independent literary festival intended as a platform for writers and artists to showcase their creative work in an inclusive and community-oriented environment. Approximately thirty-two local, national, and international writers participate every year. Since 2022, the festival has occurred at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas.
Submission Guidelines
General Guidelines
- Submissions are open August 1 – September 30.
- There is no fee to enter.
- There are no formal restrictions, we welcome poetry of any style/form.
- Poems may have been published individually in magazines or anthologies, but the collection as a whole must be unpublished.
- Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. Please notify TRP immediately by withdrawing the manuscript via Submittable if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
- Submissions are accepted through Submittable only.
- The selected author will receive publication with TRP and 10 copies of the published book.
Manuscript Guidelines
- Manuscripts must be between 50 and 100 pages in length.
- Please include a table of contents, title page, acknowledgments page, and page numbers.
- No more than one poem per page. (Multi-page poems are welcome. Start each poem on a new page.)
- Submit as a .pdf, .docx, or .doc file format.
- No revisions will be accepted once the manuscript is uploaded.
Eligibility
- Open to any poet writing in English, or a combination of English and Spanish, who has not yet published a full-length collection of poetry. The author may have published chapbooks or books in other genres.
- Submitters must be 18+ years of age.
- Translations of existing works are not eligible.
- Previously published manuscripts—including self-published or out-of-print works—are not eligible.
- Individual pieces may have appeared in magazines or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished.
Conflict of Interest Restrictions
- Current and former TRP authors are not eligible.
- Current and former students, faculty, and staff of Sam Houston State University are not eligible.
- Current and former students, faculty, and staff of Our Lady of the Lake University are not eligible.
AI Content Policy
TRP does not accept submissions that include text, images, data, or any other content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including but not limited to large language models. Submitted work must be original and previously unpublished in any form. AI-generated manuscripts are not eligible.