Submissions are now being accepted for the Guilford Poets Guild 20th Anniversary Anthology to be published in the fall of 2019. The theme for the anthology is “Our Changing Environment” and is open to vast and varied interpretations (i.e. natural, world, national, local, personal). Poets of all ages from the shoreline community-Branford to Old Saybrook-are welcome to submit poems based on the Submission Guidelines listed below and on the Guilford Poet Guild’s website, http://www.guilfordpoetsguild.org. The deadline for submissions is September 5, 2018.
In addition to selected poems, the anthology will feature poems by members of the Guild as well as winners of the Guilford High School 2018 Poetry Contest, an annual event sponsored by the GPG each year.
The Guild is pleased to welcome editor Edwina Trentham who will select the poems for this new publication. Trentham taught English at Asnuntuck Community College, in Enfield, Connecticut, for twenty-seven years, where she was the Founding Editor of Freshwater Poetry Journal. A collection of her poetry, Stumbling into the Light, was published by Antrim House in 2004, and she was a featured reader at the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival in June 2005. She was awarded a 2010 Solo Writer’s Fellowship from the Greater Hartford Arts Council and the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. She has published work in a variety of periodicals, and her work is included in five poetry anthologies. She teaches poetry workshops throughout the state, and she is a member of Connecticut River Poets.
The Guilford Poets Guild was officially organized in 1998 to produce its first anthology, An Anthology of Guilford Poets. In 2009, the group published The Guilford Poets Guild Tenth Anniversary Anthology. The Guild, which includes many of its original members, meets regularly to share poems and promote a general appreciation of poetry in the community. Throughout the year the GPG hosts a number of poetry readings including its popular Second Thursday Poetry Series, a Holiday Roundtable, the Guilford High School Poetry Contest, and coordinates poetry/art events with the Madison Art Society and the Florence Griswold Museum.
Membership is by invitation, and current members are Carol Altieri, Evelyn Atreya, David Cundy, Gwen Gunn, Juliana Harris, Margaret Iacobellis, Norman Thomas Marshall, Nancy F. Meneely, Jane Muir, Patricia Horn O’Brien, Sharon Olson, Jen Payne, Elizabeth Possidente, Jane Ulrich, Edward Walker, and Guilford’s Poet Laureate Gordy Whiteman.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Submission Deadline: September 5, 2018
- The theme of the poems should be on the subject “Our Changing Environment” which can be broadly interpreted to cover natural, world, national, local or personal subjects.
- Poets may submit up to 3 poems, of a length no more than approximately 75 lines each including title and blank lines.
- Please submit one text file with your poems (Word, PDF, RTF are acceptable formats); the file name should include your first and last name (i.e. JaneDoe-Poems.doc).
- Do not include your name or contact information on the individual poems.
- In the body of your email include your name, address, and email address, the titles of your submissions, as well as a 3-4 line bio which, if your poem(s) is accepted, will be included in the anthology.
Email submissions to the Guilford Poets Guild at guilfordpoets@gmail.com. Selected poems will be notified by January 2019.
(While we prefer to receive poems by email, submissions may also be sent to Guilford Poets Guild, 395 Nut Plains Road, Guilford, CT 06437.)
# # #
Dick Allen, essayist, educator, and former Connecticut Poet Laureate (2010-2015), was scheduled to read at the Guilford Poets Guild’s March Second Thursday Poetry Series reading. Sadly, he suffered a fatal heart attack on Christmas Day 2017 at the age of 78. In the spirit of gratitude and celebration of his life and his poetry, the Guild is planning a reading of his poetry on Thursday, June 14 from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Guilford Free Library. Each member of the Guilford Poets Guild will read his/her favorite Dick Allen poem.
