I’m excited to share this interview with Erin Elizabeth Smith, Executive Director of Sundress Publications—a press I’ve long admired for its commitment to bold, thoughtful, and necessary work, run by the some of the best folks I know in the poetry community. If you’re looking for a home for your next poetry project (including chapbooks and longer manuscripts), this is definitely one to consider.

HOPKINSON: Tell me a little bit about Sundress Publications. 

SMITH: Sundress Publications is an entirely volunteer-run nonprofit press that was founded in 2000. We publish seven print collections a year, six in poetry, and one in prose. We also publish free e-chapbooks, our Craft Chap series, and the Best of the Net Anthology.

HOPKINSON: How/why was Sundress Publications originally started? 

SMITH: Sundress started as a home for several online literary journals, serving as a central point for free access to early online publishing. We began publishing in print in 2011 focusing on poetry and hybrid work. 

HOPKINSON: Who is your target reader audience? 

SMITH: Our readers come to poetry to be moved, surprised, and engaged by narratives that question the status quo, that address difficult subjects, and look at the world directly.

HOPKINSON: What type of work are you looking for in submissions? 

SMITH: At Sundress we do not have one defined aesthetic. We are interested in your weird and wild work, your formal masterpieces, your confessional lyricism. We just want the book to feel honest and rooted in a world that feels lived in. We want a book that holds us from beginning to end, an album rather than a collection of songs.

HOPKINSON: What do you wish you’d see submitted, but rarely comes in? 

SMITH: As a press located in the South and in Appalachia, we love getting the opportunity to read work that addresses these parts of the world and calls to question the assumptions made about it. 

HOPKINSON: What are some of your favorite lit mags/journals/presses?

SMITH: I love the work that Abode Press is doing as well as Game Over Books. Some of my fave journals include Muzzle Magazine, The Adroit Journal, Psaltery & Lyre, and Asterales. 

HOPKINSON: What is your favorite part of being on staff with the Sundress Publications?

SMITH: I love the people I work with. All of us are doing this simply for the love of the game, and the dedication that folks give towards putting out our books and journals (not to mention our residency and monthly literary programming) is so inspiring. 

HOPKINSON: Where can we send submissions? 

SMITH: https://www.sundresspublications.com/submit

HOPKINSON: If someone has a question, how can they contact you? 

SMITH: https://www.sundresspublications.com/contact/

HOPKINSON: Is there anything exciting coming up you’d like to mention? 

SMITH: Right now we are open for free submissions for our annual open reading period for full-length poetry manuscripts. During the first two weeks of all of our reading periods, submissions are always free for everyone, and submission fees are always waived for our contests and open reading periods for writers of color. You can also check out our residency program at https://www.sundresspublications.com/safta/residencies

Click here to read submission guidelines.

• SUBMISSION DEADLINES/FEES: 
  • NO FEE: June 14, 2026
  • BIPOC NO FEE: August 31, 2026
  • FINAL DEADLINE: August 31, 2026 (reading fee is $15 per manuscript, though the fee will be waived for entrants who purchase or pre-order any Sundress title or broadside)
• BOOK FORMAT: Print
• PAYMENT: Publication + 25 author copies 
• AVERAGE RESPONSE TIME: We usually announce sometime between November and January.
• SUBMISSION METHOD: Website form
• SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: Yes. 
• FORMS: Full-length poetry collections
• SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook, Bluesky, Instagram, YouTube , LinkedIn

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