Red Hen Press

Submission Guidelines - Red Hen Press Red Hen Press is an independent, nonprofit press that publishes about twenty-five books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry every year. We’re looking for novels, memoirs, creative nonfiction, hybrid works, essays, and poetry collections of exceptional literary merit that demonstrate a high level of mastery.

🔖 There are 3 Red Hen Press open submissions for awards.

Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award: October 31, 2025
Award $3,000 + publication
Quill Queer Prose Award: November 30, 2025
Award $1,000 + publication
Cai Emmons Fiction Award: January 15, 2026
Award $5,000 + publication

redhen.org/submission-g...

April Ossmann and Tim Mayo will be doing a reading and signing at Brooks Memorial Library August 27th!📖🖊️

🗓️August 27, 2025 (Wednesday) 7pm
📍Brooks Memorial Library
224 Main Street
Brattleboro, VT 05301
🔗Info: brookslibraryvt.org/events/month...

Happy National Dog Month! 🐾 We're celebrating all August with books that honor our best friends.

Fast into the Night

Pretzel, Houdini, & Olive

A Punishing Breed

What are you reading this month? 👇

THE RE IN REFUGE | Kirkus Reviews In this essay collection, Kalfopoulou explores the notion of refuge in all its varied facets.

Thank You Kirkus For Their Review of RE IN REFUGE by Adrianne Kalfopoulou!

🔗Read the full review here: www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

📖Read more about RE IN REFUGE by Adrianne Kalfopoulou Here: indiepubs.com/products/the...

indiepubs indiepubs

Happy Paperback Book Day! 📖🌟 Below are a list of our best-selling paperbacks:

Bad Stories by Steve Almond
Subduction by Kristen Millares Young
Cursebreakers by Madeline Nakamura
The Sea Gives up the Dead by Molly Olguin
Sonnets for a Missing Key by Percival Everett
⁠
indiepubs.com

Cai Emmons Fiction Award - Red Hen Press To honor the life and legacy of beloved novelist Cai Emmons, Red Hen Press is proud to announce the Cai Emmons Fiction Award of an original story of fiction with a minimum of 150 pages. The awarded fi...

✨️SUBMISSIONS OPEN✨️⁠
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The Cai Emmons Fiction Award is open for submissions! This award is in honor of the life and enduring legacy of novelist Cai Emmons.
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📗 $5,000 + Book publication by Red Hen Press⁠
📘 Submissions Open: 7-15-25⁠
Submissions Close: 1-15-26⁠
⁠
redhen.org/awards/cai-e...

Bind Me Tighter Still Pre-Order Bundle Bind Me Tighter Still by Lara Ehrlich hits shelves on September 9th. Treat yourself early with this special pre-order offer! Every pre-order comes with: 1 exclusive postcard 1 elegant bookmark 1 signe...

Don't miss out on your chance to preorder BIND ME TIGHTER STILL for this exclusive bundle from Red Hen Press 🔖
✨ 1 exclusive postcard
✨ 1 elegant bookmark
✨ 1 signed sticker bookplate
✨ 1 limited edition Siren art card
✨ plus a copy of BIND ME TIGHTER STILL
redhenpress.myshopify.com/products/bin...

Guys! I'm heading to Sirenland on 9/9 to see the renowned Siren Show! I heard that everything is siren themed, from the boardwalk gift shops to the drinks sold at the restaurants. The tickets are selling out fast!

Get your pre-order bundle here: inyurl.com/bindemetighterpreorder

Congratulations to author Helen Benedict for being named a finalist for the 2025 Dayton Literary Peace Prize!

THE GOOD DEED was selected as a finalist in the fiction category for this year's award selection.

www.daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/2025-awards/

indiepubs indiepubs

We're so 🥺🥺 ???? Thank you so much to Indie Pubs for highlighting our titles and the titles of so many deserving small presses who lost federal funding from the NEA. This was the sweetest surprise!

indiepubs.com

CONGRATS for the 2024 Quill Prose Award!
The Quill Prose Award, established by Red Hen Deputy Director Tobi Harper-Petrie, is dedicated to empowering authors who identify as queer.
Submissions to the 2025 Quill Prose Award is officially open. redhen.org/awards/quill...

Writer to Writer July 6, 2025 Kim Dower Hosted by Ken Rodgers and Rebecca Evans. Kim Dower is the former City Poet Laureate for West Hollywood, CA. Author of five highly-acclaimed collections of poetry, including The Los Angeles Times best

Thanks KRBX Radio Boise for having Kim Dower on Writer to Writer!

🔗Listen to the episode here: soundcloud.com/radioboise/w...

📖Read more about What She Wants by Kim Dower Here: indiepubs.com/products/wha...

The 6 Best Dark Academia Books for Romance Readers If you're a romance reader who wants to explore dark academia, or a dark academia fan looking for a romantic read, these books are for you.

ANGEL EYE by Madeleine Nakamura Featured in Book Riot’s List of The 6 Best Dark Academia Books for Romance Readers

🔗Read here: bookriot.com/dark-academi...

📖Read more about ANGEL EYE by Madeleine Nakamura Here: indiepubs.com/products/ang...

April/May/June 2025 Contributor Publications By Staff

Thank you, Massachusetts Review, for this great shout out for Elise Paschen’s latest collection!

🔗Read here: themassachusettsreview.substack.com/p/aprilmayju...

📖Read more about BLOOD WOLF MOON by Elise Paschen Here: indiepubs.com/products/blo...

33 new books you’ll want to read this summer from independent publishers Looking for something new or a fresh take on a favorite genre? Check out these small-press titles.

The Orange County Register's 33 New Books You’ll Want To Read This Summer From Independent Publishers Recommends ANGEL EYE by Madeleine Nakamura!

🔗Read here: www.ocregister.com/2025/06/24/3...

📖Read more about ANGEL EYE by Madeleine Nakamura Here: indiepubs.com/products/ang...

With support from 4Culture, I'm collaborating with Majel Reyes Quesada, based in Havana, to translate my memoir-in-essays Desire Lines into Senderos del deseo. I'll also narrate and record the Desire Lines audio book to be published October 6, 2026 by @redhenpress.bsky.social. Thank you to 4Culture!

The Sea Gives Up the Dead - Red Hen Press The Sea Gives Up the Dead is a collection of stories sprinkled into the soil of fairy tale, left to take root and grow wild there. A lovesick nanny slays a dragon. The devil tries to save her mother.…

In Molly Olguín’s new short story collection, “historical fiction, horror, and fantasy tangle together in a queer garden of love, grief, and longing.”

THE SEA GIVES UP THE DEAD, from @redhenpress.bsky.social & our #PrideMonth reading list:
redhen.org/book/the-sea...

Angel Eye - Red Hen Press When a healer begins murdering hospital patients, Professor Adrien Desfourneaux discovers that the threat is far closer to him than he could have imagined. Still recovering from a recent…

In this new sequel to Madeleine Nakamura’s CURSEBREAKERS novel, “the magicians are growing more and more resentful, and the scars from Adrien’s last brush with disaster refuse to fade.”

ANGEL EYE (@redhenpress.bsky.social) is on our reading list for #DisabilityPrideMonth! redhen.org/book/angel-e...

Floppy When ten-year-old Alyssa is diagnosed with the rare genetic connective tissue disorder Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, she vows not to let it stop her. Unfortunately, her efforts to avoid being "too sensitive...

Disability Pride Month Read

💥 Today's feature is FLOPPY by Alyssa Graybeal!💥
⁠
Whether you're looking to expand your perspective or find your experience reflected on the page, this is one to add to your shelf.

🔗Find out more about FLOPPY here: indiepubs.com/products/flo...

YouTube video by San Francisco Public Library Andrew Lam, Stories From the Edge of the Sea

Watch award-winning local journalist and author Andrew Lam presenting from his recently published collection of short fiction STORIES FROM THE EDGE OF THE SEA, at the San Francisco Public Library! 📖

Follow the link here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujsq...

Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum invites you to celebrate the release of author Gary Lemons upcoming poetry collection, THE BOOK OF SPELLS, published by Red Hen Press! 📖💫

⏰️: Jul 07, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM PDT

📍: Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum, 93 Pike St #307, Seattle, WA 98101, USA

Quieter Afterlives - DVAN In Stories from the Edges of the Sea, Andrew Lam writes not from the center of trauma but from its quieter afterlives. These are not conventional Vietnamese refugee stories. They emerge from the margi...

Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network Reviews STORIES FROM THE EDGE OF THE SEA by Andrew Lam

🔗Read here: dvan.org/2025/06/book...

📖Read more about STORIES FROM THE EDGE OF THE SEA by Andrew Lam Here: indiepubs.com/products/sto...

20 Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels To Read … | Kirkus Reviews Weekly book lists of exciting new releases, bestsellers, classics, and more. The lists are curated by the editors of Kirkus Reviews.

Check out Kirkus Reviews "20 Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels to Read Now" featuring ANGEL EYE by Madeleine Nakamura! 📖⚔️
www.kirkusreviews.com/book-lists/2...

And make sure to grab your copy of the fan-favorite ANGEL EYE now! ✔️
indiepubs.com/products/ang...

Agreed!

My (2) #LibraryReadingWed @libraryreads.bsky.social
for today are both poetry. BLOOD WOLF MOON by Elise Paschen, pub'd in April from @redhenpress.bsky.social and BEAST by Pascale Petit, due out in July from @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social. Loved both. Please keep giving poetry a try. It's worth it.

Quill Prose Award - Red Hen Press Click here to Submit Queer literature is often found in the side stacks, in the back of the bookstore, under “Gay and Lesbian.” These authors are put into a genre that barely fits them, excluded from ...

Take the chance to submit to the Quill Prose Award 🖋️

Submissions are now OPEN for queer writers! The winner will get a book publication plus $1000 award.

Interested? Check back on the submission guidelines here,
redhen.org/awards/quill...

Nan Rae Brush Painting Workshop - Red Hen Press We are pleased to invite you to a special brush painting workshop on Saturday, June 21 where you can learn how to paint one of the Four Gentlemen/Four Seasons of Brush painting - the Bamboo under the ...

Join us for a Nan Rae Brush Painting Workshop Saturday June 21 🖌️
Time: 1:00pm – 4:00pm
Location Red Hen Press - Pasadena, CA
Space is limited so reserve your seat today!
redhen.org/event-calend...

Merchandise Red Hen Press Merchandise for readers, writers, and the literary community.

Summertime is finally here and treat yourself this season of relaxation with our exclusive merch during this 30% Summer Reading Sale ☀️

use code: SUMMER30

Shop the Summer Reading Sale and stay cool for the sunny days ahead!
redhenpress.myshopify.com/collections/...

Ah, this beautiful Spring day makes me reminisce about Amber Flame's APOCRIFA and the struggle between devoting all your love to one singular person, while maintaining a fire of curiosity for the world undiscovered!

Season One, Episode Six: AAPI Professionals in Publishing with Pete Hsu, Andrew Lam, and Monica Fernandez, moderated by Audrey Fong The sixth episode of Red Hen Radio is LIVE!

For AAPI Month, Red Hen Radio chats with Asian Americans in the literary business! Listen to the newest episode here or wherever you listen to podcasts 🎧

open.substack.com/pub/redhenpr...