Beginning in the 16th century, the chapbook has proved adaptable to a wide range of material, from political tracts to penny songs and poems. These inexpensive booklets were originally distributed to a diverse audience by "chapmen" who sold them at bars or on street corners with their other wares.

Today there is still an active community of chapbook publishers, and chapbooks can be found in all shapes and sizes, stapled together, silk-screened, or sewn, often in limited editions for collectors and enthusiasts of the medium.

The Poetry Society of America continues this tradition with its chapbook series presenting the work of new poets who have not yet published a full-length volume of poetry.


PSA CHAPBOOK FELLOWSHIPS

Each year four renowned poets select and introduce a winning  manuscript for publication.
Each winner receives $1000.
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Recent Winners

2008

Ave, Materia by Jean Hartig, selected by Fanny Howe

Blue House by Christopher Nelson, selected by Mary Jo Bang

Swerve by John Estes, selected by C. K. Williams

The Category of Outcast by CJ Evans, selected by Terrance Hayes

2007

Dear Wild Abandon, by Andrew Michael Roberts, selected by Mark Strand

Dream of Water by Kate Ingold, selected by Harryette Mullen

Monster Theory by Lytton Smith, selected by Kevin Young

The Original Instructions for the Perfect Preservation of Birds &c. by Carey McHugh, selected by Rae Armantrout

2006

Locket, Master by Maya Pindyck, selected by Paul Muldoon

Mayport by Maureen Thorson, selected by Heather McHugh

On animate life: its profligacy, organ meats, etc. by Jessica Fjeld, selected by Lyn Hejinian

The Eights by Dan Chelotti, selected by Yusef Komunyakaa