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YellowJacket Press |
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Established in 2005, YellowJacket Press (YJP) is an independent small poetry press and currently the only publisher of poetry chapbook manuscripts in Florida. YJP sponsors the annual YellowJacket Press Chapbook Contest for Florida Poets. Renowned across the state, the annual contest identifies the state’s most vital and vibrant poets and brings their exhilarating, well-crafted poems to the public eye. |
Past News |
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Help YJP continue to publish Florida Poets. Any amount is greatly appreciated. |
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YellowJacket Press (YJP) presents the 4th Annual Florida Poets Happy Hour and Prime Time Show, a very special evening that will spotlight the Poets Laureate of Tampa Bay. The show will take place on Friday, September 23, 2011 from 6:30-9pm at Hillsborough Community College Ybor Campus. Suggested donation is $5.00
This year’s Happy Hour and Prime Time Show celebrates an historic publishing achievement—the simultaneous publication of new chapbooks of poetry by the Bay area’s poetry dynamos--James Tokley, Poet Laureate of Tampa, and Peter Meinke, Poet Laureate of St. Petersburg. The event will feature James Tokley, whose book The Epic of the Sandwiche Cubano will be debuted, along with Peter Meinke, whose book Lassing Park was published by YJP in April. Both poets will read from their books and other work. They will be joined by acclaimed local poets Erica Dawson, Enid Shomer, Pamela Hill Epps, Gregory Byrd, Cole Bellamy, and Kirsten Holt. YJP is honored to partner with the Hillsborough Community College Ybor campus. The readings will take place in the Performing Arts building on the Main Stage. |
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This is the seventh year of the YellowJacket Press (YJP) Chapbook Contest. A chapbook is a small collection of approximately 20 pages of poetry by a single poet. YJP founder and editor Gianna Russo created the contest while directing the creative writing department at Blake School of the Arts, a magnet high school. No longer affiliated with the school, YJP continues to acknowledge and support adult poets across the state and has garnered acclaim as the only statewide publisher of poetry chapbooks.
Previous winning chapbooks were Florida Straits by Gregory Byrd of Clearwater (2005), Music in Arabic by Mary Jane Ryals of Tallahassee (2006), and Night Windows by Susan Lilley of Orlando (2006), Many Loves by Michael Hettich of Miami (2007) and Our Keen Blue House by Michael Trammell of Tallahassee (2008) and Better Accidents by Kate Sweeney of Tampa (2009). |
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Laura Sobbott Ross of Sorrento won the 6th Annual YellowJacket Press Chapbook Contest for Florida Poets.
A Tiny Hunger was selected from dozens of submissions from across the state. The craft and sensitivity of the poems and the unity of the manuscript as a whole made it easy to pick this collection to represent the YellowJacket name, which has established a reputation for quality. We are proud to add Laura's work to our catalog.
Runners-up:
Paradise Sun by David Delisle (Boynton Beach)
Rush by Anne Meisenzahl (Tallahassee)
Flotilla of Light by Christopher Tozier (Eustis)
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The Peter Meinke Prize in Poetry |
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THANK YOU to everyone who helped YJP raise $1,820 for Florida poetry and The Poets Laureate Project!!
YellowJacket Press is thrilled to announce that The Poets Laureate Project was successfully funded through a spring campaign on Kickstarter. Thanks to the generous support of 56 backers, YellowJacket Press will publish chapbooks by Tampa Bay Area’s two Poets Laureate, James Tokley, Poet Laureate of Tampa, and Peter Meinke, Poet Laureate of St. Petersburg. YJP is the first press to publish chapbooks simultaneously by these two iconic poets. Both poets will read and sign their books at this year’s Happy Hour and Prime Time Show.
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Peter Meinke,Poet Laureate of St. Petersburg |
