Async Studio

Dear poets,

The process of writing poetry can be so fraught with isolation and doubt. And the fact that we're all busy adults often adds to the difficulty of finding answers and connections. Yet, it's the journey of creativity that we all share, one that bonds us and grants us that title we wear so proudly: writer.

With the Async Studio we seek to make that journey a little easier for each other, to help answer the most persistent creative questions—Is this any good? How can I make it better? Every poet who participates will receive a direct letter of feedback from our team of editors as well as bite-sized and asynchronous video lessons from working poets.

We hope you enjoy this opportunity, and the whole team looks forward to helping give you some additional insight into your writing.

Best,

Joshua Roark

Founder | Palette Poetry

 

our partner instructors:

A combination of individual feedback and expert instruction, the Async Studio is our latest endeavor to support writers who want to make progress in their craft. We’re thrilled to partner with some wonderful poets to launch this project, with short craft videos from:

Joshua Roark is the founder and current editor of Palette Poetry. He also serves as poetry and pedagogy faculty at Antioch University Los Angeles’ MFA Program, as well as the founder and director of PocketMFA. He lives with his wife in Los Angeles, where they’re always at work making stories, poems, novels, or films.

Rebecca Evans writes the difficult, the heart-full, the guidebooks for survivors. Her debut memoir in verse, Tangled by Blood, bridges motherhood and betrayal, untangling wounds and restorying what it means to be a mother. She’s a memoirist, essayist, and poet, co-hosting Radio Boise’s Writer to Writer show on Stray theater. She's earned two MFAs, one in creative nonfiction, the other in poetry, University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe. She’s co-edited an anthology of poems, when there are nine, a tribute to the life and achievements of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Moon Tide Press, 2022). You can find her poems and essays in fine journals like Narratively, The Rumpus, Hypertext Magazine, War, Literature & the Arts, and The Limberlost Review.

Flower Conroy is an LGBTQIA+ writer, a National Endowment for the Arts and a MacDowell Fellow, and a former Key West poet laureate. She is the author of Snake Breaking Medusa Disorder (NFSPS Press, 2019), winner of the Stevens Manuscript Competition; A Sentimental Hairpin (Tolsun Books, 2021), listed as a November 2021 best seller by Small Press Distribution; and Greenest Grass (WSU Press, 2023), winner of the Blue Lynx Press Prize. Conroy’s work has appeared in The American Poetry Review, New England Review, Prairie Schooner, Michigan Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. She has received support from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference, the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, and the Key West Literary Seminar. Her work has been nominated for Best of the Net, Best New Poets, and the Pushcart Prize. Conroy has exhibited her poetry and assemblage art at The Studios of Key West.

Joanna Acevedo (she/they) is a writer, educator, and editor from New York City. She is the author of four books and chapbooks, including Unsaid Things (Flexible Press, 2021), List of Demands (Bottlecap Press, 2022), and Outtakes (WTAW Press, 2023). Her work can be found across the web and in print, including or forthcoming in Jelly Bucket, Hobart, and The Adroit Journal. She is a guest editor at Palette Poetry, Frontier Poetry, The Masters Review, and CRAFT, and a regular contributor to The Masters Review blog, in addition to acting as Assistant Fiction Editor at Foglifter Journal. Currently, she is working as the Sales Rep & Events Coordinator at Black Lawrence Press. She received her MFA in Fiction from New York University in 2021, teaches writing, interviewing and communication skills for both nonprofits and corporations, and is supported by Creatives Rebuild New York: Guaranteed Income for Artists.

 

participants receive:

• a 2-3 page feedback letter from an editor with specific suggestions and developmental edits, as well as suggestions for places of submission;
• access to 4 mini master class lessons (each under 15 minutes) from our guest instructors: "Putting a Chapbook Together" by Joshua Roark, "Ghazal" by Rebecca Evans, "Deepening Emotional Subtext" by Flower Conroy, and "Repetitions" by Joanna Acevedo;
• and one free submission in a forthcoming Palette Poetry contest;

All writers will receive feedback no later than February 28. Early submissions may yield earlier feedback.

 

submission guidelines:

• Please submit one poem if you are requesting a single letter ($99), and up to three poems if you are selecting the three letter option ($199). There is no page requirement.
• Your poems must be submitted via Submittable, our online submissions manager, between January 1, 2024, and January 31, 2024.
• Multiple submissions are permitted, but each must be submitted separately with a new fee.
• Submissions are open internationally to any poet writing in English. However, some code-switching/meshing is warmly welcomed.
• Please include a brief cover letter that shares your bio, any applicable content warnings, as well as ideas or questions you’d like to address with your editor.
• Review our FAQ page for more information.
• If you haven't already, please verify your email address with Submittable for more consistent communication.
• We are not seeking AI-generated work at this time. Please submit original work.