Fence Magazine & Books
@fencebooks.bsky.social
an independent 501c3 not-for-profit literary magazine & press publishing poetry, prose, art, criticism \ “new” books that age well + “old” books that feel “new” linktr.ee/fencebooks 🌱
Tomorrow, we at Fence commence our August-long Quiet Time, in which we’ll take a break from our regular email/social media/other Fence work rhythms to rest, & to focus on our personal art-making. 🍃 fenceportal.org/subscribe/ 💌 itascabooks.com/products/mud... 🌞 itascabooks.com/products/cal... 📖
Fence Books celebrates its 25th anniversary! 🥳 Fence Books redefines the terms of accessibility by publishing challenging writing distinguished by idiosyncrasy and intelligence rather than by allegiance with camps, schools, or cliques. 🌌 fenceportal.org/support/ 💌
itascabooks.com/products/mud... is a searing & tender journey through languages, cultures, & origins. itascabooks.com/products/cal... maps a future beyond the fraught border of language politics between English & Spanish. Both debut collections question the existing edges between languages. 🍃
“James has always had an unflinching eye for dailyness in his work..." — John Spiegel reviews John James’s EXTINCTION SONG for The Constant Critic 🍃 Visit Fence Digital to read this new review! 🌞 fencedigital.com/2026/07/28/c...
Thank you to our wonderful readers—Kathryn Cowles, Geoffrey Babbitt, Nancy Flynn, Quinn Gancedo, & Isabel Zacharias—to my co-host Jeff Alessandrelli, to Carly & Chadwick at Word Virus, & to our sweet and receptive audience, for a special and connective reading last Thursday! 🍃
✨ COVER REVEAL ✨ fenceportal.org/subscribe FENCE no. 43 is in the world, FENCE no. 44 is in the works, & FENCE no. 45 is OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS! Submit your poetry, fiction, translation, & other to fence.submittable.com/submit; all submissions will receive a careful, thorough read. 🌞
Stella Santamaría’s brilliant debut, CALIFORNIA SILENCE, maps a future beyond the fraught border of language politics between English and Spanish. This Ottoline Prize-winning collection arrives November 10th! 🦋 PRE-ORDER CALIFORNIA SILENCE from Itasca Books! ✨ itascabooks.com/products/cal...
"The formal variety of the volume mirrors the codeswitching verve of his gaily convivial speakers—" —“A Person of People: Noah Warren Reviews Kyle Carrero Lopez’s PARTY LINE” for The Constant Critic ✨ Review edited by CC Co-Editor @davidgorin.bsky.social. fencedigital.com/2026/07/08/a... 🍃
Please join us to celebrate @kathryncowles.bsky.social & @geoffreybabbitt.bsky.social’s respective new poetry collections with a double book launch reading at Word Virus Books in Portland on July 16th at 7 PM! 🧵 With Nancy Flynn, Quinn Gancedo, & Isabel Zacharias. 🌞 @fonografeditions.bsky.social 💌
faith2fleurs.ghost.io/hot-girls-ge... I got three new pubs — check them out in one place here :) @the-engine-idling.bsky.social @fifthwheelpress.bsky.social @fencebooks.bsky.social
Hot Girls Get Published Summer
Greetings! With the “lost weekend” behind us now, let’s return back to reality. It’s Hot Girls Get Published summer! The last few months I’ve been in the trenches, submitting poetry to a bunch of jou...
faith2fleurs.ghost.io
On this semiquincentennial, July 4, 2026, we’re honored to share five full-color multimedia collages from Brandon Downing’s THE AMERICANS on Fence Steaming (fenceportal.org/steaming-2/)! Amy Beth Sisson curates Fence Steaming's visual poetry.
Fence Books author Amanda Deutch will read from new york ironweed—with poets Sandra Doller & @slanders.bsky.social!—at Unnameable Books next Friday, July 10th. 🎟️ (Sandra Doller has poems in FENCE No. 43!) 🍃 🌞 Friday, July 10th at 7 PM 📍 Unnameable Books, 615 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11238
@robmclennan.bsky.social just published a delightful, contextualizing new review of Amanda Deutch’s new york ironweed! 🌱 Read this review (& so many others!) on rob’s legendary literary blog! 💌 robmclennan.blogspot.com/2026/06/aman...
Rain Taxi just published Kasey Jueds’ thoughtful, perceptive new review of THE STRANGE WONDROUS WORKS OF ELEANOR ELEANOR by @kathryncowles.bsky.social! 🧵 Order Rain Taxi for $5 to read this review, & wonderful etc. 💌 raintaxi.com/rain-taxi-re... & order STRANGE WONDROUS WORKS at Bookshop.org! 🌦️
"[This] book is like a harrowing road trip, a long-haul truck route..." @niina.bsky.social reviews Conor Hultman’s huge, sad, conceptual poetry book, DOE (@cloak.bsky.social, 2026), for The Constant Critic! Read full review on Fence Digital: fencedigital.com/2026/06/24/c.... 🍃
I reviewed Conor Hultman's DOE, which uses text from a database of cases with unidentified victims. This book, in all its imposing 600+ pages, shines a light on the continuity and pervasiveness of violence in America. Thx @fencebooks.bsky.social for the venue. fencedigital.com/2026/06/24/c...
Haunted by Incompleteness: Niina Pollari Reviews Conor Hultman’s DOE – Fence Digital
fencedigital.com
Fence, in collaboration with Creators for Gaza, asks for your material support of Mahmoud, a brilliant and kind Palestinian writer. 🇵🇸 First 50 to donate $50 will receive FENCE! 📖 chuffed.org/project/122413-a-new-chapter-in-our-journey-help-mahmoud-continue-his-education-amidst-the-crisis-in-gaza 💌
This very Saturday! The FENCE no. 43 backyard pool party, launch reading, & poets theater. 💌 🌞 June 20, 2026 from 2-6:30 PM (readings at 4:30 PM) 📍 4 Riverledge Road in Hudson, NY 12534 (rides available from the Hudson Amtrak station) 📖 Free! Everyone welcome! FENCE no. 43 available for purchase!
“...Gillian Osborne’s brilliant review/essay is a work of criticism that can happen only when the critic and the poet have deep roots in the same dirt...” — @davidgorin.bsky.social, The Constant Critic Co-Editor 💌 Visit fencedigital.com to read the newest review from The Constant Critic! 🌱
We’re thrilled to invite you to the FENCE no. 43 backyard pool party, launch reading, & poets theater on June 20, 2026 from 2-6 PM! 💦 Free! Everyone welcome! Accessible via Amtrak! FENCE no. 43 available for purchase! 🌞 📍 4 Riverledge Road in Hudson, NY 12534 (rides available from Hudson Amtrak)
We’re so excited to share this preview of FENCE no. 43’s Table of Contents, & excerpts from this issue’s Editor Notes by Editorial Director Emily Wallis Hughes & Fiction Editor Rav Grewal-Kök! 🌞 SUBSCRIBE to FENCE magazine today to receive a hot-off-the press issue! fenceportal.org/subscribe 📖
✨ ONE MORE DAY! ✨ Submit your full-length poetry manuscripts to the Fence Modern Poets Series &/or the Ottoline Prize by TOMORROW, June 5th at 11:59 PM Eastern / 8:59 PM Pacific! 🌱 Scroll these slides for some guidelines, & visit fence.submittable.com/submit to read our full guidelines & SUBMIT! 💌
Poets & Writers just featured Fence’s 2026 Ottoline Prize winner, Stella Santamaría, in their “Grants & Awards” newsletter! Santamaría shares her reflections & advice on submitting to writing contests. www.pw.org! 💌 & look forward to the Ottoline Prize-winning CALIFORNIA SILENCE in November 2026! ✨
Cecily Parks’s THE SEEDS (Alice James Books, 2025) just won the 2026 UNT Rilke Prize (announced yesterday!) & Gillian Osborne just reviewed THE SEEDS for The Constant Critic, published today! Read Osborne’s thoughtful & thought-provoking review on Fence Digital: fencedigital.com/2026/05/29/c.... 🧵
BOOKS NOT BOMBS. 💌 Many thanks to Amanda Deutch’s Bay Area friend for these gorgeous photos of new york ironweed at San Francisco’s historic City Lights Bookstore! 💡 & spot the Fence books in these photos! 📖
This Saturday, May 23rd, Fence Books authors KATHRYN COWLES & BRANDON DOWNING will read (& share their collages / visual art!) at 5 PM sharp (doors at 4:30 PM) at Artists Space, 11 Cortlandt Alley, New York City! 🌱🧵✂️ Attend this final Fence-curated reading of the season! fenceportal.org/support 💌
“trillium / is not my password anymore” 🌱 Visit your local, independent bookstore or Bookshop.org to find Amanda Deutch’s new york ironweed! new york ironweed won the 2025 Ottoline Prize. 💌 @acidbathpublishing.bsky.social
This Saturday, May 16th, Fall 2026 Fence Books authors PATRICIO FERRARI & STELLA SANTAMARÍA will read at 5 PM sharp (doors at 4:30 PM) at Artists Space. 🐚 & if you’re not in New York City, join the Zoom livestream at 893 9594 7519. 🍃 $5 admission goes directly to readers. 💌
