For the Record Northern INK Publishing

For the Record is Northern INK’s 2027 poetry anthology and contest, built around two broad themes: Aging and True Stories.

We are looking for poetry about memory, family, time, bodies, change, history, lived experience, and the strange distance between what happened and the stories we later learn to tell about it. Interpret the themes widely. We welcome free verse, formal poetry, narrative and experimental work, Frenglish, humour, difficult poems, quiet poems, and work that resists easy categorization.

Selected poems will appear in the 2027 anthology. In addition, three poets who submit to For the Record will be selected for Northern INK Signature Releases: professionally edited and published chapbook-sized collections of their own work, with publication costs covered by Northern INK. The writers will retain full rights and all profits from their books.

Northern INK does not accept AI-generated poetry. We want work shaped by the writer’s own memory, language, imagination, experience, and voice.

Note: This project only allows submissions from the following countries:

Canada

For The Record Fee: cad $5.00 Open

Closes on Wednesday, March 31, 2027 11:59 PM US Eastern Daylight Time (in 202 days).

For the Record2027 Poetry Contest & Anthology

Northern INK is accepting poetry for For the Record, our 2027 anthology and contest.

This year’s collection is built around two broad themes:

True Stories
Aging

These themes are guides, not assignments. Interpret them widely. Direct, distant, unusual, and unexpected connections are welcome. We are looking for variety across the collection.

Submissions

Each submission may contain up to three poems.

There are no restrictions on form or style.

Most selected poems will fit on a single page of an average-sized poetry book. As a general guide, many will be approximately 15–17 lines or fewer.

Longer poems are welcome, but because they require more space in a physical anthology, they will be selected in smaller numbers.

Connected Poems

Sequels, trilogies, or other connected poems may be submitted together and will be considered together when submitted as part of the same entry.

Communication

You may message the reviewers or editor through the submission system if you need to:

correct or update your submission;
withdraw a poem;
provide important information about your submission; or
reply to communication from Northern INK.

Please use the messaging system respectfully and only when necessary.

About the Themes

True Stories and Aging should be interpreted broadly.

A poem does not need to focus directly on aging or recount a literal true story to be considered. Distant associations with either theme are welcome.

The collection needs range, so strong poems that approach these ideas from unexpected directions are encouraged.

Submit