2026 Chapbook Manuscript Workshop – A Virtual Panel Discussion & Workshop
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This event is open for registration from January 26 – March 12, 2026.
Working on your debut chapbook? Maybe you’re looking for writing exercises to help with developmental edits, or advice on where to query your completed manuscript. If so, we invite you to our Chapbook Manuscript Workshop, moderated by poet, editor, and instructor Charles Jensen, and joined by two previous chapbook prize winners, Ava Chen and Jessie Keary, along with poetry editor Xander Gershberg.
In our two-hour virtual discussion and workshop on Friday, March 13, 2026 at 7 PM EDT / 4 PM PDT, our panelists of writers and editors will share their experiences and insight to help you on your chapbook journey. You will have the opportunity to hear their advice on writing/editing/publishing chapbooks, learn tips and tricks to troubleshoot any issues with your current manuscript, and ask any questions during the Q&A.
Registration costs $20. You can register below through Submittable. The event Zoom link will be sent in the confirmation email from Submittable. A recording of the event will be distributed to all registrants, so we encourage you to sign up even if you're unable to attend the night of the event.
We hope to see you then!
meet our panel:
Charles Jensen (he/him) wrote Splice of Life: A Memoir in 13 Film Genres (SFWP, 2024), which braids together in each chapter traditional memoir storytelling with discussion of a single film. His most recent collection of poetry is Instructions between Takeoff and Landing (U of Akron Press, 2022). His previous books include two collections of poetry and seven chapbooks of cross-genre work. He is the recipient of the 2020 Outwrite Nonfiction Chapbook Award, 2018 Zócalo Poetry Prize, a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Prize, the 2007 Frank O’Hara Chapbook Award, and an Artist’s Project Grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts. His poetry has appeared in American Poetry Review, Crab Orchard Review, The Journal, New England Review, and Prairie Schooner, and essays have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, 45th Parallel, American Literary Review, Exposition Review, The Florida Review, and Passages North. He founded the digital literary magazine Villain Era to celebrate literature of revenge. He hosts The Write Process, a podcast in which one writer tells the story of crafting one work from concept to completion. He is Vice Chair of the Angels Gate Cultural Center Board of Directors and teaches film studies and creative writing at various organizations.
Ava Chen is a writer from Massachusetts. Her debut chapbook Habitual Prayer was chosen by Danez Smith as the winner of the 2023 Palette Poetry Chapbook Prize. Her writing has been recognized by The Adroit Prizes, YoungArts, Bennington College, and more, and has appeared in Sixth Finch, The Rumpus, Gigantic Sequins, and elsewhere. She hopes you have a spectacular day.
Jessie Keary (they/he) is a trans, neurodivergent writer and artist from the Midwest, US / Wahzhazhe land. Their chapbook, Explaining a Dress: Transfeminine Erasure & Vindication, was chosen for publication by Nancy Miller Gomez in Frontier Poetry’s 2024 Debut Chapbook Contest. Jessie's poetry can also be found in Transmasculine Poetics (Sundress Publications), Sweeter Voices Still (Belt Publishing), and various corners of the internet.
Xander Gershberg (he/him) is a poet, editor, and educator. His poetry is found in FENCE, The Journal, Plume, TAB Journal, Inverted Syntax, Great River Review, Poetry Online, and elsewhere. He is an editor on Spout Press's editorial collective and previously served as the senior poetry editor for MAYDAY. He received his MFA in poetry from Virginia Tech.
our itinerary:
- Panel Discussion (45 minutes)
- Workshopping Practice & Exercises (30 minutes)
- Q&A (30 minutes)