innovative. daring. beautiful.
Rockwood Press makes right-sized poetry chapbooks for people who need poems.
We believe chapbooks are an art form as much as a literary form, perfectly suited for revolution, protest, political change, and social critique. They can be both haunting and hauntingly beautiful.
We believe in emerging and established poets and aim to make room for all kinds of mighty voices in teeny books that might not otherwise find their way into the world.
We believe that a work doesn’t have to be full-length to have a full life. That’s why almost all of our releases are open editions.
In Letters to the Dead, Toni Ortner reaches across the boundaries of memory, grief, and time through a series of intimate poetic letters and meditations. Addressing departed friends, family members, and writers, these poems explore mortality, friendship, loss, aging, and the enduring mysteries of consciousness. Moving between vivid recollection and spiritual inquiry, Ortner reflects on dreams, pandemic solitude, literary ancestors, and encounters that blur the line between life and death. Tender, contemplative, and deeply humane, this collection invites readers to consider what remains when names and forms disappear and how love continues beyond absence.
Toni Ortner has published thirty-five books. Forthcoming are Passing Through (Deerbrook Editions), Monarch in the Desert and The Door that Opens into Light (Dancing Girl Press), and the Pandemic Journal (Inanna Press). Her website is toniortner.com where you can see her books and reviews and hear a recording. She lives in Vermont and hosts the Putney Library Writers Salon on Zoom to introduce presses to readers in Vermont. She taught English courses at the University of Connecticut and Monroe College, among others.
Details
Title: Letters to the Dead
Author: Toni Ortner
Publisher: Rockwood Press
Released: 2026 - August
Format: chapbook, acid-free paper, silk cover
Pages: 54
Price: $10
ISBN: 978-1-59498-238-5
Letters to the Dead
Letters to the Dead
Recent titles
Forsythia Overnight by Dave Malone, coming September 15!
Annunciations by Buffy Shutt, coming September 8!
nor are you free to abandon it by sarah klein, coming September 1!
Letters to the Dead by Toni Ortner
Black by the Bedside by Khadija Ceesay
Tiger Bite by Ursula McCabe
Cumulus by Shivani Gupta
minutes between city and forest by Ceridwen Hall
AMERICANAPOCALYPSE by tommy wyatt blake
This Rough Magic by John A. deSouza
HEAVY: poems that count by Megan Hollingsworth
by-the-wind-saylor by Maya Cheav
Paradise by Stephan Antoine Viau
View all our available chapbooks
submissions
We select manuscripts through an open submissions process that occurs year-round.
Manuscripts should be tightly linked collections of ten to thirty poems or up to forty pages, submitted in .rtf, .doc, or .docx formats only. All submissions should be made via email. We do not accept unsolicited paper submissions.
Eligibility: Poets writing in English are eligible. Previous book publication is not a consideration. Simultaneous submissions are permissible, but entrants are asked to notify Rockwood Press immediately if a manuscript becomes committed elsewhere.
There is no open submission fee.
We do our best to reply to submissions within one month, but the time can vary depending on submission volume. If your work has not been accepted or declined, it’s still under consideration. Every submission is considered thoroughly before a response is made.
All submissions are eligible for publication by Rockwood Press with a standard royalty contract.
submissions at Rockwood Press dot com
If we seem familiar
That’s because, Rockwood Press, a not-for-profit literary imprint, is a project of Fernwood Press and its parent company, Barclay Press. For years, we’ve made our books and full-length poetry collections available through POD services, but we wanted to produce more books in-house where we have control over color, texture, paper quality, and the overall shape each project takes.
We’ve also seen a ten-fold increase in poetry submissions over the last year and sensed from our conversations with writers that it’s getting harder and harder to find homes for good work.
The project of Rockwood Press is to bring more great poetry into the world in smaller, focused collections that can be produced locally, quickly, and beautifully.
