Coal City

Review & Press

About

What’s a press called Coal City doing in a town called Lawrence?  Like most things, it’s a bit of a story.The story starts when an English poet, Brian Daldorph, came to the US to study poetry — first in Normal-Bloomington IL (Illinois State University), then in  Champagne-Urbana (University of Illinois).  Coal City was right up I-55.  What better name for a journal that Brian envisioned as gritty, raw and full of all kinds of people experiencing all kinds of life.Now, Coal City Press is in Lawrence, Kansas, a river city town and home of the University of Kansas.  And Brian now teaches creative writing at the university and the Douglas County Jail, where he founded a writing program for prisoners.Thanks to Brian’s dedication and the support of the Neptune Foundation, Coal City Press continues to publish and introduce more literary voices each year.  Since 1990, Coal City has published 20 annual reviews and 7 collections of poetry.  Staying true to Brian’s original intent, the review and press publish both new and experienced poets and writers.Our contributors are tall, short, male, female, American, foreign, rich, poor, free, imprisoned, discontented, contented, rural, urban, suburban, liberal and not-so-liberal.  The traits they share are curiosity, compassion, insight and fierce commitment to good writing.

Welcome to the ever-expanding world of Coal City Press.  Please take a minute to sample some of our contributors’ terrific poetry and fiction.

Thanks very much for visiting our site.

Submissions

Coal City Review welcomes submissions of literary poetry and short stories throughout the year.  Flash/short-shorts are happily considered.  Usually, we don’t publish novel excerpts, but if you’ve got a whiz bang tight (and short) bit, you might give us a try.Give us the voices of real people.  Use language and structure in ways that make us wake up.  Tell us something new, or tell us something ancient in a new way.Poets, send up to 6 poems per year.Short story writers, send one story per year, up to 4,000 words.At this time, we acquire photos from people we know.  If you want us to know you and your photos, mail a sample to the editor, Brian Daldorph (see address below).

Send all submissions via SNAIL MAIL ONLY to:

Brian Daldorph, Editor at Coal City Review, English Department, University of Kansas, Lawrence KS, 66045.  Include SASE for reply.

Publications for Coal City Press are by invitation only.

Staff

Founder and Editor:  Brian Daldorph