Welcome to week ten of our 10-week poetry course! This week we'll talk about places that publish kids' poetry.
Where can kids publish their poetry?
Magazines: Magazines are one great option. Many children's magazines publish writing by kids. In some cases payment is in copies of the magazine, while others offer cash. Competition tends to be high, especially with better known publications. Remind kids that many famous authors were rejected dozens or hundreds of times before they were published.
Here are some magazines that publish children's writing.
Creative Kids magazine is a quarterly magazine that features games, stories, and opinions all by and for kids ages 8–14. Visit the web site to download sample pieces, read submission guidelines and find subscription info.
Magic Dragon, a quarterly publication, presents writing and art created by children in the elementary school grades. Magic Dragon is published by the non-profit Association for Encouragement of Children’s Creativity. The magazine is ad-free. Click here for more info, to see sample pages and to subscribe.
New Moon Girls is an online community and print magazine where girls create and share poetry, artwork, videos and more. Girls can see their work published online or in the magazine. Click here to get a free one month online subscription and get more info.
Cricket magazine and its sister publications are written by adults but they feature children's work through story, poetry, art, and photography contests. Click here for subscription info and more.
Secular Homeschooling is a magazine for homeschool parents (religious or not) and features a "Home Scholars" section featuring work by homeschooled kids in each issue. Homeschoolers are invited to contribute short articles, stories, black and white artwork, and poems. Contributors are paid $5 for each accepted submission. Click here for more info about the magazine or here for writers' guidelines.
Skipping Stones is an ad-free, international non-profit magazine that focuses on sharing children's cultures and perspectives from all over the world. Geared towards readers ages 8 to 16, they accept essays, stories, letters to the editor, riddles and more. They also encourage kids to submit illustrations with their work. Children can submit work in other languages, too (it will be accompanied with a translation). Click here for writers' guidelines and here for more information about the magazine.
Stone Soup magazine is published by the nonprofit Children’s Art Foundation and features children's writing and art. Called "the New Yorker of the 8 to 13 set" by Ms. Magazine, this is a very tough magazine to get published in. They report that they receive about 250 submissions per week. All contributors whose work is accepted receive a certificate, complimentary copies and discounts on other purchases. In addition, contributors of stories, poems and book reviews are paid $40 each; illustrators are paid $25 per illustration. Click here for more information.
Keep in mind that one of the best ways to improve writing is to read writing by others, and the best way to keep magazines like these around is to support them. Many of these magazines would make great gifts as well.
There are lots of online opportunities to publish poetry, too.
Poetry 4 Kids requires free registration, but then you can take part in the poetry forums and post your work. There are lots of other fun poetry pages on the site, too. Also check out their list of places to publish online.
Your Poetry requires free membership to take part, but then you can post your poetry, read others' poetry and comment on poems.
The Poet Sanctuary is another forum for poets. This is an adult site but their family friendly policies mean it should be fairly suitable for older kids who want feedback on their poetry.
42 Explore has an extensive list of poetry sites, contests and opportunities for kids.
Kids can also post their poems on family blogs (or teens can create their own poetry blogs).
Want to get serious about publishing your poetry? Check out The Poet's Market at your local library to find out the writers' guidelines for thousands of magazines, journals, newsletters and more.
I hope you enjoyed our poetry course and you're even more excited about poetry now! To review any of the past weeks, you can click here for the full schedule.
A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.
~W. H. AudenHow do poems grow? They grow out of your life.
~Robert Penn WarrenPoetry: the best words in the best order.
~Samuel Taylor ColeridgeA poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.
~Salman Rushdie
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