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Issue 14 will be released in full on January 1, 2027.
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Philly Chapbook Review is published in four issues per year: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. New issues are published the 1st of January, April, July, and October. Contents shown below may carry over from past issues.
Editor’s Note
Notes from Managing Editor/Creator Aiden Hunt.
- October ’26: Best of the Net, New Staff & New Schedule
Managing Editor Aiden Hunt shares about Philly Chapbook Review’s staff changes, Best of the Net nominations, submission stats, and new publication format in this editor’s note to Issue 14.
Poetry
- Three Poems by Natalie Zhang
“I always feel like I have so much to say to my mother and in this poem, I selected a few memories to share. In a way, this creative choice is symbolic of waving my white flag…” Read three poems by Natalie Zhang, our first biweekly poet of the Fall 2026 issue, along with a few words about “Flagship.” - Two Poems by Aardhra Chandran
“Through images of a familiar street, personal belongings, and a figure suspended in time, the poem considers absence, remembrance, and the quiet ways we continue searching for those who are gone.” Read two poems by Aardhra Chandran, our seventh, and final, biweekly poet of the Summer 2026 issue, along with a few words about “Street View, 2021.” - Three Poems by Tanya Tuzeo
“After childbirth, my body became a site of criticism rather than something to be celebrated for what it had endured and created. Writing this became a way to confront that experience…” Read three poems by Tanya Tuzeo, our sixth biweekly poet of the Summer 2026 issue, along with a few words about “i get Botox.” - Three Poems by A.R. Dugan
“These poems try to make sense of how I arrived at a life that probably seems well thought-out, but has been one reactionary choice after another.” Read three poems by A.R. Dugan, our fifth biweekly poet of the Summer 2026 issue, along with a few words about “Sleeptalking.” - Three Poems by Joshua Zeitler
“To fit the nuanced, dimensional experience of dysphoria and transition into narrative…often feels flattening, falsely assured. I wanted to look at this discomfort I felt, to see what was necessary in it.” Read three poems by Joshua Zeitler, our fourth biweekly poet of the Summer 2026 issue, along with a few words about “Cobbling.” - Two Poems by Irene Cunningham
“The woman’s head & hair are lavishly dressed. I probably leapt off the logic of the hairdresser being blind and therefore had to work on the head/body/mind rather than just hair as a surface issue of presentation.” Read two poems by Irene Cunningham, our third biweekly poet of the Summer 2026 issue, along with a few words about “The Blind Hairdresser.” - Four Poems by Joely Williams
Read four poems by Joely Williams, our second biweekly poet of the Summer 2026 issue, along with a few words about “Single Mother Considers the Periodic Table.” - Chapbook Poem: I’ll Never Look This Good Again by Douglas Piccinnini
“[The poem] came out of real pressure: despair, worry, and grief I wanted to hold unflinchingly, alongside the anxiety of becoming a parent… For me the poem became a meditation on all the feeling that surfaces precisely when we’re told to feel only joy.” Read an excerpt from Douglas Piccinnini’s chapbook, House of Bad Memories, along with a few words from the poet. - Two Poems by Maggie Wang
Read two poems by Maggie Wang, our first biweekly poet of the Summer 2026 issue, along with a few words about “Possibilities for Action.” - Three Poems by Scott Weaver
Read three poems by Scott Weaver, our sixth and final biweekly poet of the Spring 2026 issue, along with a few words about “Annotating The Inferno.”
Fiction
- Original Fiction: Aletheia by Kalliste Hardy
“Each fragment opens a door to the unsaid or the forgotten, letting language bruise and bloom. It is a study in red, in inheritance, in language, and of the quiet haunt of becoming.” Read the third, and final, original fiction piece of the Summer 2026 issue, “Aletheia” by Kalliste Hardy. - Original Fiction: Muse by Somtoo Celestine Ezioha
“What I tried to trace was the underside. How watching someone closely for long enough becomes a substitute for approaching them.” Read the second original fiction piece of the Summer 2026 issue, “Muse” by Somtoo Celestine Ezioha. - Flash Fiction: “Nova” by Kimmy Chang
“‘Nova’ is a lyrical second-person story about the narrator’s first true encounter with death…the story presents loss not as beautiful in itself, but as the place where beauty begins.” Read the first original fiction piece of the Summer 2026 issue, “Nova” by Kimmy Chang.
Chapbook Reviews
Our five most recent poetry chapbook reviews.
- ADHD in a Non-ADHD World: on Undersight by Alison Hurwitz
“[Hurwitz] shares moments of angst and moments of awe. More than that, there are moments of deep recognition. She sees herself in [her sons] and, in fact, receives a later-life ADHD diagnosis of her own.” Read the full chapbook review by new contributor, Nancy Murphy. - The Lines of Landscape: on Marie Scarles’ The Catastrophes
“Scarles’ choice of title points away from place, and toward the book’s deeper and more powerful offering: a changed way of seeing, one of the hallmarks of any successful poetics.” Read the full chapbook review by contributing editor, D.W. Baker. - Bodies in Transition: Sacred & Perishable by Carissa Natalia Baconguis
“There is a muscular intimacy to the ecosystem of these poems, each one of them creating as vivid a world individually as exists in the collection as a whole.” Read Gray Davidson Carroll’s full review. - Verses of Mourning: in the aftermath by Jessica Nirvana Ram
“[Ram] presents a revealing and heartbreaking collection that asks the reader to think about what they remember the most about those they have lost.” Read Alex Carrigan’s full review. - Multilingualism and Metaphor: On Desire/Halves by Jaia Hamid Bashir
“Bashir’s elegant debut collection investigates identity as the result of choices between individual appetites and cultural frames. … [It] announces an exciting addition to the global chorus of contemporary literature.” Read D.W. Baker’s full review.
Author Features
Feature articles and interviews about recent chapbooks.
- A Conversation with Abby Minor
Poet Abby Minor discusses her chapbook, Infinity Ballot, her Jewish-Appalachian heritage, and her convictions in this interview with new contributor, Julie Swarstad Johnson. - A Conversation with John deSouza
Poet John deSouza discusses his chapbook, This Rough Magic, his creative process, and the influence of John Ashbery in this interview with editor Danielle McMahon. - A Conversation with Lisa Low
Poet Lisa Low discusses her latest chapbook, Late in the Day, her relationship with her father, and the influence of Virginia Woolf in this interview with Contributor Saudamini Siegrist. - A Conversation with Chris Abani and Kwame Dawes
“We wanted something that was alive, highlighted an ever-expanding list of books by these poets, and that will hopefully survive the both of us and flourish under the curation of a fresh set of poets.” Read the full interview about the New-Generation African Poets Chapbook series.
Publishers’ Corner
Publishers’ Corner features articles about publishers, upcoming poetry chapbooks and full-length collections, and where to find them.
- Poetry Chapbooks (September 2026)
Check out our round-up of poetry chapbooks published in September 2026 by Moonstone Arts Center, Picador UK, Bull City Press, Lost Penny Press, Grayson Books, Gasher Press, Unsolicited Press, Salon des Refusés, Game Over Books, Tofu Ink Arts Press, Wesleyan University Press, Rattle, Red Flag Poetry, Red Bird Chapbooks, Broadstone Books, above/ground press, Bottlecap Press, Rockwood Press & Finishing Line Press. - New Poetry Titles (10/13/26)
Check out new poetry books for the week of 10/13 from Distribution Partners, Anvil Press, Flood Editions, Northwestern University Press, Saturnalia Books, University of Calgary Press, University of Pittsburgh Press, W. W. Norton, Alice James Books, DOPAMINE/Semiotext(e), Hub City Press, University of Arizona Press, Copper Canyon Press, Penguin Books, Paraclete Press, BOA Editions, And Other Stories, Assembly Press, Nightboat Books, Autumn House Press, Talonbooks, Book*hug Press & TRP: The University Press of SHSU. - New Fiction Titles (10/13/26)
Check out new fiction books for the week of 10/13 from Scribner, Knopf, Europa Editions, Mariner Books, Two Lines Press, Summit Books, Winedale Publishing, Dzanc Books, Catalyst Press, New Vessel Press, Empress Editions, Black Lawrence Press, Litmus Press, Joyland Editions, Sagging Meniscus, Acre Books, TriQuarterly, Cornell East Asia Series, Syracuse University Press, University of Queensland Press, Atria Books, Hanover Square Press, Archipelago, HarperVia, Verso, Liveright, Algonquin Books, Riverhead Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Kaya Press & Grove Press. - Prose Chapbooks (September 2026)
Check out our round-up of prose chapbooks published in September 2026 by Bottlecap Press, above/ground press, Bull City Press, Black Lawrence Press & Chestnut Review.
Aiden’s Corner
Featuring posts from editor and publisher, P. Aiden Hunt, Meet Our Contributor posts, and other informal updates.
- Meet Our Contributor: Kalliste Hardy
Meet our contributor, Kalliste Hardy, check her recent poems and read about her writing life in a Contributor Q&A. - Meet Our Contributor: Aardhra Chandran
Meet our contributor, Aardhra Chandran, check her recent poems and read about her writing life in a Contributor Q&A. - Meet Our Contributor: Joshua Zeitler
Meet our contributor, Joshua Zeitler, check out their chapbook and recent poems, and read about their writing life in a Contributor Q&A. - Meet Our Contributor: Kimmy Chang
Meet our contributor, Kimmy Chang, check out her recent poems and flash fiction, and read about her writing life in a Contributor Q&A.
