Yesterday afternoon, Brett and I got to celebrate our one year Tinderbox anniversary by heading over to Maeve’s Sessions, a long-running poetry reading series in Minneapolis, and an extra-special session as she was hosting for the first time too. We welcomed previous Tinderboxers Kristin Fitzsimmons and Katharine Rauk and I even got a turn at the mic. I was tempted to bring a smash cake, as it seems only Brett would be willing to eat cake with her hands, as those ubiquitous toddler tradition asks us to do.
 
We’re also celebrating by hosting our first annual contest, which will run from today (June 21) until August 21 and Ocean Vuong will be our final judge. We’re looking forward to reading some beautiful poems over this period, and all poems that are submitted to the contest are also considered for publication in the contest issue.
 
And one more thing! If you haven’t heard already, a sister press is starting up called Tinderbox Editions. We’ve already got three manuscripts we plan to publish in 2016, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to share them with you. They’re each absolutely gorgeous in their own way and written by three Tinderboxers: Kelly Hansen Maher, Athena Kildegaard, and Katharine Rauk. Right now, we’re running a Kickstarter campaign to help with printing costs and to get us to nonprofit status, so that we can apply for grants and become more sustainable. Please do consider popping on over, checking out the cover of Kelly’s book, learning more about where the money will go, and donate! We’ve met our initial goal, and we’re hoping to double that to cover the lawyer’s fees for nonprofit application.
 
If you want to learn more about the journey of Tinderbox Editions, you can check out this article over on the Loft Literary Center’s site, or follow along on the blog. We have a Facebook page and a Twitter page, so go give those a supportive like and learn about when we open our doors to contest submissions. We’ll be a poetry and essays press, so let your nonfiction friends know! We’ll be a tinderboxeditions.org just as soon as the webpage is ready.
 
This particular issue of Tinderbox Poetry Journal is incredible, and we’re proud to share it with you. We hope you love it as much as we do, and we’re looking forward to another year bringing more beautiful poetry into the world.
 
                                                                    Best,
                                                                          Molly Sutton Kiefer