You often hear the adage "poetry doesn't sell" from industry professionals, when the reality is quite the opposite. Whether we're talking about major publishing houses, celebrated indie presses, or academic trade, poetry sells just fine, thank you.
In this discussion, literary agent Eric Smith will join three acclaimed poets—Artress Bethany White (A Black Doe in the Anthropocene), Ali Trotta (Offerings for Ordinary Gods), and Cordelia Jensen (Lilac and the Switchback)—to talk about how to sell your collection. What do agents look for? Publishers? How do you FIND the right place? Come for the talk, ask a lot of questions, and buy some poetry while you're here!
Due to space constraints, registration on Eventbrite will be required.
Email events@theheadandthehand.com with any questions.
About the Panelists:
Artress Bethany White is a poet, essayist and literary critic. Her third poetry collection, A Black Doe in the Anthropocene: Poems (University Press of Kentucky, 2025), chronicles her family’s history of enslavement in America. She is the recipient of the Trio Award for her second poetry collection, My Afmerica: Poems (Trio House Press, 2019), selected by poet Sun Yung Shin, and is co-editor of the anthology Wheatley at 250: Black Women Poets Re-imagine the Verse of Phillis Wheatley Peters (Pangyrus, 2023). Recent work also appears in the anthologies Dear Yusef: Essays, Letters, and Poems for and About One Mr. Komunyakaa (Wesleyan, 2024) and Why I Wrote This Poem: 62 Poets on Creativity and Craft (McFarland, 2023). She is associate professor of English at East Stroudsburg University. Instagram: artresswhite
Ali Trotta is a poet, writer, editor, word-nerd, and unapologetic coffee addict. Her poetry has been published in Uncanny, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s, Small Wonders, Enchanted Living, The Deadlands, Fireside, Strange Horizons, Cicada, Nightmare, Mermaids Monthly, Dream Theory Media, Simultaneous Times, The Best of Uncanny Magazine (Subterranean Press), and several of the Rhysling Anthology compilations. Her collection, Offerings for Ordinary Gods, comes out July 2026 from CLASH Books. Seven of her poems were Rhysling Award nominees. Her short fiction has appeared in Worlds of Possibilities and Curtains. When she’s not writing, she’s usually cooking, baking, hugging an animal, or pretending to be a mermaid. She has a rescue cat named Thor, who is part Maine Coon and part Gremlin. You can sign up for her newsletter (https://buttondown.email/alwayscoffee) or follow her Tumblr (@alwayscoffee), Bluesky (@alwayscoffee), or Instagram (@alwayscoffee7).
Cordelia Jensen has an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has published four verse novels: Lilac and the Switchback, Skyscraping, The Way the Light Bends, and Every Shiny Thing, co-authored with Laurie Morrison. Her books have received starred reviews, state award list nominations, Junior Library Guild and NCTE Notable Verse Novel recognition. Along with being a certified book coach, Cordelia has taught creative writing in a variety of settings, including Bryn Mawr College, Germantown Friends School, The Writing Barn and The Kelly Yang Project, and currently teaches verse novel classes for Boyds Mills. Instagram: @cordeliajensen1
Eric Smith is an award-winning Young Adult author and literary agent living in Philadelphia. He’s worked with New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed authors across genres and categories, and is the founder of Neighborhood Literary. Instagram: @ericsmithrocks
