Back to The Great Canadian Poetry Road Trip
Alberta Poetry Magazine is a designated stop on The Great Canadian Poetry Road Trip.
Alberta Poetry Magazine seeks submissions from serious poets from all backgrounds and levels of experience, from everywhere in the province of Alberta, Canada. All topics are welcome. All styles. Literary, spoken word, free verse, rhyming, haiku, sonnets, prose – all types and forms of poems are welcome.
Poems published in Alberta Poetry Magazine will be collected with poems from the rest of Canada into issues of The Great Canadian Poetry Road Trip, and published online in the Journal, starting on May 15th, 2026 with the debut publications.
New issues of Alberta Poetry Magazine are published on January 15th, May 15th, and September 15th of every year. Starting on May 15th, 2026 with the debut publications, read the newest work on the Published page,
The Great Canadian Poetry Road Trip is part of waxpoetryart.com – the website for people who love poetry, art, photography, fiction, and plays.
Alberta Poetry Magazine is edited and designed by Kirk Ramdath. Published in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada by Florencia Bay Books. Nanaimo is located on the traditional and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation of the Coast Salish Peoples.
Code of Conduct & Privacy Policy
Visit The Great Canadian Poetry Road Trip's About page
to read the Code of Conduct and Privacy Policy. Use the Back button to return to this page.
Your submission will be considered proof of your agreement with these guidelines and as such, no additional contract will be required for publication to proceed.
Agreement Statement
Include the following statement with your submission:
"I agree with the guidelines for submissions to Alberta Poetry Magazine."
Submissions are open to everyone living in Alberta, Canada. All poets, all styles.
Please prepare your submission carefully as only correctly formatted submissions will proceed to the review stage.
Submissions are open all year, divided into three submission periods, each four months long. Before you submit, read some of the work already published in this magazine on the Published page (starting on May 15th, 2026 with the debut publications).
Submission Timeline:
Submission Period Dates
Submission Period 1: January 15th to May 14th
Submission Period 2: May 15th to September 14th
Submission Period 3: September 15th to January 14th
Dates for Notice of Acceptance
Submission Period 1: Receive notice by July 15th
Submission Period 2: Receive notice by November 15th
Submission Period 3: Receive notice by March 15th
Publication Schedule
Submission Period 1: Published on September 15th
Submission Period 2: Published on January 15th
Submission Period 3: Published on May 15th
Language of Publication
The language of publication is English.
Limited use of a few words using indigenous languages or local terms is acceptable when appropriate, if translations are provided in the notes.
Use phonetic English spellings for words in languages that have non-Latin character sets so that English-language readers
will be able to read and pronounce the words. (eg. Mandarin, Russian, Hindi, Greek, etc.)
No Attachments for Text
The entire submission must be copied and pasted or manually transcribed into the body of a single email and
sent to the email address shown below.
Do not include any text of your submission in an attachment.
Number of Poems
Submit one poem.
Previously Unpublished
The work submitted must be previously unpublished and completely original to the author.
If accepted, the work must also remain unpublished until it is published by this magazine.
Work that is previously shared in a private forum such as a private Facebook post, or is read or displayed at an event,
is not considered as published and may be submitted.
Other Criteria
Currently, there is no criteria for number or lines or word count.
Suggest Keywords (Optional)
Suggest three keywords (or short phrases) for your submission, based on the themes of the submission.
Keywords can help your work be found in Internet searches by people who may be interested in the themes that your work represents.
Do not take keywords from the text of your work, as this is already done.
Rather, consider in a more general way, what your work is about, and who will find your work interesting,
using words that are not included in the text portions of your submission.
For instance, consider a poem about a father taking his two teenage sons on a backpacking trip in the Catskill Mountains.
Three possible keywords are fatherhood, male bonding, hiking Appalachia.
Underage Artists (Less than 18 Years Old)
Persons under 18 years old are welcome to submit with the permission of a parent or guardian who has read these guidelines and agreed to them.
Persons under 18 must include their Date of Birth and the name of the parent or guardian who has read these guidelines and granted permission.
Note to Parents: Most of the work published in this magazine is appropriate for a general audience.
However, this magazine may contain any theme within the scope of art, including mature themes.
This magazine is not intended for young children and parental guidance is advised.
Persons 18 years old and under can also submit to Young Poets World,
which is specifically for young poets and will not include mature themes.
Prohibition on AI-generated Text and Images
Submissions found to contain text or imagery generated by artificial intelligence (AI) will be automatically discarded
and the submitter will be permanently prohibited from submitting to any publications published and edited by myself, Kirk Ramdath.
Prohibition on Harmful Content
As per the Code of Conduct, work that is considered harmful toward any group of people will not be considered.
Work that uses derogatory terms for women or marginalized people will not be considered.
Biography
Include a short biography, approximately 100 words, maximum.
Please do not list more than five previous publications.
If you have social media artist pages, you can include links at the end of your biography.
Long biographies will be truncated at the editor's discretion.
The biography should be a short description of the artist can comprise, for example, previously published work,
hobbies and interests, general motivations for being creative, social media pages, etc.
The biography should not be a note about the submitted work.
If it is necessary to include a note about the work, place the note at the end of the work, not within your biography.
Updating Biographies for those with Artist Pages
All published poets will receive their own The Great Canadian Poetry Road Trip Artist Page.
To update the biography on your Artist Page, you must,
1) Make a new submission,
2) Specify that you've included an "Updated Biography" in your new submission.
3) Then, if your new submission is accepted, your biography will be updated.
Currently, this is the only way to update the biography on your Artist Page.
Ad hoc changes are not possible at this time.
Artist Name, Legal Name, and Mailing, Postal, or Residential Address
Include your artist name and if different, your legal name, and your complete mailing address
including street number, street name, city, province / state, country, postal code, and optional phone / WhatsApp number.
Please note: Although providing your phone number is optional, it is recommended, in case an urgent matter concering your work arises,
which has happened.
Notice of Receipt of Your Submission
All submissions will receive an automated reply confirming that the email containing your submission has been received.
If your submission is correctly formatted, within 30 days, you will receive confirmation that your submission is correct
and will proceed to the review stage.
Submission Queries: Wait 30 Days
Unfortunately, some email servers may send the automated reply to your junk mail folder, or otherwise prevent it from reaching your inbox.
In the vast majority of cases, your email was received.
Please do not send queries about your submission until 30 days have passed.
This allows the publication time to process your email.
Simultaneous Submissions Not Allowed
Simultaneous submissions are not allowed.
Do not submit the same work to any other publication
(including other waxpoetryart.com publications and contests).
Additional Submissions to Other Publications
You can make one submission to Alberta Poetry Magazine every submission period.
You can made additional submissions to other publications on waxpoetryart.com.
Updating Submissions
If necessary, you can update your submission once only.
Send a new, complete submission before the submission deadline.
Your original submission will be deleted and replaced by the Updated Submission.
After the submission deadline, your submission (including your biography) cannot be updated.
Withdrawing Submissions
Until the submission deadline, you can withdraw your submission with an email without the need to provide an explanation.
After the submission deadline passes and the review period begins, withdrawing your submission
can affect the review process and decisions about other submissions.
Therefore, after the submission deadline, withdrawing your submission is possible,
but will result in a permanent prohibition from submitting to any Florencia Bay Books publications,
unless there is a valid, urgent reason for the withdrawal.
Please do not submit any work that you are not fully intending to publish if accepted.
Notice of Acceptance
Accepted submissions will be notified by the dates mentioned above in the "Dates for Notice of Acceptance" section.
Submissions that are not accepted for publication will not receive a direct notice of rejection,
and will expire once the the Date for Notice passes, or earlier, as noted on the Submissions Status page, as described in the next paragraph.
Submission Status Page
The Date for Notice of Acceptance is the latest date that results will be available.
Every effort will be made to complete reviewing at an earlier time.
As soon as reviewing is completed and accepted submissions are notified,
the Submissions Status webpage will be updated,
and non-accepted submissions will expire.
Check the Submissions Status page at any time to view the status of your submission.
Accepted submissions will be published online in Alberta Poetry Magazine and listed on the Published page (starting on May 15th, 2026 with the debut publications). As well, published poems will be collected into issues of The Great Canadian Poetry Road Trip and published in the Journal. Also, new publications will be added to the submitter's Artist Page. See more information about Artist Pages, below.
Accessible to All
This publication is available to the public for free.
All published work is accessible to anyone who has access to the internet.
This means that you will be able to share your work with as many people as possible.
All family, friends, fans, colleagues, and truly, the entire world can enjoy your work.
Copyright
Copyright of the poem remains with the original artist.
First Publication
Upon acceptance, the poet grants the publisher, Florencia Bay Books,
the right to the first publication of the poem,
as well as the right to republish the poem in anthologies and collections for Alberta Poetry Magazine,
The Great Canadian Poetry Road Trip,
or any Florencia Bay Books publications,
online and in print, without additional permission required.
No Initial Payment
As an independent, free publication, it's currently not possible to offer initial payment.
Royalties for Print and Electronic Sales
If the work is ever collected into a book or made available for sale in any print format, the artist will receive a minimum 20% royalty.
If the work is included in a printed collection with other artists (as is most likely), the 20% royalty is shared equally among all artists,
based on the number of submissions contributed.
If the work is ever made available for sale in a digital format, a 50% royalty will be given.
Royalties for print and electronic sales will be paid out annually in January if a minimum of $10 CAD is accrued.
Artist Page and Poetry Collection
All published poets receive a The Great Canadian Poetry Road Trip Artist Page.
The Artist Page will house the poet's biography and the list of their The Great Canadian Poetry Road Trip publications.
Once the poet accumulates 12 publications on their Artist Page, and every 12 publications thereafter,
a Poetry Collection featuring the poet will be published in the Journal.
Collections by Province and Territory
Once a province or territory accumulates 24 publications, a collection will be published in the Journal.
As well, collections based on specific themes may be assembled and published at any publication date.
You will not be notified if your work is included in a provincial or territorial collection that is published online.
However, you will be notified if your work appears in an online collection and is then chosen to be published in a
print version of the collection.
Additional Rights Granted
The artist also grants the publisher the right to share the work or parts of the work, as applicable,
on third party platforms such as Facebook and other social media,
specifically for the purpose of sharing the artist with more people,
and considering the evolving and experimental nature of the Internet.
Editor's Right to Edit
The editor reserves the right to make whatever changes are deemed necessary, at any time, to ensure that publication occurs.
Note from Editor
In practice, I perform as few edits as possible, hopefully none.
My main concern as an editor is whatever distracts the reader and thereby disrupts the pure enjoyment of reading the text.
Edits are performed as the work is being prepared for publication, and are usually small tweaks, if any.
After publication, the artist can request clarification on an edit, or make a case for the original version.
If the two sides are unable to reach agreement, the option remains to unpublish the work.
Style Guide
– Edit your work carefully.
– Verb tense should be consistent throughout the text.
– Use punctuation in a consistent way.
Edits to Expect
– Whatever is deemed necessary to ensure publication.
– Oxford commas will be inserted.
– Quoted text will usually be displayed in italics instead of using quotations.
– Semicolons will usually be replaced by en dashes (–).
Email Subject Header
Use the following statement as your email subject header:
– "Alberta Poetry Magazine submission."
No Attachments for Text (Reminder)
The entire submission must be copied and pasted or manually transcribed into the body of a single email
and sent to the email address shown below.
Do not include any text of your submission in an attachment.
Submission Checklist
Submissions must include the following four components.
1) Agreement Statement
"I agree with the guidelines for submissions to Alberta Poetry Magazine."
2) Poem
Keyword Suggestions (Optional)
Suggest three keywords or short phrases.
3) Biography
4) Postal Mailing Address / Address of Residence
– Artist Name:
– Legal Name (if different from your Artist Name):
– Street Number and Name:
– City:
– Province/State:
– Country:
– Postal Code:
– (Optional) Phone / WhatsApp:
Send your submission by email to info@florenciabaybooks.com.
About the Editor
Kirk Ramdath is the publisher, editor, and designer of The Great Canadian Poetry Road Trip
and the waxpoetryart.com publications.
He has read and performed at poetry events in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat,
Toronto, and Halifax.
Kirk had the honour of opening the world-famous Peace Bridge in Calgary in 2012.
He has been a publisher since 2005.
He also organized many dozen poetry events, around the 2010s.
Particularly, open-mic poetry events with a featured artist.
Kirk's first book, Love in a Handful of Dust was republished online by
Florencia Bay Books in 2025.
He has three other poetry books near completion.
In 2002, Kirk obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, with Distinction, and a Minor in Philosophy from the University of Calgary,
in Canada.
Kirk was born in Trinidad and Tobago, moved to Canada at age 10 with his family, and now writes and publishes
from Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.
Back to The Great Canadian Poetry Road Trip
Alberta Poetry Magazine is part of The Great Canadian Poetry Road Trip
and waxpoetryart.com.
- Visit The Great Canadian Poetry Road Trip Journal.
- This website and all contents ©Florencia Bay Books and specified artists.
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