2025 was a really tough year for small presses across the board, and for Fawn Press this was no different. After we were unsuccessful in our bid for funding, production ground to a halt, and with one problem following another (and an extraordinary measure of personal issues plaguing the entire year) I lost all motivation in continuing with Fawn Press. However, the new year brings optimism, and 2026 is going to be an era of starting fresh after a long hiatus. (What follows winter but fresh growth and renewal?)
We are opening the year with a new edition of The Thicket magazine, this time on the theme of ‘Decay’. I am inviting a special guest submissions reader, and the guidelines can be found on our submissions page. I want to open the magazine up to include not only poetry, but also book reviews, op-eds and more. As always, the Thicket will be a free resource of poetry for whoever wishes to read it, and so we welcome your submissions.
I also want to release a new anthology this summer. The theme for this will be announced in months to come, but will be a collaboration between a number of poets, and submissions will open later this year. With both of these projects, I hope to reinforce that which we have always stood for: creating a platform for emerging writers, creating opportunities for poets, and being a resource for those interested in reading poetry (whether they are at the start of their journeys or seasoned writers.)
I’m very proud of the poets that Fawn Press published in 2025 from Yerkezhan, Memory and Emike, and hopefully pamphlets will be something Fawn Press will continue to publish in the year to come.
I want to take a moment to thank each and every person who reached out with their support, and thank you for sticking with my small passion project in my goal to meaningfully contribute to the poetry community.