Anthology and pamphlet publisher the Emma Press is seeking poems about UK politics in the run-up to the general election, as well as poems about voting.

The poems about UK politics will be published as Campaign in Poetry and the voting poems as The Emma Press anthology of voting. The independent publisher is calling for poems about “the coalition, MPs, party politics, party leaders, the election campaigns and the rise of Ukip and the far right” for Campaign in Poetry and “poems about the history of voting, its present role in people’s lives across the world, and about voting in all contexts” for its anthology of voting, and hopes to receive poems “written from a wide range of viewpoints”. The deadline for both publications is 28 September.

Publisher Emma Wright said: “Contrary to what Jeremy Paxman believes, contemporary poets are very engaged with current affairs and I’m confident that we’ll get some fascinating responses to both of the briefs. The title Campaign in Poetry is inspired by a quote from New York politician Mario Cuomo, who said ‘You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.’ We hope our own Campaign in Poetry will be a statement against disaffection, providing an alternative perspective on the political landscape of our country, and the Emma Press anthology of voting will be a fascinating exploration of attitudes to democracy across the world.”

The Emma Press has recently published anthologies of poems about motherhood and fatherhood, and anthologies about homesickness and female friendship are forthcoming in the autumn. All poets submitting must be members of the Emma Press Club, which means you must either have bought a book from the Emma Press website this calendar year, or already be in an Emma Press book. More details