Home of the lemonlight prize
INK & RIBBON
POETRY. CRAFTED. COLLECTED
Ink & Ribbon Press is a nonprofit literary publisher dedicated to advancing poetry and the book arts through limited-edition works and our annual $3,000 Lemonlight Prize.
Our aim is simple: to run a sustainable model where every dollar earned is reinvested into publishing new voices and preserving the art of the book.
We champion poetic voices of artistic and educational value, producing each title with care — from design to print — in small, collectible runs of 100 to 250 copies. Our books are crafted as enduring objects of beauty and intention, created for those who believe poetry should be held, not just read.
Through our publishing program, community readings, and educational outreach, we celebrate poetry as a shared public good. The recipient of The Lemonlight Prize is featured in our annual anthology, published as part of this finely made collection.
ink & Ribbon Fine Editions
Our Fine Editions series celebrates the enduring craft of bookbinding through a limited run of three to five handmade volumes for each publication - these collectible works that merge art, literature, and permanence.
Each edition will be bound in collaboration by Nate McCall of McCall Co. Bindery, an award-winning artisan whose bindings unite traditional craftsmanship with modern design. Working exclusively with Ink & Ribbon, McCall will create bespoke bindings for our Fine Editions — each one stitched, pressed, and gilded by hand in the Pacific Northwest.
Launching Spring 2026
The 2026 Lemonlight Prize
COMING 2026
Each year, The Lemonlight Prize shines a light on powerful voices in poetry and prose — work that is both intimate and enduring. We welcome submissions of previously unpublished manuscripts, chapbooks, and single poems.
Prize: $3,000 honorarium, publication with Ink & Ribbon Press, and inclusion in our limited-edition Lemonlight Anthology, distributed internationally.
Judges: To be announced
The Familiarity
by G. K. Allum
2026
A lyrical meditation on the shifting weather of long-term love — its minor variations, its ruptures, and the liturgy of the everyday. Through intimate, image-driven poems, G. K. Allum traces how partnership reshapes itself over years of devotion, distance, and return.
Moving through the spiritual architecture of a shared life these poems explore the rituals of marriage, the bewilderment and ache of fatherhood, and the generational patterns we inherit without meaning to. The book dwells in the tender gravity of time: how we lose each other, find each other again, and learn to recognize the beloved in their new light.
At its heart lies a question: What does it mean to fall in love with the same person twice — and what must be surrendered, forgiven, buried, or transformed to come home again?
G. K. Allum is a British-born poet based in the Pacific Northwest. His work explores memory, devotion, inheritance, and the quiet mysteries of domestic life.
He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, shortlisted for Bainbridge Island Poet of the Year, awarded the Laguna Arte Special Prize in Venice, and a Finalist in the New York Art Marathon. His book The Sail received an Honorable Mention at the 21st Writer’s Digest Awards.
Allum is currently pursuing his MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) at Pacific University.
Open Readings & Book Reviews
Ink & Ribbon Press is opening its doors, and its pages, for the very first time.
Our Inaugural Open Reading (December 15 – February 14) invites poets to submit work for consideration toward our first full-length publication.
We welcome both complete manuscripts and selections of 15 – 25 poems, accompanied by a brief project overview and biography. The reading fee is $15, supporting our nonprofit printing and editorial fund.
Be part of our beginning — help us find the poet who will become our first published author.
We also review new and forthcoming poetry collections that honor the craft of the printed word.
The Inkwell
Book Review: Bluets by Maggie Nelson
Suppose I were to begin by saying that I had fallen in love with a color.
Bound Voices #001: A Conversation with Victoria Moul
Poetry’s past and present in conversation.
The Return of The Small Press
Why Poetry Needs Independent Publishers More Than Ever
Book Review: Modern Poetry by Diane Seuss
Modern Poetry opens not with reverance but a question: "What can poetry be now?"
Founder’s Notes | Why Ink & Ribbon Exists
The measure of success isn't margin; it's memory.Founder’s Notes | Why Ink & Ribbon Exists
The measure of success isn't margin; it's memory.