Welcome to Switchback Books!

We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that's waiting for us—Joseph Campbell The way to get where you need to go isn’t always straight ahead. Switchback Books was founded with the goal of presenting up-and-coming female poets while promoting egalitarian values within the poetry publishing industry. We believe in a firm commitment to the working relationship between editors and authors, and seek poets that believe in us just as much as we believe in them. Switchback Books welcomes anyone who isn’t afraid to look for answers in all directions. Switchback Books consists of an all-female editorial board that publishes only poetry by women. Founded in 2006 by a group of students at Columbia College in Chicago, Switchback Books publishes two books a year, one of which is the winner of our contest for a first book of poetry by a woman ages 18-39.