Slate Roof Press: Poetry Made by Hand in Greenfield, Massachusetts

A member-run collective that has spent more than two decades building chapbooks one at a time.

In an age of everything digital, Slate Roof Press does things the slow way. Founded in 2004, the independent, not-for-profit poetry publishing collective in Greenfield, Massachusetts, produces hand-bound, limited-edition chapbooks that are as much works of art as they are books of poems.

From the beginning, the press has been dedicated to publishing Massachusetts, regional, and national poets. National poets are featured in varying years depending on the number of submissions and funding received. The press started with reading and receiving poetry from communities that did not have other ways to contact big literary presses, and they are very proud of their accomplishments of staying rooted in local communities while expanding. “It was our honor to exist in two places at once, to stay with our roots, as well as expand for writers everywhere” managing editor Janet MacFadyn, of Slate Roof Press says. 

Books Made with Care

Every Slate Roof chapbook is built to look and feel distinctive. The poets design their own books, choosing custom typography, paper, and binding, and the covers are printed by letterpress under master printer Ed Rayher of Swamp Press. Described by Janet as “a true master of his craft, one of the best print makers to live”. The press publishes an average of two chapbooks a year, each in a standard print run of 350 total copies, 275 available for public sale. 

Slate Roof Press runs as a member-run collective rather than a traditional publisher. Contest winners and members take part in every stage of a book’s life, from the first concept through marketing. Profits return directly to the press, and the poets keep the copyright to their own work.

The press’s annual chapbook competition, the Elyse Wolf Prize, offers its winner more than publication: admission to the press as an active member. Information about open calls is shared on the press’s Instagram account.

Slate Roof Press also works to make its publications accessible to print-impaired readers, including people who are blind, have low vision, or have learning or physical disabilities that make turning pages difficult.

Recent Winner

The press’s 2025 and most recently named Elyse Wolf Prize winner is Louhi Pohjola, winning means more than a book: Pohjola joins Slate Roof as an active member, with a three-year commitment that includes monthly meetings and a share of the work of running the press. Her book Cracking Open the Bones was chosen for “its "speech musicked," the interplay of languages and voices, its current relevance, and the sweep of history beginning with the WWII Russian invasion of Finnish Karelia and resulting trauma cascading down through displaced people and generations.” A collection of poems that cross cultures and language diving down to the heart of poetry – sound and raw language the universal truth. 

In a publishing world that often favors speed and scale, Slate Roof Press offers poets looking for a publisher, a community and home that takes every stride towards perfection. 

Stop by the Slate Roof Press table , browse their poetry books, and talk to Janet at the Northampton Book Fair on Friday, November 20th, 5-8pm and Saturday, the 21st, 10am -  4pm at the Center for the Arts, 33 Hawley Street.

Written by Serge Bielski on November 2, 2026.