Propel Disability Poetry Book Series
The Propel Series honors the best in disability poetry with publication and awards.
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More often than not, the poetry community prioritizes diversity by publishing and promoting minority and female writers, while disabled poets do not receive similar attention. The Propel Disability Poetry Book Series remedies that gap. This series is a new imprint publishing poetry written by disabled poets, edited by disabled poets produced by Nine Mile and underwritten with generous support from Propel Capital and the Poetry Foundation.
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“Disability poetry relates a rich, complex, and interesting element of the human experience.”
~Stephen Kuusisto, Editor
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Propel Disability Poetry Book Series
​​Human experience is variable like shades of grass. If you ask poets, the latter is the case. If you ask disabled poets, you’ll learn about “disability gain”—where disability is not defined by loss, it is instead a source of insight. The term “disability gain” comes from the Deaf community, which indicates, among other things, there is a freshness deep down. While non-disabled writers know this to be true, mainstream poetry continues portraying disablement as a calamity.
What can we learn from poetry about crippled bodies and the culture of disability? Is what we find in a poem merely a figurative illustration of extrinsic historical or political truths, or do poets create fresh bindings of identity and consciousness?
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Sample poems from the Propel books can be read in the Fall 2023, Fall 2024, and Fall 2025 issues of Nine Mile Magazine.
Nine Mile has been publishing its magazine and books on a consistent basis since 2013. The press published an historic 380-page double issue featuring Neurodivergent, Disability, Deaf, Mad, and Crip poets in 2019, and the press remains committed to advancing disability poetry. Nine Mile has also been an integral part of programming, mentorship, and instruction by and for disabled writers for several years.
*The Propel Poetry Award is granted for a book-length collection of poems by a crip/disabled poet at any career stage.