Out of Yearning by Cai Sherley (PRE-ORDER)

THIS IS A PRE-ORDER TITLE. Titles generally ship one week before their publication date. This title's publication date is October 15, 2026.

Out of Yearning
Bridges Series #3
Curated by Kay Ulanday Barrett
Copyright © 2026 by Cai Sherley
ISBN: 979-8-950353-04-8
Retail Price: $15.00
Publication Date: October 15, 2026
Chapbook; 6 x 9” Paperback; 44 Pages
Distributed by Ingram and Sibling Rivalry Press
Author is available for appearances and interviews
Publisher Contact: [email protected]
Trade, library, and educational discounts available
Desk copies available for educators
Download the Press Sheet

Keywords: Trans Poetry, Queer Poetry, LGBTQ+ Voices, Gender Identity, Gender Transition, Black Trans Poetry, Black LGBTQ Voices, Trans Liberation, Self-Creation, Survival and Resilience, Body Politics, Lineage, Family, Courage

In OUT OF YEARNING, Black trans poet Cai Sherley transforms yearning into revelation. These luminous poems navigate gender transition, Black ancestry, family, music, grief, and ecstatic self-discovery through forms as inventive as their vision. By turns intimate and celebratory, Sherley's work refuses shame in favor of embodiment, tenderness, and the powerful act of claiming the body as one's own. A stunning debut, Out of Yearning marks the arrival of a vital new voice in contemporary American poetry, one we believe will help carry the art form into its future.

OUT OF YEARNING is the third of the Bridges Series, hosted by Sibling Rivalry Press, an annual chapbook series curated each year by a different poet invited to serve as guest editor and curator. Each curator selects four authors whose chapbooks will be published by Sibling Rivalry Press, creating space for new voices, unexpected conversations, and vibrant literary community. Rooted in SRP's core belief that poetry builds bridges and saves lives, the series seeks to connect writers across identities, geographies, generations, and experiences while championing work that is fearless and transformative. The 2026 curator is Kay Ulanday Barrett.

Of OUT OF YEARNING, Ulanday Barrett says, "Quick, there’s new sermon and illumination out and Cai Sherley ushers all of it! Across delineations of space and time, Out Of Yearning takes vulnerability and precision, channeling Black and trans innovations with a memorable poignancy. Each line is a beckoning and reveling, catapulted by elation and grief in a breathtaking rotation. As a consummate poet, Cai doesn’t just explore but unfurl with a poetic craft that cascades and questions utilizing various forms—cento, triolet, haiku, ghazal, and more genre-bending skill seamlessly at his disposal. Through ghosts, song, and future making, readers will feel altered and can’t help but re-consider what it means to not only to dream, but to map lineages with your full chest, with scars and all. What a celebration: What a supreme debut work!"

CAI SHERLEY (he/him) is a Black trans poet-educator with roots in Boston, Massachusetts. A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, his work can be found in Beestung, Best New Poets, swamp pink, Peach Mag, and Tupelo, among others, as well as the anthology I Feel Nothing Like Good: Poets Against Genocide. He has found homes at The Watering Hole, Brooklyn Poets, Tin House, Lambda, and the Chicago Poetry Center, and is a member of both the Crossroads Writers Collective and Trans Corner Poets. His work centers Black trans life, past and present, in the United States. He received an MFA in Creative Writing from NYU and lives in Western Massachusetts.