What to Submit
We’ve all had that moment: you’re visiting someone’s home and you realize something is different. Maybe it’s the way they pray or eat, or even smell. To celebrate and explore these moments, Stanchion is presenting a stand-alone anthology entitled Away From Home, and we’re calling for submissions in the form of short stories, poems, and creative non-fiction about how sharing the intimacy of someone else’s home can take us beyond our boundaries, give us perspective, and let us reflect on where we came from. We’re looking for insightful writing that gives us your interpretation of all the different ways this moment finds us.
*no abuse, rape, or violence toward women, children, or animals will be tolerated or considered.
Those selected for publication will receive a nominal payment of $5 plus a complimentary physical contributor’s copy of the anthology mailed to them. Selected pieces will also be considered for Stanchion’s Pushcart Prize and Best Small Fiction nominations.
We’ll be open for submissions from May 1st to May 31st 2023.
How to Submit
All submitted work, whether new or previously published, should be the original work of the submitting author.
Authors are limited to one submission in one genre. Only the first submission sent by each author will be considered.
Please email submissions to: AwayFromHomeAnthology@gmail.com
Use the subject: [Genre] Submission--[Last Name] (For example: Poetry Submission--Smith)
Cover letters are welcome but not required. Accepted authors will be asked to provide a brief bio upon acceptance.
Submissions will be accepted from May 1st–May 31st. Submissions received outside that window will not be considered for publication.
Genre Specific Guidelines
Short Fiction
We’re looking for writing that brings us into the room with characters who feel vibrant, complex, and alive. Interpret the anthology theme with a spectrum of stories that are reflective, melancholic, celebratory, or comic.
Stories of any length, up to 5,000 words
Please use standard formatting (double-spaced, Times New Roman or Arial font, numbered pages)
Poetry
We want poems with vivid imagery and intentional use of language. We are open to poems of any form or style but are likely to give preference to poems that clearly inhabit the anthology’s theme.
Submit up to three poems, or a total of six pages.
If submitting translations, it must be a translation of your own original unpublished poem(s) and accompanied by the original.
Poems can be formatted according to author preference.
Prose
Please send us prose that invites readers into your experience and shares what feels urgent about our theme. We want you to guide us to places we’ve never been, then show us something that feels familiar.
Essays of any length, up to 5,000 words
Please use standard formatting (double-spaced, Times New Roman or Arial font, numbered pages)
We are open to all forms of literary essays, but we believe the anthology’s theme would be best suited to memoirs, lyric essays, personal essays, flash, literary journalism, and travelogs. We are unlikely to consider thesis-driven, analytical essays, and will not consider book reviews.
Thank you for your interest in the Away From Home Anthology, and for considering Stanchion a worthy home for your work.