We invite you to contribute to AMERICA’S FUTURE, an anthology of poetry and prose (fiction and creative nonfiction) by the Washington Writers’ Publishing House scheduled to be published in October 2025. We are the nation’s longest, continuously operating cooperative literary nonprofit press in the United States
General Guidelines:
1. We do seek diverse voices. We aim to have America’s Future be an inclusive anthology representing the richness of the voices that have roots in DC, Maryland, and Virginia.
2. We acquire First North American serial rights, and payment is a $25.00 honorarium made possible by our grant from the Amazon Literary Partnership.
3. WWPH does not accept work that has been generated by artificial intelligence in any manner. We want your original work only.
4. WWPH does not accept work that has been previously published or curated, in print or online—work cannot have been published in books, magazines, or similar collections open to the public. We want to be the first publisher to highlight the work s, but never want to discourage anyone from sharing their poems themselves. For more on this, read “Uncurated: The Case for a New Term of Art.”
5. Please submit no more than 3 single-spaced poems at a time, with a maximum of 5 pages per total submission.
6. Any prose up to 2,500 words.
7. Writers must have some connection to DC, Maryland or Virginia (i.e. a writer does not need to reside in the DMV at this time, but might have lived here at one point or have a close connection to the DMV).
8. All writers will be given the opportunity to participate in a reading (live or via zoom) to share their work and ideas Please read our last anthology, This Is What America Looks Like: Poetry and Prose from DC, Maryland, and Virginia, edited by Caroline Bock and Jona Colson (the same editors for America’s Future)and WWPH Writes (https://www.washingtonwriters.org/wwph-writes/) for the kind of literary writing that we have published.
9. No AI-generated or AI-assisted work will be considered. You can use AI to research or make notes, but every line, word, and punctuation mark must come from you, or if it is inspired by another work or resource, you must provide attribution.
10. Cover Letter: Include a brief cover letter. Be sure to list the title(s) of the piece (s) you are sending and a 50-word max. biographical statement.
For inquiries or to be considered for a fee waiver, email our editors at:
[email protected]
