This page is the Call for Entries page for the forthcoming 2026 edition of the biennial anthology, Ten Piscataqua Writers. For more information about, or to order the current edition, Ten Piscataqua Writers 2024, click here. For more info or to order our first anthology, Ten Piscataqua Writers 2022, click here.

Our deadline for Entries has now passed. Check back after Thanksgiving 2024 when we hope to announce the authors chosen to make up the next anthology: Ten Piscataqua Writers 2026 (Forthcoming October 2025).

We are seeking chapter-length submissions of 15-30 pages or from roughly 5,000 to 10,000 words. An entry can be an excerpt from a larger work such as a novel or memoir, or a single stand alone work such as an essay or short story, or it can be a collection of short works, such as a group of poems, flash fiction, or short essays. Entries will be forwarded to the appropriate nonfiction, fiction, or poetry editor for their review and selection in October of 2024. We do not seek exclusive consideration, feel free to submit your entry to other publications. Songwriting entries will be edited by the Poetry Editor. Playwriting entries will be edited by the Fiction Editor. 

Eligibility

1. Writers must be the sole owner of the copyrighted work submitted. Previously published material can be considered so long as you retain all publishing rights and cite the original publisher.  
2. Writers must also reside in one of the towns in Maine or New Hampshire touched and drained by the Piscataqua watershed (see map).
3. One entry per writer only.

Deadline

Entries must be submitted by midnight Monday, September 30th, 2024.
Writers chosen will be announced in early January 2025
Ten Piscataqua Writers 2026 will be published in the fall of 2025

Entry Guidelines

Send your entry in an email to: editor@tenpiscataqua.com 

In your email, please first introduce yourself in 100 words or less, including the town within the watershed where you live, something about your writing experience, education, published works, and personal or writing interests. If you don’t tell us what town you live in, your entry will not be considered, so please be sure to include that. You may also attach a CV or Resume.

In a separate paragraph, please also provide a brief summary of your entry (up to 100 words) starting with what category you are entering it in—fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Then more specifically, is it a short story, a novel excerpt? Collection of poems? What, when, and where is it about? How many words is it (10,000 max) or how many pages do you expect it to take up (30pp max). Yours will be one of 10 chapters in an anthology. Give some thought to the Chapter title. Single stand alone pieces you already have a title, however if it’s a collection of titled short pieces, you will also need a Chapter title for the whole group. Sometimes less is more, try to resist adding material just to max out our guidelines, 20 good short poems is more likely to be chosen over 30 poems that include 10 mediocre ones. If the work, or any part of the work submitted has been previously published, please be sure to mention the citation along with any necessary permissions either at the end of your submitted entry or in the text of your entry email. 

Attach the actual entry to your email and use your full name (as one word) for the entry’s filename. Attached manuscript files should be in Word or Pages formats. We plan to announce the editors’ selections by Thanks giving at the earliest and by the new year at the latest. The most reliable way to find out the results is by subscribing to our intermittent newsletter, Ten Piscataqua News (we do not share our mailing list).

The Deal for Writers

Each of the 10 writers chosen receives a 2.5% share of the book’s net profit from crowdfunding and retail sales payable 1 year from publication, in exchange for the nonexclusive rights to publish their work in the anthology.  Currently we offer no advance on royalties, but we are working on that. Together, the 10 writers share 25% of the profit. In addition, writers agree to participate in up to 4 readings around the region in the year following publication. And to be filmed reading so that we can promote you during our crowdfunding campaign.

Profit sharing Creative Gigs from the Community

We recruit a publishing crew that shares another 25% of the book’s net profit, with most of the gigs earning 2.5% each. At this time we have lined up: Hugo and Nebula Award winning sci-fi author James Patrick Kelly of Nottingham NH to edit fiction, Author Richard Foerster of Eliot ME, to edit Poetry, and historian Mary Ann Cappiello of Stratham to edit nonfiction.  We are currently recruiting a Book and Cover Designer, a Publishing Assistant, an Advance Publicist, a Crowdfunding Mgr, 1 or 2 Social Media Admins. 

No one should expect to get rich, but if the 2022 edition is any guide, you can expect something, but how much depends on how successful we are at crowdfunding and retail sales. For more info on any of the above gigs, please inquire or make your pitch to: gigs@tenpiscataqua.com