I(N)WORD 2026 ANTHOLOGY 35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION SUBMISSIONS FROM AAWA MEMBERS ONLY

PLEASE FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS BELOW:

SUBMIT PIECES NEVER PUBLISHED IN AN AAWA ANTHOLOGY. You are welcome to submit pieces you have published elsewhere—in your books or other publications. Everyone is encouraged to submit at least one piece.

USE TIMES ROMAN IN SIZE 12 FONT.   Use Times Roman in size 12 font.  

Your submission should look the same as it does in the anthology.

SET THE MARGINS so that your photo and biography are on the same page. We prefer color headshot photos. Usually, 2 inches by 3 inches works perfectly. If your photo is larger, we can usually reduce it. 

Please write a biography

that does not exceed 200 words. You may wish to use the bio on the AAWA Authors' Biographies page.  Copy and paste.  Submit the bio, photo and works IN THE SAME FILE, if possible.  But look at it.  If something needs to be updated, update it. Remember, bios are written in the third person. Here’s an example: Tesia began writing when she was four. 

Biography requirements

Donot write: “I began writing at four.”

You are a twenty-one year member, or you have been a member twenty-one years, or you are a twenty-one-year member.

Saying you are a member of AAWA is unnecessary, but saying when you joined is valuable. You may want to tell us the genre(s.)  of your work. List what you have published, what you are working on presently or plan to work on.  (The titles of books are in italics.  The titles of short stories are in in quotations.) Look at some of the bios on the websites or in other books if you need ideas.

Submission Requirements:

Your selection(s) should NOT EXCEED TEN PAGES.  YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SUBMIT TEN PAGES. Place one piece on a page. Or place two or three short pieces on one page. One poem or story or essay or excerpt is fine. 

Because the title of the anthology is In(word):  African-American Writers’ Alliance at Work, you may want to write something using these words.

Writing Requirements

PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE FREE APP GRAMMARLY. It is not always correct, but it usually is. 

I purchased a more sophisticated version when Grammarly told me I had been using it for free for seven years.

Do not submit a PDF document. The material must be formatted.

Poets/writers do not always follow the rules of grammar.  That’s often fine. All manuals are not the same.  I use the Kate L. Turabian manual, the one used in humanities and social sciences in academia.

All of us want readers to understand what we write.  When you violate rules, you often create problems for the reader. My corrections are what I think makes reading easier.

As editor/compiler, I often correct errors in spelling, person, or agreement. I place apostrophes correctly.  Periods belong inside quotation marks!  I try hard not to change your words.  Sometimes I may question a word or sentence. I may call you.  We always want to be clear.

I am happy to talk to you individually when we can schedule a time.

African-American Writers’ Alliance (AAWA).

The title is centered and in bold but not in all uppercase letters, not italicized, not underlined.  It is size 12 in Times New Roman.    

 

 

EXAMPLE OF WHAT PAGE LOOKS LIKE:

Uncensored and Unfiltered

Space twice after the title.  Begin your manuscript.

Please do not put your name on each page.  Your material is copyrighted, so you do not need to use the copyright symbol.  (You retain the copyright and may use your submissions anywhere you choose.

What follows is in the order I made changes.:

Apostrophe

         Girl = 1 girl.     Girls = more than one girl.  2, 22, 2,000,000,000 girls

          Girl’s = something belonging to ONE girl. The girl’s book was left on the table.

          Girls’ = something that belongs to more than one girl.    The girls’ outfits stole the show.

         The problem is that the second, third, and fourth word all sound the same!

To go, to run, and to eat are infinitives.  The principal part of a verb constitutes an infinitive. TRY not to split infinitives.     To go hurriedly rather than to hurriedly go.        

TV, not tv

The dash  — and the hyphen – are not the same.

 A dash is two unbroken hyphens.  Type one hyphen; type the second hyphen. Type a letter or word. Then hit the space bar.

       Examples:  I have four sisters—A, B, C, and D.      sixth-grade teacher

Several short sentences may be separated by commas.      I tried, I tried, and I tried.

 Longer, related sentences are separated by a semicolon:

         The first book was published in 1988; the second book was published in 1998.

          A comma separating these sentences would make the error a comma splice.

           No punctuation between the sentences would make it a run-on.

           The goal is to avoid these errors.

           Ellipsis ….  ….  Never less than three periods, never more than four periods.  (The fourth period is used when you complete a sentence.

   Noun in Direct Address. 

Give the book to Vera.    Vera, give me the book.   When she was your age, Vera, she had a car.

    Periods and commas go inside the quotation marks.     

This is our 35th Anniversary and our ninth anthology.  I am asking for snippets about you and AAWA.  Date them if you can.

Send photos.  Please include event, dates, names of persons, and the place, if possible.

Thank you so much for your entry!