Raven Chronicles announces our 2026 Keepers of the Fire contest for fiction and nonfiction manuscripts. The Keepers of the Fire Prize honors daring and forward-thinking literary arts across cultures. Chosen authors will receive an advance of $1,000, September 2027 publication of their book, and 50% of net revenues on sales.
Each year we will publish two books, one fiction (speculative, utopian, historical, etc.), and one nonfiction (creative nonfiction, memoir, scientific, historical, etc.).
2026 deadlines for 2027 publication: Submit work Feb 1-Oct 31, 2026, through our Submittable platform.
Judges:
Fiction: Paul Hunter
Nonfiction:
Rebecca Mabanglo-Mayor
General theme:
We want original fiction or nonfiction that includes or addresses this general theme: deportation, deported, deportee, immigrant, without a country or legal status, to be a stateless person, to have no nationality, to be undocumented.
Submit work through the Submittable platform;
- There is a $10.00 fee for each submission, paid through Submittable;
- You can submit in both fiction and nonfiction category: but only one submission per genre per writer per year;
- No essay collections or short story collections: we want book- or novella-length original work between 20,000–50,000 words
- Please submit unpublished manuscripts only;
- Do not include any identifying information in the body of your document: these are blind submissions;
- Please provide a brief cover letter that includes a short, third-person bio with your publication history;
- Submission document should be in 12-point font, double-spaced, and PLEASE use a typical font such as Times Roman, Arial, or Calibri. No fancy fonts, or submission will be rejected;
- Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but note that in your cover letter and please notify us immediately if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere;
- WE DO NOT ACCEPT AI-GENERATED WORK FOR THIS CONTEST
- Notifications will be made by Dec. 2026
- Please verify your email address with Submittable before you submit your work;
IF you have questions, please email us editors@ravenchronicles.org (Subject: Keepers of the Fire Book Contest).
Paul Hunter’s poems have appeared in numerous journals as well as in ten full-length books and three chapbooks He was a featured poet on The News Hour and has taught at the University of Washington, the Overlake School, and the Skagit River Poetry Festival His first collec- tion of farming poems, Breaking Ground, 2004, from Silverfish Review Press, was reviewed in The New York Times, and received the 2004 Washington State Book Award. Three companion volumes followed, all from Silverfish Review Press: Ripening, 2007, Come the Harvest, 2008, and Stubble Field, 2012. Davila Art & Books, Sisters, Oregon, published his book of prose poetry, Clownery, In lieu of a life spent in harness, 2017, and both novels Sit a Tall Horse, 2020 (2020 Will Rog- ers Medallion Award for Western Short Stories), and Mr. Brick & the Boys, 2022. Forthcoming is a book of farming poetry, Love on Starry Dark Farm (Silverfish Review Press).
Rebecca Mabanglo-Mayor received her MFA in Creative Writing from Pacific Lutheran University in 2012, her MA degree in English with honors from Western Washington University in 2003, and her BA in Humanities from Washington State University in 1998. Her non-fic- tion,poetry, and short fiction have appeared in print and online in sev- eral journals and anthologies, including Katipunan Literary Magazine, Growing Up Filipino II: More Stories for Young Adults, Kuwento: Small Things, and Beyond Lumpia, Pansit, and Seven Manangs Wild: An An- thology. Her poetry chapbook Pause Mid-Flight was published in 2010. She is the co-editor of True Stories: The Narrative Project Vols. I, II, III, and IV, and her poetry and essays have been collected in Dancing Between Bamboo Poles and This Uncommon Solitude:Pandemic Poetry from the Pacific Northwest. She has been performing as a storyteller since 2006, and specializes in stories based on Filipino folktales and Filipino-American history.
Raven Chronicles announces our 2026 Keepers of the Fire contest for fiction and nonfiction manuscripts. The Keepers of the Fire Prize honors daring and forward-thinking literary arts across cultures.
Chosen authors will receive an advance of $1,000, September 2027 publication of their book, and 50% of net revenues on sales.
Each year we will publish two books, one fiction (speculative, utopian, historical, etc.), and one nonfiction (creative nonfiction, memoir, scientific, historical, etc.).
2026 deadlines for 2027 publication:
Submit work Feb 1-Oct 31, 2026, through our Submittable platform.
Judges:
Fiction: Paul Hunter
Nonfiction: Rebecca Mabanglo-Mayor
General theme: We want original fiction or nonfiction that includes or addresses this general theme: deportation, deported, deportee, immigrant, without a country or legal status, to be a stateless person, to have no nationality, to be undocumented.
Submit work through the Submittable platform;
- There is a $10.00 fee for each submission, paid through Submittable;
- You can submit in both fiction and nonfiction category: but only one submission per genre per writer per year;
- No essay collections or short story collections: we want book- or novella-length original work between 20,000–50,000 words
- Please submit unpublished manuscripts only;
- Do not include any identifying information in the body of your document: these are blind submissions;
- Please provide a brief cover letter that includes a short, third-person bio with your publication history;
- Submission document should be in 12-point font, double-spaced, and PLEASE use a typical font such as Times Roman, Arial, or Calibri. No fancy fonts, or submission will be rejected;
- Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but note that in your cover letter and please notify us immediately if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere;
- WE DO NOT ACCEPT AI-GENERATED WORK FOR THIS CONTEST
- Notifications will be made by Dec. 2026
- Please verify your email address with Submittable before you submit your work;
IF you have questions, please email us editors@ravenchronicles.org (Subject: Keepers of the Fire Book Contest).
Raven Chronicles announces our 2026 Keepers of the Fire contest for fiction and nonfiction manuscripts. The Keepers of the Fire Prize honors daring and forward-thinking literary arts across cultures.
Chosen authors will receive an advance of $1,000, September 2027 publication of their book, and 50% of net revenues on sales.
Each year we will publish two books, one fiction (speculative, utopian, historical, etc.), and one nonfiction (creative nonfiction, memoir, scientific, historical, etc.).
2026 deadlines for 2027 publication:
Submit work Feb 1-Oct 31, 2026, through our Submittable platform.
Judges:
Fiction: Paul Hunter
NonFIction: Rebecca Mabanglo-Mayor
General theme:
We want original fiction or nonfiction that includes or addresses this general theme: deportation, deported, deportee, immigrant, without a country or legal status, to be a stateless person, to have no nationality, to be undocumented.
Submit work through the Submittable platform;
- There is a $10.00 fee for each submission, paid through Submittable;
- You can submit in both fiction and nonfiction category: but only one submission per genre per writer per year;
- No essay collections or short story collections: we want book- or novella-length original work between 20,000–50,000 words
- Please submit unpublished manuscripts only;
- Do not include any identifying information in the body of your document: these are blind submissions;
- Please provide a brief cover letter that includes a short, third-person bio with your publication history;
- Submission document should be in 12-point font, double-spaced, and PLEASE use a typical font such as Times Roman, Arial, or Calibri. No fancy fonts, or submission will be rejected;
- Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but note that in your cover letter and please notify us immediately if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere;
- WE DO NOT ACCEPT AI-GENERATED WORK FOR THIS CONTEST
- Notifications will be made by Dec. 2026
- Please verify your email address with Submittable before you submit your work;
IF you have questions, please email us editors@ravenchronicles.org (Subject: Keepers of the Fire Book Contest).