Forthcoming annual anthology
The Canny Valley
An Anthology of Resistance and Care
Writing rooted in California’s Central Valley.
Submissions are not open yet. Submission, decision, and publication dates will be announced when the call opens.
Get the call-opening notice
About the anthology
The Canny Valley will bring together poems, stories, creative nonfiction, and hybrid work by writers rooted in California’s Central Valley. The anthology concerns resistance and care across the region’s social, political, and cultural life.
Who may submit
Writers should have a meaningful relationship to the Central Valley through residence, family, work, community, or sustained lived experience. Emerging writers are welcome; publication history is not required.
Before the call opens
Submission guidelines
- Poetry: up to five poems, no more than ten pages total.
- Short fiction: one piece up to 7,500 words.
- Creative nonfiction: one piece up to 5,000 words.
- Hybrid work: up to 15 pages, with a note about any essential formatting.
- One submission per writer, in one category. Simultaneous submissions will be welcome.
- New, original work that has not appeared in print or publicly online.
- The submission deadline will be announced when the call opens.
Original work
Submissions must be the writer’s own original work. We welcome clear, living language in whatever form best serves the piece.
Reading and editing
How work will be read
The first read will be anonymous whenever practical, with two readers and a conflict-of-interest check. We expect to include roughly 18–24 contributors. As we select the work, we will consider how the pieces speak to one another as well as what each offers on its own.
How editorial decisions will be made
The inaugural editorial board will include Central Valley–rooted readers working across genres. Board members will not submit work to this first volume. Selected writers will be invited into an editorial conversation, and substantive edits will require the writer’s approval.
Contributor terms
Rights and copies
Writers will retain copyright. Selected contributors will approve substantive edits, grant Gathered Commons Press limited nonexclusive anthology rights, and receive one paperback copy. The anthology will not offer monetary payment or royalties. Submission, decision, and publication dates will be announced when the call opens.