Beyond The Walls 2026- Call for Submissions.
Calling all third year and postgraduate students!
Submissions for YSJ’s annual Beyond the Walls anthology are officially open! This year, we’ll be inviting creative writing surrounding our anthology’s theme, Sound. We encourage you to explore the rhythms of the world and the influence of sound and its absence. This prompt was selected due to its open, universal nature. We hope you embrace the fluidity of our theme and get creative!
Suggested themes include:
- Routine – Daily/weekly/regular sounds/changed sounds
- Identity – Cultural sounds/community/expression
- Language – Favourite words/sounds/dialect/slang/linguistics
- Voice – Accent/cadence/tone/speech
- Environment – Climate/setting/politics
- Emotion – Feelings evoked by sound/words
- Time – Pivotal moments/how time passes
- Memory – Childhood associations/life experiences
These prompts are not definitive, and we welcome you to interpret the anthology’s theme however you prefer. We look forward to seeing how imaginative you can get.
Writing:
Word Count for Creative Non-fiction, Flash Fiction, and Prose:
Up to 1500 words per piece.
Word Count for Poetry:
Up to 40 lines per poem.
We will be selecting one piece per candidate, however there is no limit on the number of pieces you may submit. Don’t be shy- we want to read it all!
To submit your work, please email a copy to beyondthewalls2026@outlook.com in a .doc, .docx, or pdf format. Please also include your name, the title of your piece(s), and the genre your work is written in.
This year we would like to work towards an audio project to align with our theme of sound – please volunteer if you’re interested as the pieces will be selected on a first come first served basis. More information will be provided when the pieces are selected! Please indicate if you are willing to engage with the audio project when you email your submission.
Submissions close on Monday 2nd March at 23:59 GMT. Any work submitted after this deadline has passed will not be considered. We appreciate the window for submissions is small, but this is due to the demands of the publishing process. We hope that you understand and we look forward to reading your work!
Feedback:
All candidates will receive a confirmation email upon submitting their work. We aim to respond to your submissions within 2 weeks of the deadline.
The anthology will be edited by second year YSJ students and published by Valley Press, an innovative, independent publisher based in Scarborough.
We look forward to seeing what you all come up with.
Good luck to all,
The Editorial & Production Team.