Get published with The Telling Room!
Stories is The Telling Room’s online literary magazine, or zine, for writers ages 6 to 18 who want to share their voices with the world. We publish short fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and other genres. Before submitting your piece, please follow the guidelines below:
GUIDELINES
1. We accept writing from young people ages 6 to 18 from anywhere in the world.
2. We publish in the English language primarily, but we welcome some phrasing in other languages if English is not your primary language.
3. We are open for submissions year-round, however we publish on a quarterly basis.
4. Before submitting, please read the stories and poems already published on our site to see if yours is a good fit.
5. Authors may submit up to 3 pieces each calendar month, and each piece must be submitted separately.
6. Authors may submit creative writing assignments they have edited according to our guidelines.
7. Limitations:
a. Poetry submissions are limited to 40 lines.
b. Fiction, nonfiction, and prose poems are limited to 1500 words.
c. Other experimental writing has the same limitations listed above.
8. Please provide a personal, parent, or legal guardian email address to be sure you receive a reply. Firewalls may block us from communicating with school or organizational email addresses.
9. You must use the submission form below and fill out the information to submit your work for consideration.
EDITORS
Julie Ann Canniff
Julie has been a Stories editor for The Telling Room since 2017. She has participated with Telling Room artists in school residencies, workshops, afterschool writing intensives, and writing field trips around the city of Portland, Maine. Prior to her Telling Room gig, Julie was an Associate Professor of Education at the University of Southern Maine for sixteen years.
Robby Sheils
Robby is a born and raised Portlander and currently going into his senior year at Bates College. Robby loves cookie dough ice cream and hates artificial banana. In third grade, he was involved in a workshop at The Telling Room where he worked on storytelling and puppet-making. In January of 2022, Robby published his first novel, Shelley Avenue—a young adult fiction novel about a 13-year-old boy in Western Maine who struggles to grow up.