a year in ink
Our annual publication represents a sampling of the tangible results of our community’s diligent scribbles.
What Is A Year in Ink?
A Year In Ink is an anthology of the creative work of San Diegans published by San Diego Writers, Ink. The annual publication represents a sampling of the tangible results of our community’s diligent scribbles. Submissions can include short stories, novel and memoir excerpts, creative nonfiction, satire, flash fiction/nonfiction, and poetry. Previous anthology authors are a diverse group of students, members, instructors, new writers, aspiring authors, and frequently published veterans.
A Year in Ink follows a blind submission process. Submissions are chosen by guest editors that are selected annually. Accepted authors are not identified until the selection process has ended.
Submissions (Now Closed)
To be eligible to submit, you must be at least one of the following:
- A legal resident of San Diego County.
- A current member of SDWI. (Join today to waive your submission fees!)
- SDWI instructors, both current and previous, local and far-flung.
We are accepting submissions in the following categories:
POETRY (Includes form poetry, free verse, sestinas, prose poetry, etc.)
- Maximum: 40 lines per poem.
- Submit up to three poems.
- Single-spaced preferred.
PROSE, FICTION (Includes flash fiction, fiction, and fiction novel excerpts)
- Maximum: 1,750 words per piece.
- Pieces under 1,000 words: Submit up to three entries.
- Pieces between 1,000 – 1,750 words: Submit up to two entries.
- Double-spaced preferred.
- Maximum: 1,750 words per piece.
- Pieces under 1,000 words: Submit up to three entries.
- Pieces between 1,000 – 1,750 words: Submit up to two entries.
- Double-spaced preferred.
All file names must follow this format when uploaded:
Title of Piece – Category (Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction) – Word Count
(example: Life is Beautiful – Flash Fiction – 622 Words)
DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME or any identifying information in the file name or body of your submission. Doing so will immediately disqualify you from the blind reading process.
If you choose to submit across all three categories, you will have up to 7 total submissions (up to 9 if submitting poetry, fiction < 1,000 words, & nonfiction < 1,000 words).
Entries are FREE for SDWI Members. If you are not a member, there is a reading fee of $5 per submission.
- Nonmembers ONLY: CLICK HERE TO PAY
**Deadline: Sunday, September 17 at 11:59 PM**
Questions? Please email us at submissions@sandiegowriters.org.
Purchase a Volume!
If you are interested in purchasing A Year in Ink, Volume 16, which was released in June 2023, please fill out this Google Form here to be placed on the waitlist, and we will be in contact with you. For inquiries about our earlier volumes, please email us at info@sandiegowriters.org or send us a message.
Prior Volumes
Volume 1
2008
Edited by Thomas Larson
Volume 2
2009
Edited by Sandra Alcosser and Arthur Salm
Volume 3
2010
Edited by Roger Aplon and Jennifer Silva Redmond
Volume 4
2011
Edited by Jericho Brown and Laurel Corona
Volume 5
2012
Edited by Brandon Cesmat and T. Greenwood
Volume 6
2013
Edited by Michael Klam and Anthony Bonds
Volume 7
2014
Edited by Shadab Zeest Hashmi and Jim Ruland
Volume 8
2015
Edited by reg e gains and Dean Nelson
Volume 9
2016
Edited by Bonnie ZoBell and Sydney Brown
Volume 10
2017
Edited by Judy Reeves
Volume 11
2018
Edited by Judy Reeves
Volume 12
2019
Edited by Judy Reeves
Volume 13
2020
Edited by Carrie Danielson
Volume 14
2021
Edited by Tia Meredith
Volume 15
2022
Edited by Jill G. Hall and Ted Washington
Volume 16
2023
Edited by Richard Farrell and Ying Wu