House of Anansi is open to receive direct submissions from authors twice a year, for a one-month period each, beginning February 1 and August 1. The portal is currently open for submissions. Agents are welcome to submit to individual editors at any time.

Before submitting, please take the time to familiarize yourself with our recent books to see if your work fits with Anansi’s publishing program.

WHAT WE PUBLISH

House of Anansi produces works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. We get excited about work that explodes the status quo. Our fiction list collects the best of commercial and literary novels and short story collections by new voices and household names; our nonfiction list includes creative nonfiction, essay collections, and book-length deep dives alongside more lifestyle-oriented offerings; and our poetry list features experimentations within the lyric by debut poets and those with established reputations.

For children’s and young adult literature, please refer to Groundwood Books.

WHO SHOULD SUBMIT

Please note that during our open submission periods, Anansi is only able to consider submissions from Canadian citizens or residents, or Indigenous Peoples from Turtle Island and around the world who are eligible to hold Canadian citizenship. Writers submitting work through the portal must not currently have an agent.

We invite work from anyone who fits the above parameters and wishes to submit to us. In particular, we want to see work by writers from historically underrepresented communities, including—but not limited to—those who are Black, Indigenous, people of colour, disabled, neurodivergent, LGBTQIA+, debuting later in life, or without an MFA.

HOW TO SUBMIT

House of Anansi is open to submissions twice per year, for a one-month period each:

–February 1–28

–August 1–31

During these periods, you will be able to submit your work through our online portal. We use submission periods to ensure that we are able to respond to all submissions in a timely manner.

Our editorial team recognizes and is grateful for the time and effort involved in formatting your submission to our specifications. Please read our submission guidelines carefully.

Include the following in your submission:

A pitch letter telling us about your book; this might include your reasons for writing it, why you are the person to have done so, who the ideal reader for it is, and how you see it relating to the list of books we publish.

–A brief bio that includes your city of residence, writing credentials, and publication history (if applicable).

–A brief synopsis (500 words max) of your project to be pasted into a text box within the submission portal.

–Your full manuscript; for nonfiction, a proposal, chapter outline, and writing sample. Please format your manuscript in an easy-to-read, 12pt font with 2.5 cm (1 inch) margins.

Title your documents in the following format:

–[Last Name]_[First Name]_Pitch

–[Last Name]_[First Name]_[Title of Work]

Please note that Anansi prefers submissions in PDF format and only accepts .docx, .doc, and .pdf file formats.

If you select “send me a copy of my responses,” you will receive an email confirming receipt of your submission. We do not charge a fee to submit.

Submit here.