SUBMISSIONS OPEN: Charity Anthology on the Theme of HOME

Send us your stories to support St. Mungo's

Photo by Clay LeConey on Unsplash

Hi WestWorders,

Many years ago, the first short story I ever had published appeared in a charity anthology on the theme of Home, supporting the homelessness charity Shelter. Since then, the housing issues in the UK (and all over the world) have sadly worsened.

In 2025 in the UK, over 327,000 households contacted their councils for help with homelessness – up 5% on the previous year’s record high. A record 131,140 households are now living in temporary accommodation in England, including nearly 170,000 children. Over 3,400 people were estimated to be sleeping rough on any single night in March 2025 (all homeless charities believe this number is actually way higher than the figures reported by the government), and the UK now has the highest rate of homelessness in the developed world, with one in 200 households living in emergency temporary housing.

When I was running Retreat West Books, we published several charity anthologies supporting causes we cared deeply about – environmental charities, social justice organisations, refugee support. Our last one was No Good Deed in 2019, which raised funds for Indigo Volunteers. Since then, even though Retreat West has closed, I’ve wanted to find a way to continue this work.

So I’m thrilled to announce that submissions are now open for our first WestWord charity anthology, returning to where my own publishing journey began: the theme of Home, supporting St Mungo’s, a charity working in the UK to end homelessness and rebuild lives.

What we’re looking for:

Flash fiction up to 1,000 words that explores what home means – the longing for it, the loss of it, the creation of it, the complicated feelings we carry about it. Home as a physical place, a state of mind, a person, a memory. Home as safety or trap. The homes we’re born into and the ones we build for ourselves.

Submission Guidelines:

• Word count: Up to 1,000 words

• Theme: Home

• Submission fee: FREE for all submissions

• Deadline: 21st December 2025

We will consider previously published stories as long as you retain the rights.

All submissions are free because this is about raising money for St Mungo’s however, if you’d like to help cover the cost of the ISBNs we need to get this book listed with online retailers and real-life bookshops (£174 total), there’s an optional donation when you submit. If you would like to donate towards the costs of the ISBNs without submitting a story, please add your donation to my tip jar. Any donations received will go towards these costs and if what we receive exceeds the amount needed, it will be donated to St Mungo’s.

If you are a book cover designer and/or typesetter and would like to donate your services to support this project, please get in touch!

This will be the first of what we hope will become a new annual tradition here at WestWord – one charity anthology each year, using the power of storytelling to support causes that matter.

Stories have always had the power to build bridges, create understanding, and remind us of our shared humanity. I can’t think of a better way to honour that than by gathering stories about home to support those who need one most.

Please share this post with as many people as possible to raise awareness of this project and help us raise lots of money for St. Mungo’s.

With love,

Amanda 💙

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