Unveiling the Voices: A Look into the Mississippi Writers Guild Historical Fiction Short Story Project

Every year, the Coastal Chapter in Gulfport has tried to take on a group project. Last year it was the publication of a poetry anthology of local poets and artists, “Oasis of Light,” and the hardback is now selling in several museums, art centers, and shops here on the coast. This year, ambitiously trying to top “Oasis of Light’s” success, the project committee settled on a Mississippi-based historical fiction anthology of short stories. And so, hoping to include stories from across the state, we’ve opened up submission eligibility to ANY Mississippi Writers Guild member or participating member of a MWG chapter.  The submission deadline is August 1.

Great creative.

The Project Committee’s goal is to submit s manuscript for publication or self-publish an anthology of at least 15 Mississippi historic fiction short stories before the end of the year. All authors of stories selected for publication will receive $25 and at least two copies of the book.

Imagine this anthology among all your other books!

Story guidelines are simple. Entries should be works of historical fiction or creative non-fiction set in Mississippi between 1817 (when Mississippi became a state) and 1975 (50 years ago). Stories should accurately reflect an actual historical event, place, person or people keeping in mind that the point of historical fiction is to bring the essence of an era to life through narrative, not necessarily present a flawless replica of events. New work, previously published work, and multiple submissions are accepted and can come from any family-friendly YA and Adult subgenres (including, but not limited to Historical Fantasy, Alternate History, Historical Mystery, Historical Thriller, Historical Romance, and Historical Fiction Biographies). The word limit is 10,000, with no minimum.

Might this be a cool setting for your historical fiction?

So, the gauntlet has been tossed down. Will you pick it up? IF SO, send in your story formatted in .doc or .docx, double-spaced, using a Times New Roman font. Include your name, phone number, email address, story title, and word count on the first page and your name, story title and page # as a header on each successive page.

Title your email “Coastal Chapter, MWG, 2025 Project submission” and send your submission to CoastalChapterMWG@gmail.com. And if you have any questions or need follow-up information, just drop me an email. Respectfully,