How We Learned to Leave Anthology Quillkeepers Press January 2027
An Anthology of Departures, Goodbyes, and Becoming
Leaving is rarely simple. Sometimes it’s a door closing behind us. Sometimes it’s a slow backing away. Sometimes it’s staying far longer than we should, and finally choosing ourselves.
How We Learned to Leave seeks essays, memoirs, flash fiction, poetry, prose poetry, and short stories that explore the many ways we exit: relationships, homes, identities, beliefs, versions of ourselves. We are interested in work that examines what it means to walk away, be left behind, return changed, or never look back.
We welcome pieces that are intimate, sharp, tender, dark, hopeful, or quietly devastating. Whether your leaving was deliberate or accidental, loud or unnoticed, we want the moment of rupture, and what followed.
If your work grapples with departure as transformation rather than failure, this anthology may be for you.
Accepted genres: Personal essays, memoir, flash fiction, short stories, poetry, prose poetry Theme: Leaving—physical, emotional, psychological, generational, or symbolic
Sometimes leaving is the bravest thing we do. We’re ready to read how you learned.