Foreign Encounters: A New Anthology from Writers Abroad
The Online writing group Writers Abroad are proud to announce the publication on Wednesday 24th October of their new anthology, entitled Foreign Encounters.
An encounter can be a chance meeting, a planned get-together or even a confrontation. This collection of stories, non-fiction articles and poems features a variety of foreign encounters: with family, friends, lovers, animals, cultures, or just with one’s own prejudices and preconceptions.
Foreign Encounters is the third anthology published by Writers Abroad, an online group of ex-pat writers. All the contributors are, or have been, ex-pats living in places around the globe. Author Julia Gregson, a former ex-pat whose bestselling novel East of the Sun won the Prince Maurice Prize for romantic fiction, has written the foreword.
Following a call for submissions, Writers Abroad received 231 contributions of which they selected 95 for the anthology. They include 16 poems, 38 short stories and 41 non-fiction articles. Since Writers Abroad is a virtual writers’ group, all the work to produce Foreign Encounters has been done online.
All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to Books Abroad, a charity which coordinates the donation of free books for schools throughout the world, believing that education is a crucial aspect of human progress. The charity celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and has supplied over 1,600 schools with desperately-needed books.
Foreign Encounters is available on Lulu, price €9.99 (approximately £8.00), from Wednesday 24th October.
Contributors to this year’s edition live in, and have written about, more than 50 countries on every continent.
I’m very pleased that my short story, Missed Connections, about a chance encounter on a train, is included in this year’s anthology.
To find out more and for a complete list of contributions and authors, please go to the Writers Abroad website.
Writers, this is an annual competition – so if you didn’t contribute this year, start planning for next year’s submission!
To read my story, click here: Missed Connections
Great post! As an ex-pat, it’s great to see a group for writing ex-pats out there. I will be looking into this. 🙂 Congrats on your story being included. Hope I get a chance to read it.
Thanks, Mindy! Yes, it is a great idea to have an ex-pat writing group and I’m curious to see all the contributions that have been included. I’ll be sure to include my contribution, ‘Missed Connections’, a story of a chance meeting on a train, on my writing page as soon as it’s available. Hoping to see a Guatemalan contribution next year!
Thanks, Kimberly. I will definitely get my copy and read it. Congratulations.
Thanks so much, Julia! And I look forward to seeing one of your excellent Latin American short stories in next year’s edition!
I love the collaboration that the Internet now allows – no more writing in isolation and so easy to reach out for support or feedback. This sounds like a fine effort. Congratulations on your piece in there and I look forward to reading a copy! Xcat
How do you join Writers Abroad? I heard you need an invitation? Would be great to be a part of an online writing group.
Hi Kim! I’m not sure about the invitation. I believe you just apply. I have the link to the group here above where you can apply for membership online. I just learned about the group through their call for submissions for their anthology, but I started looking at their site and it looks as if they have great resources and support.
Congratulations, Kimberly! This anthology is definitely going on my shopping list!
Thanks, Celeste! I’m quite eager to see the other submissions, too, since I love expat stories. I don’t know if you’re also a short story writer. If so, keep in mind it’s an annual competition. So maybe next year…
Enjoyed your story, especially the little twist at the end.
Nide to meet a fellow contributor!
Oooh, thanks Chris! I can’t wait to read your contibution and the others in the collection. Unfortunately, I am reliant on the Italian postal service, which seems to travel at the same speed as the original Pony Express, so I’m still waiting for my copy. Hoping it will arrive soon. I love expat stories and can’t wait to read them all!
Glad to learn that your anthology finally arrived. I was surprised at how quickly mine arrived, as I expected a much longer wait. Haven’t read all the stories yet, but there are some gems in there. Thanks so much for your comments on my blog. I’m looking forward to reading more here on yours.
[…] already announced the launch of the Foreign Encounters anthology, where I was pleased to have one of my stories – Missed Connections – included. This week, […]