Lighthouse Writers Workshop is a literary nonprofit center in Denver since 1997. Our mission is to provide the highest caliber of artistic education, support, and community for writers and readers in the Rocky Mountain Region and beyond. We strive to ensure that literature maintains its proper prominence in the culture, and that individuals achieve their fullest potential as artists and human beings.
Any participants who have taken Lighthouse classes in any of our adult community engagement programming (either in-house, online, or off-site) from August 2025 through August 14, 2026 are welcome to submit one piece of prose or a set of poems up to five pages for the sixth installment of our annual anthology, All the Lives We Ever Lived. Please ensure that your submission to the Anthology meets the following guidelines:
- Font: EB Garamond (Normal text, not bolded)
- Text Size: 12 point
- Line Spacing: 1.3
- Page Margins: 1 inch all around
- Page Size: 5.5 inch (width) x 8.5 inch (height) Please submit as a .doc or .docx (to make in-document commenting easier).
- Make sure your name is on the document and that the document has page numbers.
Contributors are also welcome to make a copy of and use this template for their submission which will help our editors ensure submitted pieces maintain their original line breaks and structure. If you do not use this template or follow the required format listed above, we cannot guarantee that your piece will look as originally intended.
If you took a Lighthouse class in any of the following programming, please continue on to submit a piece for publication:
- Hard Times (any location)
- Writing in Color Meetup
- 2026 Writing in Color Fest
- Queer Creatives Meetup
- 2025 Queer Creatives Fest
- Writing with Cancer (at Lighthouse and/or UCHealth)
- Rocky Mountain Regional VA Veterans Workshops
- Writing with Cancer
- Writing for Wellness Series (multi-week and/or one-day classes)
- Write to Connect
- Spanish Creative Writing Workshops with the Denver Public Library
- Member Last Look and Writing Workshop at the Clyfford Still Museum
- Drop-In Writing at the Colorado Photographic Arts Center
- Berthoud Literary Festival Writing Workshop with Lighthouse
Work must have been written or started in one of the Lighthouse Community Engagement workshops listed above, between August 2025 and August 14, 2026. If you're unsure about your eligibility to submit, please contact info@lighthousewriters.org and we'll be happy to assist you.
We will not accept submissions that discriminate against others, contain gratuitous violence, or plagiarize existing pieces. We also ask that writers include content warnings on their pieces, which can be indicated in our submission portal.
Please note, we will only be accepting one submission per person. We cannot guarantee that all submitted pieces will be included in the final anthology.
You can expect to hear back from a Lighthouse staff member within one month after the submission deadline to confirm receipt and next steps. Please email info@lighthousewriters.org with any questions.
Learn more about Lighthouse's Community Programs!
Applications for Young Authors Collective are open for Fall 2026.
The Young Authors Collective (YAC) is a group of high school writers who meet to engage in a literary community and write. YAC Denver meets weekly from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM. YAC Online meets weekly from 5:00 to 7:00 PM MDT.
YAC Denver meets weekly on Wednesdays in-person at Lighthouse Writers Workshop at 3844 York Street.
YAC Online meets weekly on Thursdays via Zoom.
YAC members must attend all meetings and respond to emails and/or text messages from the instructor and Lighthouse staff in a timely manner.
YAC is an ideal place to create long-lasting connections and develop as a writer. We’ll look to marginalized and traditionally underrepresented writers for examples and prompts as well as to expand our notion of the literary canon. Members of YAC build their skills across forms, including fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and hybrid/experimental; by workshopping (giving and receiving feedback) on their pieces; and engaging in craft lessons. They are also expected to meet deadlines, contribute to the group blog, and set writing goals.
YAC Denver Instructor: Gary Garrison
YAC Online Instructor: Jesaka Long
Tuition is $550 per semester; full and partial financial aid is available. (Apply to YAC first, and after you are accepted, you can request financial aid.) YAC members make a year-long commitment to the program, but can pay by semester!
Please take your time with this application. Answer the questions as fully and thoughtfully as possible.
Young writers in grades K-12 who've taken a Lighthouse workshop (either in-house, online, or off-site) from September 2025 through August 2026 are welcome to submit up to three typed, double-spaced pages (or up to 3 poems) of creative writing for our annual anthology, And We Created Worlds. Please use this template for your submission.
Work must have been written or started in a Lighthouse workshop between September 2024 and August 2025. Please note that we will not accept submissions that discriminate against others, contain gratuitous violence, or plagiarize existing pieces. We also ask that writers include content warnings on their pieces, which can be indicated in our submission portal. We cannot guarantee that all submitted pieces will be included in the final Anthology. We will respond by mid-September with confirmation and next steps.
Learn more about the Young Writers Program.