Share your PROM STORY through a series of written and visual prompts from Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons (No, YOU Tell It!) and Zach Rothman-Hicks (Gabbing with Gays).
The first half of this free workshop features generative writing prompts to help participants brainstorm their prom stories—or what they did instead.
Plus, Kelly Jean will read from her memoir After, After Prom.
In the second half, the story partners will trace each other’s faces on transparency paper and incorporate their prom stories to create a symbolic, composite portrait of their partner.
Workshop participants are encouraged to submit their prom poem or story for publication in the forthcoming Prom Queens: Celebrating Prom Poems & Stories by Queens Writers anthology from Poets of Queens. See call for submissions below.
Sharing prom stories allows us to find commonality within each other’s unique cultures and identities. The Prom Queens workshop and anthology aim to give voice to a diverse range of prom poems and stories instead of the prom myth polished by pop culture.
Upcoming Prom Queens: Prom Story and Portrait Trading Workshops
- May 14, 6:30-8 pm at The World’s Borough Bookshop
- June 8, 4:30-6 pm, at The Astoria Bookshop – More info & REGISTER HERE
- June 21, 2-3:30 pm, at the Queens Public Library at Broadway – More info & REGISTER HERE
Call for Submissions: May 1-July 31, 2025
Prom Queens: Celebrating Prom Poems & Stories by Queens Writers
Poets of Queens, in partnership with the storytelling series No, YOU Tell It!, seeks submissions for an anthology titled Prom Queens: Celebrating Prom Poems & Stories by Queens Writers, which Poets of Queens will publish in the spring of 2026.
Visit poetsofqueens.com for more information on their reading series and publications.
We are interested in:
- Real people’s prom poems and stories instead of the “prom as everything” fairy tale created by prom-coms from the ’80s and ’90s.
- Nontraditional prom narratives from queer, trans, non-binary, gay, bisexual, lesbian, gender-expansive, and intersex writers that reveal or confront the exclusion of teenagers who don’t match the binary image of prom king and queen.
- “No Prom” poems and stories from the pandemic.
- Post-pandemic prom poems and stories viewing prom night through the eyes of recent goers instead of the pop culture narratives written by adults looking back.
Guidelines:
We seek new prom poems and stories by writers from or about Queens, NY. Previously published work will not be considered.
Submissions will be open via Submittable from May 1, 2025, through July 31, 2025, or until we hit a cap of 350 submissions, whichever comes first.
Poets may submit up to three poems.
The word count for prose submissions is 1500–2000 words.
Please include a 50-word bio in your cover letter.
The honorarium will be one complimentary copy of the anthology. Contributors can also purchase additional copies at a discounted price.
Notifications will be made by September 3, 2025.
About the Editors:
Pichchenda Bao is a No, YOU Tell It! story coach and was the editor of the 2024 anthology Braving the Body, which was Small Harbor Publishing’s top-selling book of the year.
Timothy Lindner is a No, YOU Tell It! story coach and the editor of The Book of Life After Death: Essays & Poems, published in 2023 by Tolsun Books.