At Stillhouse Press, we believe in fostering author relationships that are rooted in genuine collaboration and in championing work that is strange, unconventional, transcendent, and risky. We look for fresh voices and authors who push the boundaries of their craft in ways we haven’t seen before. We are committed to soliciting work from the widest possible range of voices, including those often excluded from traditional publishing, including writers of color, gender non-conforming and LGBTQ+ writers, low-income writers, and those living with disabilities. We especially love publishing emerging authors and debut works.
As a student and alumni-led teaching press, our primary aim is to provide educational opportunity through applied experience in the art of craft publishing. Student staff are responsible for acquiring, producing, and marketing work from independent authors in the course of their education, allowing them to forge lasting professional relationships and step out with confidence into the greater literary community.
ABOUT US
In early 2014, in a conference room on the top floor of a George Mason University building that has long since been demolished, a group of English department faculty and graduate students voted "yes" to forming a new independent, nonprofit small literary press. The terms of incorporation were unconventional: the press would be staffed and run by GMU alumni, graduate students, and undergraduates, under the supervision--but without the editorial intrusion--of faculty or other publishing professionals. Students and alumni would choose, edit, design, and market the titles.
Our experiment in a rare kind of teaching press has come a long way from its humble beginnings. Stillhouse is now a member of George Mason’s Watershed Lit: Center for Engagement for Literary Arts and Publishing Practice, a professional development coalition for undergraduate and graduate students that includes the Fall for the Book festival, the Alan Cheuse International Writers Center, Poetry Daily, and the Northern Virginia Writing Project. Each year, at least four graduate students in George Mason’s Creative Writing MFA Program receive professional assistantships with Stillhouse Press that come with tuition remission and a standard stipend, while other students complete internships in acquisitions, copyediting, interior design, marketing, website design, social media, and other areas of need. In addition, alumni of the press serve as book editors, designers, technical consultants, and roving goodwill ambassadors.
Authors interested in submitting to Stillhouse Press can find our guidelines here.
