Everyone:

I’m writing to say, “Sorry about the delay.” It kills me to use this phrase. It means deadlines were missed. And in most cases (this one included), that the tardiness will continue. I’m not a procrastinator (just ask Llalan). I like to get things done ahead of time and it frustrates me to no end when a project falls behind. Simply put, I hate delays and I’m especially bummed about this one because Night Ginkgo is a passion project. Which means, I love it! I love the work! I’ve immensely enjoyed sitting down with each submission and being rocked by the diversity, creativity, and just downright brilliance of DMV writers. 

Here’s what happened:

Earlier today, I was sitting in my Brentwood apartment and I thought back to the excitement I felt when I received the grant that would make this project possible. That was October of last year. Since then, we’ve received a new resident in the White House and, among other travesties and attacks on our democracy, we are now dealing with federal agents and the National Guard taking over our streets, impinging on our way of life. My wine and beer business has been struggling after Montgomery County suffered thousands of job losses earlier this year, not to mention the tariffs on booze. 

All of this is to say that we’ve been discouraged. We’ve had to dedicate our time to more survival-based activities than a not-for-profit anthology. But what’s important is that we are still working! We have a plan!

Here’s the deal:

At this time, we, the editors, have agreed upon and compiled a list of the pieces that we think most exemplify what we wanted this anthology of DC-area writers to be. Of course, we discovered themes such as: The challenge of making art in this current climate; The importance of relationships in surviving trauma. Regionality and Place have come up quite a few times, as have discussions of art versus function; here versus there; friendship; feeling out of place.

Most of all, though, we, the editors, all fell in love with these pieces’ beautiful language. We loved turns of phrase that warped our points of view, that opened us up to seeing the world in a new way. At times, I began reading a poem with a sense of dread hovering over me and I closed the tab feeling a glimmer of hope. Sometimes a story slapped me in the face and other times a story made me laugh out loud. Compiling all the pieces we hope to publish, (and we plan on sending out acceptances over the next couple weeks) we, dare I say it, are feeling like Night Ginkgo’s Beltway: An Anthology of Writers from the Washington, DC Metro Area, will actually make the world a better place.

So, you want details:

As a result of these delays we’ve decided to push the actual hard copy publication of the anthology until February 24, 2026. This is the week before the AWP Conference hits Baltimore. Even better, we were able to partner with another small press to share a table at the bookfair. This will give us time to send out advance copies for review and to promote the press throughout the holidays. After publication, we will continue to promote the anthology through the summer and really, I guess, forever.

What does this mean for you?:

Over the coming weeks, please keep an eye on your inbox as submission responses will be sent out starting today. If you end up receiving a rejection, I’m deeply sorry. We received nearly 200 submissions and can only publish about 30. It’s a game of numbers and we aren’t numbers people. We’re empaths and emotionally driven writers. Rejection hurts. We sometimes get pissed at journals who reject our pieces in the wrong way or for the wrong reason. We promise we still love you, but feel free to talk shit about Night Ginkgo, about how dumb it was for us not to publish you. We hope to support your writing in other ways. 

Please bear with us as we evolve Night Ginkgo into a full-blown press. Yes, the anthology is just the start. By the end of the year we will open for submission of book-length manuscripts! We will post the details over the next couple months.

Thanks for bearing with us!