Do you want to be a part of something truly amazing? Something that reaches much further than poetry? Would you like to be a part of something that will leave a lasting legacy and do some good in the world long after you are gone? Invisible Poets Core, Wheelsong Poetry and other Facebook poetry groups periodically band together to raise funds for a well known international children's charity - Save the Children.
Together, we will soon be publishing our latest anthology. It's number 9 in a book series representing our efforts to make lives better for underprivileged children around the globe. The books will be sold around the world. We will literally mobilise poetry against poverty. Each book sold raises enough funds to feed a malnourished child for a month. We would love to include you as a contributor!
Here is some context:
Wheelsong Books Ltd was established in the Plymouth, England in 2020 as a not-for-profit organisation. Its mission statement is twofold: To give emerging poets the means to reach larger audiences and to help children who are in need. Since then, Wheelsong, in partnership with
Invisible Poets and its affiliated groups, has published more than 60 books including 14 charity poetry anthologies. Here are our anthology statistics:
Invisible Poets Anthology 1: 352 poems (321 copies sold)
No other poetry group on Facebook comes anywhere close to these charitable efforts. (We have published a total of 3349 poems written by more than 550 poets representing 140 countries across all 6 continents, and have sold more than 3676 copies at the time of writing). And that's just the anthologies.
All the above books are still selling on Amazon and through other online outlets, including Waterstones (UK) and Wantitall (South Africa). The proceeds from sales of these books is donated directly to
Save the Children - a worldwide charity that cares for children in crisis, providing emergency nutrition, health care, medicine, safety and education. To date, Wheelsong Books has donated just over
£18,000.00 ($23,800.00) to Save the Children and we are only getting started! We plan to publish more Wheelsong anthologies in the coming years, as well as other projects.
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Dear poet, please think about this... You possess an amazing creative gift ... you have the ability to capture your thoughts, ideas, memories and emotions and present them as beautiful, evocative words.
You can, if you want to join us, use your wonderful talent to freely give back a little to children who are ltrapped in desperate, often life-threatening situations.
We all want our poetry to be read and appreciated by others. Publishing your work in Wheelsong Poetry Anthology 6 will ensure that you gain a new audience for your poetry, but that's not the most important aim!
Better than that is this ... your poems will be helping to raise much needed funds to support little children in crisis. You will also retain ownership of your poetry, and Wheelsong Books will protect and administer and protect your copyright for you.
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To be considered for inclusion in the review process you will need to follow these instructions very carefully:
Firstly, do not bother to submit your poetry if you do not intend to buy at least one copy of the book. We will expect you to pledge to buy at least one copy direct from Wheelsong Books (at an author reduced price of 30% off Amazon prices) if your work is published. This is a charity publication, and all profits from Amazon sales will go to help children in crisis. If you're not prepared to invest in helping children, we won't be publishing your poetry (we are dismayed that a majority of featured poets do not purchase a copy of the anthologies once they have been published). Please give more than you take, because this is not about you or about Wheelsong Books - this is about helping children who are in desperate need.
Secondly, only submit poetry that is a) your own work and b) has not been subject to any other publishing agreement. Poetry you've shared on Facebook and other social media is fine, but please do not send in work that has been published elsewhere, and is subject to a previous publishing contract. That could lead to legal action being taken against you. The editorial team will also reject poems if we suspect they have been either plagiarised in part or whole, or generated partly or wholly through artificial intelligence.
Thirdly, submit up to 6 poems as either plain text or in a Word file via email direct to this email address: wheelsong6@gmail.com. Submissions by any other means will not be considered. Poetry submitted as images or photos will not be considered, nor will links to external sites. Please supply a title for each of your poems. Please also supply your real name - we will not publish works by poets using pseudonyms.
And before you ask: There is NO specific theme. Write about what you want.
Finally, all poems submitted will be subject to review by our editorial team. Your poetry will be anonymised (your name blanked out) so the editorial team can't see who you are. If your poetry is selected, you will be informed via email and a publication agreement will be sent to you for you to complete and return. Your work will be then published under your name. If your work is not accepted for publication, you will receive an email informing you of the team's decision. No correspondence other than via email will be valid. Please don't try to text or direct message us. We won't answer.
The window for submission is now open, and will be closed at midnight (UK time) on Friday 23 October, 2026. Any submissions received after this time/date will be not be reviewed. If there is an extension to this date, it will be announced. The editors' decisions will be final.
Please Note: Shorter poems are more likely to be accepted for publication than longer pieces - space will be limited in the book due to resource and production limitations. Several poetry groups will participate, including Invisible Poets Core, Wheelsong Poetry, Pure Poetry and Safe Haven. Poets from outside these groups are also eligible to take part, so please point anyone you think may be interested to this blog, and keep visiting this blog to find out news as it unfolds. We look forward to reading your submissions. Good luck!
Steve Wheeler (Editor in Chief)
P. S. It might be worth your while (if you haven't already done so) to purchase a past anthology or two just to check out the quality of the poetry, the way it is presented and the various themes covered. All the links above are live. That might give you an idea what to aim for if you want to be included in this next anthology...
Photo Copyright by Steve Wheeler (with children from the Khayelitsha Township, Cape Town, South Africa)
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