Small cards with text and a pink ribbon sit on top of a green background with rubberstamped print of purple flowers: Text reads: "May 1771: Every tree, every hedge is a bouquet of blossoms", "and it makes you want to become a maybug", "to float around in this sea of fragrance", "and find all your fuel in it". The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Small cards with text and a pink ribbon sit on top of a green background with rubberstamped print of purple flowers: Text reads: "May 1771: Every tree, every hedge is a bouquet of blossoms", "and it makes you want to become a maybug", "to float around in this sea of fragrance", "and find all your fuel in it". The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Want to get involved? Want to get involved?

What’s in the works at YW

Young W is an arts & letters resource, online shop, directory and (soon-to-be) publisher.

And YW is also part of a community. We are always looking for amazing new products, exciting new manuscripts and new organizations to showcase in our directory and in our events section. For all the details about what we are currently working on, see below. Do get in touch.

Ways to get involved

The components of the analog lifestyle kit: they include a stack of printed cards, a notepad, a small fountain pen and a log book, among others things.

Want to get a free analog lifestyle kit & be in our documentary?

We are currently looking for a pair of volunteer participants within a 50 km radius of Toronto, ON, for a documentary we have in the works about Young W's analog lifestyle kit. If you & a friend or anyone you know would be interested in participating, please get in touch.
What is the analog lifestyle kit?
Collage of images and quotes arranged neatly on a yellow/green/purple board. Type reads from left to right: "Learn a new language", "Practice calligraphy", "Collect used books", "Listen to a poem", "Discover your own city", "See a dance show", "Attend a live debate" and "Get a penpal".

YW Directory

Our directory covers the 9 pillars of the arts & letters. Click the link below or email us at info@youngw.ca with a short blurb about your organization, the link to your website, and some images to include in your entry (image requirements: four .jpg files with dimensions 1000 x 1000px and one .jpg with 3000px width x 1200px height). We don't charge a fee to be listed, but make our own editorial choices about what we publish. Check out the category links by theme below to see if your organization, business, artist profile, shop, brand, non-profit etc. would be a good fit. We add directory entries from all continents.
Submit your directory listing!
Two polaroid photos - one showing watercolour paints and the other showing people walking down a spiral staircase - and several cards with text quotes sit on top of a green background with pink ribbon. Type reads: May 10th, 1771: I am so happy my dearest, so fully absorbed in the feeling of this calm presence, that my art is suffering. I couldn't draw now, not one stroke, and yet I have never been a greater painter than in these moments. The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Community Event Listings

We are looking to showcase live arts & letters events (virtual or in-person) that fall under one of YW's nine themes. Listings are free and updated every Thursday morning, however, we make our own editorial decisions about which events to feature. Simply click the link below or email us at info@youngw.ca with your event details and at least two .jpg files (one with 2700 px width x 1415 px height and one with 1200 px width x 1200 px height). We add event listings from all continents. Check out the directory category links by theme below to see the types of events we are interested in.
Submit your event!
Two polaroid photos - one showing watercolour paints and the other showing people walking down a spiral staircase - and several cards with text quotes sit on top of a purple background with pink ribbon. Type reads: May 10th, 1771: I am so happy my dearest, so fully absorbed in the feeling of this calm presence, that my art is suffering. I couldn't draw now, not one stroke, and yet I have never been a greater painter than in these moments. The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

YW Events

We are currently looking for workshop facilitators and speakers for YW's own event series to start in the near future (virtual, or in-person in Toronto, Covid-19 permitting). We are still working on the details, but we are specifically looking for people who would like to share their expertise as watercolour artists, poetry workshop facilitators, linguists doing practical workshops about ecolinguistics and critical discourse analysis, experienced book collectors, typewriter enthusiasts, playwrights, letter & postcard collectors, architectural historians and organizers working on democratic renewal. We'd love to hear from you! Or, if you have your own suggestions for an event that you'd like YW to host, please get in touch too.
Contact YW
Collage of images and quotes arranged neatly on a purple/green board, with some of the text cut off. Type reads from left to right: "Shopping at local bookstores", "Hosting a book swap", "Keeping a reading journal", "Finding your new favourite writer".

Reading

Are you a bookshop, library, or any other literary or literacy-themed organization who would like to be listed in our directory? Check out the categories we are looking to fill for the theme of READING (link below). We are also always looking for fiction titles to stock, especially from self-published authors and from small, independent publishers. If you think your book would be a good fit for our shop, please drop us a line. We also accept fiction manuscripts with queer themes and/or queer characters. Please see our detailed submission guidelines below.
READING directory categories
Collage of images and quotes arranged neatly on a yellow/green board, with some of the text cut off. Type reads from left to right: "Trying different inks", "Writing with a fountain pen", "Levelling up your writing skills", "Using a typewriter", "Finding a writing group", "Taking a writing class", "Discovering new publishers", "Connecting with fellow writers", "Developing a writing routine"

Writing

Are you a publisher, writers group, pen shop, typewriter repair shop or any other organization related to (creative) writing or writing instruments who would like to be listed in our directory? Click on the link to see the categories we are looking to fill for the theme of WRITING.
WRITING directory categories
Collage of images and quotes arranged neatly on a yellow/green board, with some of the text cut off. Type reads from left to right: "Trying paper marbling", "Practicing calligraphy", Sending cards to friends", "Sealing letters with wax seals", "Giving bullet journaling a try", "Making your own rubber stamps", "Using a paper notebook", "Finding a penpal".

Paper

Are you a calligrapher, paper maker, print designer, letterpress studio or any other organization dealing with paper and stationery who would like to be listed in our directory? Click the link to see the categories we are looking to fill for the theme of PAPER. We are always looking for new products to stock and are accepting submissions from artists, artisans and small businesses working in stationery and paper to be listed in the YW shop as a third-party vendor or drop-ship supplier. See section "Vendors & drop-ship suppliers" below for more details.
PAPER directory categories
Collage of images and quotes arranged neatly on a purple/green board, with some of the text cut off. Type reads from left to right: "Seeing films at an indie cinema", "Connecting with fellow art lovers", "Attending a photo exhibit", "Trying printmaking", "Learning about sculpture", "Visiting a new art gallery", "Starting your art collection".

Art

Are you an art gallery, illustrator, art school, photographer, independent movie theatre, video store, or any other organization working in the visual arts who would like to be listed in our directory? Check out the categories we are looking to fill for the theme of ART (link below). We are also accepting submissions for non-fiction manuscripts related to visual arts, incl. art books and chapbooks involving art (see section "What we publish" below for details).
ART directory categories
Collage of images and quotes arranged neatly on a purple/green board, with some of the text cut off. Type reads from left to right: "Listening to an album in full", "Seeing a comedy show", "Seeing a play in the theatre", "Listening to a radio drama", "Discovering new composers", "Going to a jazz club", "Exploring the world of dance".

Performance

Are you a theatre company, dance festival, music venue, orchestra or any other organization working in the performing arts who would like to be listed in our directory? Click on the link below to see the categories we are looking to fill for the theme of PERFORMANCE. We are also accepting play manuscripts for publication (see section "What we publish" below for details).
PERFORMANCE directory categories
Collage of images and quotes arranged neatly on a purple/green board, with some of the text cut off. Type reads from left to right: "Attending an open mic night", "Discovering poet laureates", "Listening to a spoken word artist", "Exploring a city through poetry", "Collecting poetry chapbooks", "Participating in a poetry workshop", "Ordering a custom poem".

Poetry

Are you a poetry festival, spoken word artist, oral storyteller or any other individual or organization involved with poetry, spoken word and storytelling who would like to be listed in our directory? Click on the link to see the categories we are looking to fill for the theme of POETRY.
POETRY directory categories
Collage of images and quotes arranged neatly on a purple/green board, with some of the text cut off. Type reads from left to right: "Reading up on key urban issues", "Volunteering in your community", "Taking action in your city", "Being a tourist in your own town", "Researching your city's history", "Finding your favourite mural".

Cities

Are you an artist who creates public art or murals, a local community organization, a historical society or any other individual or organization dealing with public art, geography, architecture, urban planning or making your city/suburb/town/village a better place? If you would like to be listed in our directory, click on the link below to check out the categories we are looking to fill for the theme of CITIES.
CITIES directory categories
Collage of images and quotes arranged neatly on a blue/green board, with some of the text cut off. Type reads from left to right: "Reading up on the issues of our time", "Travelling back in time via microfilm", "Spending time in archives", "Attending a community event", "Seeking out diverse perspectives", "Subscribing to a print newspaper", "Learning about argumentation", "Attending a live debate", "Supporting local journalism"

Society

Are you a newspaper, archive, historian, community organizer or any other individual or organization whose work relates to civil society, democracy, journalism & media literacy, history or important questions of our time? If you would like to be listed in our directory, take a look at the categories we are looking to fill for the theme of SOCIETY (link below). We are also accepting submissions for translations into English of fiction that speaks to a pivotal societal moment in history (see section "What we publish" below for details).
SOCIETY directory categories
Collage of images and quotes arranged neatly on a yellow/green board, with some of the text cut off. Type reads from left to right: "Learning an indigenous language", "Celebrating dialects & accents", "Recognizing the power of labels", "Taking a language class", "Researching language change", "Practicing a foreign language", "Looking up the origin of a word", "Practicing a different script".

Language

Are you a linguist, language museum, grammar hotline, language learning resource, researcher or any other organization whose work relates to language use, language change, language learning and linguistics in general? If you would like to be listed in our directory, please check out the categories we are looking to fill for the theme of LANGUAGE (link below). We are also looking for editors and contributors for a book series on language. If you are fluent in Korean, Twi/Akan, Greek, Cree, Spanish or Tamil and have a background in linguistics, literature and/or another field in the humanities field, please get in touch.
LANGUAGE directory categories
An assortment of products assembled on a white background: the book 'Digital Minimalism', the book 'The Sorrows of Young Werther', a candle with a label that reads 'Sturm und Drang', a gift wrapped in green fabric gift wrap with a floral pattern and a few multi-coloured postcards

Drop-ship & product vendors

We are currently looking for third-party product vendors and drop-ship suppliers in the category of PAPER. We are particularly interested in greeting cards, bookplates, bookmarks, stationery sets, postcards and address books. If you are located in a country we ship to (see link below), please get in touch to discuss details.
Countries YW ships to
An old book entitled "Ein Kind unserer Zeit" lies on a leather sofa.

What we publish

YW accepts agented and un-agented manuscript submissions in the following fiction & non-fiction categories: fiction for adults with queer themes and/or queer characters; translations into English of fiction related to the YW theme of SOCIETY (works not currently available in English only); play scripts of finished new dramatic works or previously staged theatre plays (work not previously published only); non-fiction, art books and chapbooks about visual arts, incl. photography, sculpture, architectural follies/folliness, and public art. Please see our submission guidelines below.
A typewriter with a sheet of paper inserted stands on a small red desk facing a window.

Manuscript submission guidelines

We do not accept submissions by email. Please send the first 15 pages of your hardcopy manuscript along with a synopsis, the genre of the work, an estimated word count, an author biography, agent information (if applicable) and your contact information to the postal address listed on our Contact page. At this time, we accept manuscripts in English only. Please do not submit original art since work will not be returned. We will only contact authors if we are interested in reviewing the completed manuscript - in that case you can expect a response from us within 90 days. Please note: work published by YW will not be distributed via Amazon.
Submit your manuscript

So what is all this? A platform? An ecosystem? It does sound good, but also implausible...

Yes, some type of platform, digital for now, but hopefully physical soon as well. Definitely a type of ecosystem. Yes, perhaps involving things that may appear difficult, but all doable. A human ecosystem. An offline ecosystem of humans, celebrating arts & letters, creating, caring, contributing, and being curious.