Every migration story begins before the first step is taken — in a longing, a fear, a letter, a dream. And it continues long after arrival, in the people left behind, in the communities reshaped by welcome, in the children who inherit a language they never had to learn to cross.
The Tapestry is an invitation to bring that story into the light.
In 2026, the Gallery of Human Migration opens its literary recognition to writers from every country — not to find a single winner, but to curate a living collection of voices. Each selected story becomes a thread. Together, they form something larger than any one voice: a tapestry that reflects the full, complex humanity of migration.
This is not a competition. It is an act of curation — and of care.
The Tapestry is the 2026 edition of the Gallery’s Migration Literary Award: an international, non-competitive literary recognition program that honours personal and ancestral migration stories through curated publication and long-term visibility.
In place of rankings and prizes, The Tapestry offers something rarer: relation.
Stories are selected not to stand above others, but to stand beside them—grouped into three narrative perspectives that allow readers to encounter migration in its full dimensionality.
There is no podium. There is no elimination beyond the curatorial process itself. Every selected voice is honoured equally.
We invite stories that speak from one—or across—three lived positions in the migration experience. These are not categories to be sorted into. They are windows onto the same human event, each revealing what the others cannot.
Those left behind.The family member who stays. The mother who watches from the window long after the car has disappeared. The sibling who keeps laughing at old jokes with no one to hear them. The community whose fabric shifts, quietly and irrevocably, when a life departs.
These stories carry love, loss, pride, and the particular courage of holding a place—of being the one who remains, and who remembers.
Those on the Move.The one who steps into the unknown. The migrant who carries two worlds at once—what is left behind and what has not yet been found. These stories trace the arc of departure and arrival, the ache of nostalgia alongside the pull of possibility, and the slow, transformative work of becoming.
Migration, here, is the bridge: between memory and imagination, between the home you left and the home you are still building.
Those Who Receive.The new community. The neighbour. The colleague. The society into which a migrant arrives. These stories illuminate what happens when worlds meet—the friction and the grace, the challenge of inclusion, and the quiet ways a community is permanently reshaped by the arrival of someone new.
Reception is not passive. It is a place of negotiation, of understanding—and, at its best, of transformation.
The Gallery’s four guiding themes — Beckoning, Beginning, Becoming, and Belonging—are more than a framework. They are an invitation to inhabit your story more fully.
The pull before the departure. A feeling more than a decision—something calling from a direction you cannot yet name. A letter. A rumour. A war. An opening. Beckoning lives in the one about to move. And in the one who, still at home, begins to feel the shape of an absence forming.
The act of leaving. The rupture. The first morning in an unfamiliar place where nothing — not the light, the language, the silence — is the same. Beginning holds disorientation and wonder in equal measure. It is the hardest thread to pull through the loom. And the one that changes colour most dramatically as it moves.
The slow, non-linear work of transformation. You find one day that you are using a word you did not know two years ago. That you dream in two languages. That you cook the old recipe with ingredients from the new place. Becoming is not the erasure of where you came from. It is the living conversation between what you were and what you are still turning into.
Not arrival. Not papers or anthems or finally passing as local. Belonging is quieter than all of that. It is the morning; you wake, and the place feels, without announcement, like yours. It does not mean you have forgotten where you left from. It means you have found the place inside yourself where both can live.
We ask writers to use these four moments as a structural guide as they shape their submission:
Beckoning — What called? What pulled, pushed, or whispered go? What was the moment before the movement?
Beginning — What did departure feel like from the inside? What was left. What was carried.
Becoming—How did the journey change you, or those around you? What was gained, what was lost, what was remade?
Belonging — Where — if anywhere — does the story come to rest? What does home mean now?
Not every story will move through all four in equal measure. Some will dwell in one. Others will circle back. Let the 4Bs guide your reflection, not constrain it.
Stories are read and selected by the 2026 curatorial jury — a group of writers, scholars, and cultural practitioners brought together not to judge, but to curate.
Their task is to identify voices that, in relation to one another, form a coherent and meaningful collection — one that honours the full range of migration experience across perspective, geography, emotion, and form.
Jury Chair: Professor Roberto Perin Historian, immigration specialist, and former Chair of the 2025 jury, Professor Perin brings deep scholarly grounding and an abiding commitment to the dignity of migration stories. His return as Chair anchors the 2026 edition in the same spirit of rigour and care that shaped the first.
Additional jury members will be announced in the coming months.
Results announced: November 1, 2026.
Who may submit The Tapestry is open internationally to any writer who has reached the age of majority in their province, territory, or country. Professional and previously unpublished writers are equally welcome.
What to submit Each author may submit one short story, written in English, of strictly between 3,000 and 4,500 words.
Within the body of your story, you may incorporate up to three poems. You may also submit up to three visual artworks — photographs, drawings, or other visual work — as a separate file. Visuals enrich the story; they do not replace word count.
Previously published work Submissions must not have been previously published in a journal, magazine, anthology, or book at the time of submission. Work shared on personal blogs or social media is eligible.
One submission per author.
Administrative fee A non-refundable administrative fee of CAD $25 is required to complete your submission.
How to submit Submit your story using the online form.
Submission deadline August 31, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Toronto Eastern Time.
Selected stories are honoured through:
The Gallery is also exploring the possibility of a formal digital and print anthology of selected works. We will share that news as soon as it takes shape.
Before submitting, please read the 2026 Official Rules and 2026 FAQs. For additional questions: events@galleryofhumanmigration.org
March 31, 2026
Call for Submissions Opens
August 31, 2026
Submission Deadline
All stories must be submitted by 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
November 1, 2026
Results Announced
Selected authors notified and publicly announced through the Gallery’s channels.
The Gallery of Human Migration invites writers and storytellers from around the world to submit original, unpublished migration stories for the 2026 edition of The Tapestry.
This is not a traditional literary prize. There is no single winner. Instead, The Tapestry is a curated recognition of voices, an annual selection of stories that, together, form a living collection of migration experiences.
The Tapestry is open internationally to writers who:
Both emerging and established writers are equally welcome. One submission per author.
Format and Length
Optional Creative Additions
Author Information
AI Use
Use of AI tools for support is permitted. The creative storytelling, voice, and authorship must be your own.
We seek stories that reflect the full complexity of migration—its courage and cost, its ruptures and renewals. The curatorial jury considers:
Originality and Creativity
Does the story offer a unique perspective or creative approach to the migration experience?
Authenticity and Emotional Resonance
Does the story feel personal and honest? Does it draw the reader into the journey with emotional truthfulness — what is real, and what has a heart?
Clarity and Structure
Is the story well-organized, clearly written, and engaging to read?
Cultural and Social Insight
Resonance with the 4Bs Framework
Stories should meaningfully explore the arc of migration through the Gallery’s four guiding themes: Beckoning, Beginning, Becoming, and Belonging.
Not arrival. Not papers or anthems or finally passing as local. Belonging is quieter than all of that. It is the morning; you wake, and the place feels, without announcement, like yours. It does not mean you have forgotten where you left from. It means you have found the place inside yourself where both can live.
All selected authors will receive:
All eligible submissions are read. Depending on volume, a reading panel may conduct an initial review before work reaches the curatorial jury. The jury’s role is not to rank, but to assemble a coherent and meaningful collection of voices. Selected stories are grouped into three narrative perspectives — Those Left Behind, Those on the Move, and Those Who Receive — as interpretive frames, not evaluative categories.
There is no first, second, or third place. All selected works are honoured equally. Jury decisions are final.
Submissions that do not meet eligibility, content, or technical requirements will not be considered.
For questions about eligibility or submission, please email Nancy Perin no later than July 1, 2026, at 11:59 PM (EST).
Deadline: August 31, 2026
Eligibility: any writer, from any country, who has reached the age of majority where they live.
Word Count: 3,000-4,500 words
Administrative Fee: $25 CAD
How To Submit: Online Form
The Tapestry is the 2026 edition of the Gallery’s Migration Literary Award—an international, non-competitive literary recognition program. Rather than crowning a single winner, it curates a collection of migration voices that, together, form a living tapestry of human experience.
Because migration is not a competition — and neither are the stories that emerge from it. The Tapestry honours stories in relation, not in rivalry. Each selected voice becomes a thread in a larger collection; none stands above the others. This is a deliberate curatorial choice: the Gallery believes that plurality, dignity, and sustained engagement serve migration storytelling better than a podium.
Yes—understood as public recognition, publication, and institutional validation. The 2026 edition replaces competition and ranking with curatorial practice: stories are selected, contextualized, and honoured as a coherent collection.
Submissions are grouped into three interpretive frames:
Staying. Those Left Behind. The family member who stays. The mother who watches from the window long after the car has disappeared. The sibling who keeps laughing at old jokes with no one to hear them. The community whose fabric shifts, quietly and irrevocably, when a life departs.
These stories carry love, loss, pride, and the particular courage of holding a place—of being the one who remains, and who remembers.
Crossing. Those on the Move. The one who steps into the unknown. The migrant who carries two worlds at once—what is left behind and what has not yet been found. These stories trace the arc of departure and arrival, the ache of nostalgia alongside the pull of possibility, and the slow, transformative work of becoming.
Migration, here, is the bridge: between memory and imagination, between the home you left and the home you are still building.
Receiving. Those Who Receive. The new community. The neighbour. The colleague. The society into which a migrant arrives. These stories illuminate what happens when worlds meet—the friction and the grace, the challenge of inclusion, and the quiet ways a community is permanently reshaped by the arrival of someone new.
Reception is not passive. It is a place of negotiation, of understanding—and, at its best, of transformation.
These are not evaluative categories. They help readers encounter stories in relation to one another, reflecting different dimensions of the migration experience. They carry no hierarchy or relative merit.
The Gallery’s four guiding themes—Beckoning, Beginning, Becoming, and Belonging—invite writers to explore the arc of their migration story. Writers are asked to use these as a structural guide for their submission, not as a constraint. Watch the interview here.
The Tapestry is open to any writer, from any country, who has reached the age of majority where they live.
Both emerging and established writers are equally welcome. The Tapestry is for storytellers: migrant and diaspora writers, exploring migration, identity, displacement, and belonging; and both emerging and established voices seeking meaningful visibility rather than competition.
If you have a migration story, personal or ancestral, lyrical or grounded, then this program is for you.
No. The program is open to migration stories from any country, culture, or period in time.
Yes. The program welcomes stories told from any of the three perspectives—including those of people who stayed behind, or communities that received migrants. Ancestral stories are also eligible.
One short story, written in English, strictly between 3,000 and 4,500 words. You may include up to three poems within the body of the story, and up to three visual artworks in a separate file. Full technical requirements are in the Official Rules.
No. Submissions must not have been published in a journal, magazine, anthology, or book at the time of submission. Work shared on a personal blog or social media is eligible.
No. Please omit all personal information—name, address, email, and phone number—from the manuscript itself. Stories are read blindly. Include your contact information and author biography in the submission form only.
No. Once a story is submitted, no updated drafts or substitutions are accepted.
Yes. However, if your story is selected for The Tapestry, it must not have been published elsewhere before its appearance with the Gallery. After Gallery publication, you are free to submit it elsewhere, with acknowledgment of its inclusion in The Tapestry.
Yes, for support. The creative storytelling, voice, and authorship must be your own.
August 31, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Toronto Eastern Time.
Use the online submission form.
The CAD $25 administrative fee helps cover editorial and production costs, jury honoraria, and platform and publishing expenses. It is non-refundable.
No. Once a submission is complete, the administrative fee cannot be returned.
Through a curatorial process, not a scoring system. The jury’s role is not to judge or eliminate, but to assemble a coherent and meaningful collection of voices. They read for originality, authenticity, cultural insight, emotional resonance, and engagement with the 4Bs Framework and the three perspectives.
Once selected, no hierarchy exists among works. There is no first, second, or third place, and no internal ranking is published. All selected stories are honoured equally. The emphasis is on plurality, dialogue, and shared visibility.
Due to the volume of submissions, feedback is provided only to selected authors, primarily through curatorial notes.
November 1, 2026, through the Gallery’s channels.
Selected authors receive:
• Publication in the Gallery’s Stories Collection, a dedicated Tapestry page, newsletter, and social media channels.
• A curatorial note contextualizing the work within the 2026 selection.
• Long-term visibility within the Gallery’s living collection.
• A digital certificate featuring the Gallery’s iconic sculpture.
By submitting, authors grant the Gallery permission to publish their work as part of the 2026 edition and related activities, always with full attribution and contextual care. Please read the Content Submission Policy for full details.
Please email us at events@galleryofhumanmigration.org and we will update your entry record.
Please email Nancy Perin at events@galleryofhumanmigration.org no later than July 1, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
Stay connected with The Gallery of Human Migration by subscribing to our monthly e-newsletter!
Your story of migration, the one inherited, lived, and witnessed across generations, has a place here. The Tapestry, the 2026 edition of the Gallery’s Migration Literary Award, is an international recognition and publication initiative honouring personal and ancestral stories. Every selected voice is honoured equally. No rankings, no podium. Submissions open March 31 and close August 31, 2026.
