How to Fold a Country is a glorious mess of misplaced luggage, mistaken identities, forgotten ancestral homes, misbehaved translation apps, equally misbehaved in-laws, and one disaster involving a border guard named Pavel. This is your chance to write about the coffee shop you fled, the city you invented entirely from memory and mild dehydration, or the country you folded neatly into thirds and crammed into the wrong suitcase. This is memory with jet lag mixed with alcohol sedation, geography in denial, and a full-blown meltdown in the duty-free aisle — all held together with a half-torn boarding pass with a suspicious stain.
Bring your wit. Bring your weird. Bring your emotional shit. Bring your chaos tightly knit.
All proceeds will go to World Central Kitchen.
Paperclip Atlas: The Curious Book of Places is a travel-inspired anthology series celebrating the wonder of places. From forgotten towns to poetic landscapes, airport terminals to ancestral homes, this book curates place-based stories that are lyrical, evocative, deeply personal, often witty, occasionally absurd. This is not a travel guide. It’s a cartography of memory, curiosity, and cultural pulse, as seen and felt through the eyes of seasoned storytellers.
We want stories that feel curious, witty, lyrical, and emotionally sharp. This isn’t about bucket lists or grand tours, it’s about place as memory, metaphor, or witness. Take us somewhere: a dusty street in 1987, a city you invented, or a border that folded you in two.
We welcome literary fiction, creative nonfiction, travelogue, autofiction, and surreal or speculative realism. Humor, satire, and poetic fragments are also invited, as long as each piece is grounded in a strong sense of place: a specific geographical setting, whether real, imagined, or emotionally constructed.
Writers from anywhere in the world.
We welcome global perspectives, hybrid identities, border-crossers, and suitcase-dwellers. If a real or imagined place has shaped you — or misshaped you — this call is yours.
For New Writers: If you've always dreamed of becoming a published author, but the idea of writing a full 100,000-word book feels daunting and overwhelming, this is your chance. One powerful story. A few thousand words. And your name, published in print.
In a world where borders are drawn in ink and blood, World Central Kitchen crosses them with hot meals and human compassion. Paperclip is proud to dedicate this anthology’s profits to an organization that brings nourishment, dignity, and immediate aid to people affected by crisis. What better way to honor the power of a place, than to help rebuild it where it's needed most?
Stories must be 2,000–5,000 words.
Submit as Google Doc or Word Doc via the submission link below.
Formatting: Double-spaced, 12pt serif font (e.g., Times New Roman, Garamond)
Include a cover page with story title and your name
Include a short bio on the last page (as you'd like it printed in the book)
We welcome the use of AI tools for research, brainstorming, or structuring ideas, but the story itself must be written by you. We want this book to reflect your voice, your memory, and your unique way of seeing the world. Let AI be your map, not your pen.
Follow the steps: join Paperclip, confirm your spot, and send us your polished piece. Let’s fold countries together.
