We are the PEI Writers' Guild—a group of authors, editors, publishing industry professionals, and community-minded writers.
We’re rooted in Epekwitk (PEI) but we have a dynamic, enveloping global wingspan. We are students, and we are teachers. We write short fiction, YA, memoir, poetry, travel. We write creative nonfiction, lyric poems, ballads, poetry, and recipes. We are spoken word artists, performance poets, and we write legends, bedtime stories, and more!
Battle Tales 2026
Champion Announced!
Our annual and cherished friendly writing contest has officially come to a close, and Battle Tales Eleven proved to be one of our strongest showings yet!
We are thrilled to announce that our Battle Tales Eleven Champion is Elsie Hovey, with her story Eat This Miracle.
Our guest judge (and 2025 Battle Tales Champion) Jennifer Platts-Fanning had this to say about the winning story:
Grief is hunger for the one you’ve loved and lost. Grief is debt, devotion, the painful privilege of having loved, all at once. Eat This Miracle lays bare the terrifying beauty of love and death: gut-wrenching, raw, honest, striking, original, this story gives language to unquenchable loss. From the very first lines, the point of view grips you. You care immediately, you care hungrily, you understand this is what grief is, written with clarity by one who has loved, as all long to love, and one who’s endured loss, as all who love long to avoid, or at the very least, delay. Grief is the cost of love. It’s the debt of having known such love, and to know it, and have it reflected back in such precise, aching, poetic, and truthful language as expressed in this short story is a gift. So, I thank you, author of Eat this Miracle, for this truly remarkable piece. It will stay with me.
From three unexpected prompts — pouring out of green jars, vaguely askew teeth, and the calculus of miracles — five remarkable stories were crafted that moved, surprised, and stayed with us.
Congratulations to all of our finalists:
Elsie Hovey — Eat This Miracle 🏆
Jon Debly — Her, Kafka, and the Cuckoo Bird
Dawn Johnston — Rebel and the Witch
Jeremy Thornhill — The Ashes from Our Dreams
Joanne MacNevin — Quarantine
Thank you to our 2026 Battle Tales SPONSOR!
A heartfelt thank you to our Battle Tales sponsor, The Gallery Coffee House & Bistro and Fritz Chocolates, for so generously donating their stunning space for our Finale event, for contributing beautiful and meaningful items as part of this year’s Battle Tales prizes, and for continuing to support writing on PEI in such an unwavering way. If you have yet to visit The Gallery Coffee House & Bistro, it’s a must-stop while you’re in the Charlottetown area! Stop in today to support this amazing local business as they so kindly support us/art/community!
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Our mission is to promote writing on Epekwitk, PEI, and to inspire, support, and encourage established, emerging, and potential writers to find their voice, improve their craft, and experience success in their writing.
