On September 12, 2006, the much-anticipated literary anthology Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families, will be published by Random House. Drawn from the acclaimed National Endowment for the Arts program and edited by the best-selling author Andrew Carroll, the anthology includes nearly 100 letters, poems, stories, and memoirs of service and sacrifice on the front lines and at home.

Those are the words that greet you on the National Initiatives page of the National Endowment for the Arts. The project, Operation Homecoming, has been two years in the making. Launched in 2004, the project offered workshops in writing at 25 different domestic and overseas military installations, and sent out a call for submissions to troops who have served in any branch of the service since 9/11. That call drew over 10,000 submissions for inclusion in an anthology. All of those submissions will be permanently archived by the federal government.

The workshops were conducted by writers and poets who included Tom Clancy, Mark Bowden, Bobbie Ann Mason, Tobias Wolff, Jeff Shaara, and Marilyn Nelson. They encouraged servicemen and their families to open up and write honestly and creatively about their experiences during wartime – and the result, according to those who have seen advance copies of the book, is nothing less than stunning.

The anthology is edited by Andrew Carroll, the editor of War Letters, a collection of letters written by soldiers during various engagements. Beginning September 16, Carroll will be doing a 30 city tour to promote the book Operation Homecoming. For tour dates, visit Book tour dates.