Monday Markets and Jobs for Writers

The weekly batch of no-fee, paying competitions, contests, and calls for submissions—plus jobs for those of us who write (especially those of us who write fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction). These posts are intended to complement/supplement monthly issues of The Practicing Writer newsletter (current issue here).

  • For the new Novel Gazing, Electric Lit’s personal essay series about the way stories shape our lives, we’re asking: What’s a book that almost killed you? This could mean the book whose ideas landed you in physical danger, or the book that fell on your head and gave you a concussion (assuming that you can tell the latter story in a fully-realized way). If you had a run-in with the Necronomicon, if you risked your life mimicking the exploits of your favorite heroine, if you misunderstood a mycology manual, if you once vowed to eat every page of Moby-Dick and almost choked, now’s the time to tell your story. It’s okay if the “book” in question isn’t strictly a book — movies, TV, and other narrative media will do….Essays should not be longer than 4,000 words or shorter than 800, and payment is $60 per piece. Submissions will remain open through September 21.” NB: Electric Lit is also currently receiving submissions of poetry and graphic narrative for Recommended Reading Commuter, which pays $100. The deadline appears to be a day earlier. Guidelines at the same location.
  • The Ploughshares Blog is accepting pitches for critical essays, personal essays, blended longform essays, interviews, book reviews. Guidelines vary by category (as do pay rates, which seem to be low in general but, in some cases, specify minimum payments only and evidently pay more depending on word count).
  • Caught this one on Twitter (thanks to Andrew Shattuck McBride). From Jamie Berrout: “submissions are open for trans women of color who’d like to publish their chapbook/zine length writing in the booklet series. this pays $200 at the time of publication & advances are available for black trans women pitching long-form pieces (5-8k words).”
  • The Verse Kraken Writing Retreat, scheduled for May 2019 in Brittany, France, offers a free-to-apply scholarship opportunity. The scholarship “includes accommodation in one of the shared rooms, meals and tuition, but does not include transportation.” (I might have missed it, but I don’t see an application deadline—although if you’re not applying for the scholarship there is a deadline indicated for an early-bird discount.)
  • Applications have opened for the 2019 A Public Space Fellowships. Three fellowships will be awarded, each of which will include “six months of editorial support from A Public Space editors to prepare a piece of prose for publication in the magazine; a $1,000 honorarium; the opportunity to meet with members of the publishing community, including agents, editors, and published writers; the opportunity to participate in a public reading and conversation in New York City with A Public Space editors and contributors.” NB: “​Only writers who have not yet published or been contracted to write a book-length work are eligible. International applicants are encouraged to apply, but we are only able to consider submissions in English.” Deadline: October 15, 2018.
  • From Jennifer Baker: “Part-Time (Temp) Gig Alert from October-December/January! I’m gonna be traveling a bunch for the anthology I edited and that means I can foresee delays on the Minorities in Publishing (MiP) podcast, so I need help. I’ll pay $400/month for a Podcast Assistant. This would be PT, make your own hours, remote job.” (FYI: My recent Q&A with Jenn has been added to the interview archive right here on the site.) UPDATE: AS OF WEDNESDAY EVENING (9/19), I UNDERSTAND THAT JENN IS “AT CAPACITY” WITH APPLICATIONS FOR THIS POSITION.
  • Words Without Borders is looking for a School Outreach Coordinator for a “short-term, contract position” in New York.
  • “Literary Hub is seeking a full-time senior editor. This editor will have an integral role in the continued growth and development of the site, working closely with the managing editor and editor in chief.” The job is in New York City. Apply by September 20.
  • Boston Children’s Hospital invites applications for an Artist-in-Residence/Creative Writer. Pays: “per diem.”
  • In Ohio, “Ashland University seeks a full-time Administrative Director of the MFA in Creative Writing and Managing Editor of Publications. This 12 month position reports to the MFA Director, the Director of the Ashland Poetry Press, and the Editor of River Teeth. Ashland University founded one of the first undergraduate creative writing programs in the country and is well known in the literary world for the stature of its publications – Ashland Poetry Press and River Teeth. The successful candidate will have background in canonized and/or contemporary literature and experience in working with production of literary publications.”
  • The Fellowship in Creative Writing at the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics at the University of Pittsburgh is a “two-year fellowship in a ‘creative think tank’ for African American and African diasporic poetry and poetics, housed in a lively English/ creative writing program, beginning fall 2019. $48,000 salary per year and health benefits provided.”
  • Open for a new season: the Job Information List: “Published by the MLA as an electronic database and as printable PDF editions, the JIL is the recognized professional source for announcements of full-time faculty positions available in the fields of English and foreign languages in North American colleges and universities. Access to search the JIL is free to all users. Listings primarily announce full-time academic job openings in postsecondary departments of English and foreign languages. The job openings range in rank from instructor to full professor and include faculty positions, administrative posts, vacancies abroad, and some opportunities for nonacademic employment.” NB: I’ve consulted the JIL and curated for this post a selection of what’s offered there—in particular, if listings duplicated those I’ve already posted in recent weeks, I’ve chosen not to include them again today. If you are seeking an academic job in creative writing, I strongly recommend that you make it a habit to check the JIL regularly yourself.
  • At Wake Forest University in North Carolina, the “Department of English seeks to fill a full-time tenure-track position in Creative Writing (genre open) at the level of Assistant Professor beginning in July 2019. We seek candidates who hold a terminal degree in creative writing or literature (MFA or PhD) and whose literary practice, through traditional and/or experimental forms, engages African American, Latinx, and/or Native American contexts. Exceptional applicants at any rank may be considered.”
  • In Boston, the English Department at Suffolk University “invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position for July 1, 2019 (pending final budgetary approval). We are seeking candidates with an expertise in creative writing, specializing in multiple genres (including poetry) who will also edit the literary magazine Salamander in exchange for a course reduction.”
  • “The Department of English Language and Literature at Saint Mary’s University [Halifax, Nova Scotia] invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor in Creative Writing. The applicant will contribute to one or more of the areas of poetry, fiction, drama, creative non-fiction, and spoken word; and to expand and develop our Creative Writing Program.”
  • In Atlanta, Emory University is advertising for two poetry positions: “One Senior (Associate or Full) Professor in poetry writing and one tenure-track Assistant Professor in poetry writing for premier undergraduate Creative Writing Program. Applicants for assistant, advanced assistant, and tenured professor positions are welcome to apply. We expect to make two hires from the applicant pool.”
  • “The English Department at Seattle University invites applications for a tenure-track position of Assistant Professor in Creative Writing with a concentration in Poetry, especially New Media Poetics. Appointment begins September 2019.”
  • In Minnesota, “the Macalester College Department of English invites applications for a tenure-track position in Creative Writing-Poetry at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor. Ideal candidates will also have the ability to teach Native American or Latinx or Asian American literature.”
  • In Illinois, “the Department of English at Bradley University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Creative Writing: Poetry.”
  • “The Department of English at Franklin & Marshall College [Pennsylvania] invites applications for a tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor or Instructor level depending on qualifications, beginning Fall 2019. We seek a creative writer specializing in nonfiction.”
  • In Ohio, “the Department of English at The College of Wooster invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor of English with a specialization in fiction writing and an ability to teach post-1945 American literatures, beginning August 2019. We are especially interested in candidates who might contribute to one or more of the college’s interdisciplinary programs, such as Film Studies, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Africana Studies, Latin American Studies and Environmental Studies.”
  • In Philadelphia, “Temple University’s Department of English is seeking a fiction writer to join the MFA Program in Creative Writing as a tenure-track Assistant Professor, to begin in Fall 2019.”
  • In New York State, “the Department of English at Skidmore College invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant or Associate Professor in creative writing/fiction.”
  • “The Department of English in the College of Arts & Sciences at Texas Tech University seeks a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Creative Writing with a specialization in fiction and a primary emphasis on novel writing beginning in Fall 2019. Preference will be given to candidates with a significant record of quality publications, including at least one novel in print or under contract, and a secondary specialization in translation and/or in any of the following areas: Latinx American Literature, Native American Literature, Asian American Literature, African American Literature, Disability Studies, or Graphic Literature.”
  • “The department of English at St. Thomas University, located in Miami Gardens, FL, is offering a full-time faculty position at the Assistant Professor level to teach undergraduate courses in composition and creative writing beginning Spring 2019. Candidate must hold an MFA in creative writing and have a strong publication record in either poetry or fiction. Since the course load, 4-4 at the present time, also primarily includes courses in first-year composition, applicants must also have at least several years of English Comp experience in order to be considered. Since we are currently offering only one introductory course in Creative Writing, the candidate will also be required to create several new courses in the field in order to enrich our current writing curriculum.”
  • “UNC Asheville’s English Department invites applications for an 18-month visiting professor position (starting in January 2019), with a specialization in prose fiction (with additional expertise in poetry, playwriting or creative nonfiction a plus)….Academic responsibilities include: teaching undergraduate creative writing courses, first-year writing, introductory and upper-level literature courses, and courses in our liberal arts core curriculum: Humanities, Arts and Ideas, first-year colloquia, diversity intensives. We particularly welcome candidates with creative/research interest areas that include but are not limited to Postcolonial Literature, African-American Literature, Digital Media, and Queer Studies.
  • In Massachusetts, “the Amherst College Department of English invites applications from fiction writers for the position of visiting writer, to begin July 1, 2019….This position entails a three-quarters load per year (two writing courses of one’s own design and one literature course of one’s own design), in addition to advising senior theses. The appointment is for three years. Candidates must have published at least one book. Previous experience teaching creative writing is desirable.”
  • “Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina invites distinguished fiction writers to apply for a one semester, non-renewable professorship, the McGee Professor of Writing, for appointment in the Spring 2020 semester.”
  • “Kenyon College, a highly selective, nationally ranked liberal arts college in central Ohio, invites applications from distinguished, mid-career teachers and writers for an endowed chair in creative writing, to begin in August 2019. Appointment rank will depend on prior experience. A preference will be given to writers of fiction and/or nonfiction prose, especially in innovative subfields such as graphic, speculative, or young adult literary fiction. A successful candidate will already have earned significant public recognition. The Thomas Professor will be in residence throughout the academic year, with a 2/2 teaching load primarily dedicated to courses in fiction-writing and nonfiction-writing at all levels.”
  • At Princeton University in New Jersey, “the Humanities Council and the Program in Journalism welcome proposals from journalists and writers who wish to teach seminars in journalism as visiting Ferris Professors of Journalism, or seminars in other kinds of non-fiction related to journalism as visiting McGraw Professors of Writing. Full-time and part-time positions are available for one semester only: fall 2019 (September 1 through January 31) or spring 2020 (February 1 through June 30). Full-time visiting professors take a leave from daily journalism to devote themselves fully to teaching. They must be present on campus four days each week (on average) and participate fully in University life. Part-time visiting professors must commute to campus once per week for the 12-week term, as well as the week of Reading Period.”
  • 4 thoughts on “Monday Markets and Jobs for Writers

    1. Robin says:

      Hi Erika,

      Just to say, the deadline for the Verse Kraken Writing Retreat is December 15th (https://www.clairetrevien.co.uk/writing-retreat, “Application Process”).

      Thanks for publishing “Monday Markets” and “The Practicing Writer”–they’re immensely helpful!

      Robin

      1. Erika Dreifus says:

        Thanks, Robin! And I’m glad to see that the info page has been updated to specify that deadline for the scholarship.

    2. Michael says:

      Hi, Erika,

      I enjoy and appreciate your newsletter and also all the opportunities you list here and elsewhere. I was wondering if you could also list any online adjunct opportunities that you might run across, whether part-time or full-time. That would be helpful for someone like me who cannot relocate.

      Thank you very much for all you do for writers!

      Michael

      1. Erika Dreifus says:

        Thanks, Michael. I certainly have shared such opportunities when I’ve seen them. I simply don’t see them as often.

    Comments are closed.