Erika Dreifus

Each week in this space, Practicing Writing shares no-fee, paying markets for writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction: competitions, contests, and calls for submissions. These weekly posts complement monthly issues of The Practicing Writer newsletter, where you’ll always find more listings, none of them limiting eligibility to residents of a single municipality, state, or province. (But this blog does share those more localized opportunities, including jobs.)

As always, if you’d like to share a specific opportunity listed here, please credit the blog for the find. Thanks for respecting the time and effort that I put into researching, curating, and posting this information! I do notice, and I appreciate the courtesy.

• Act fast for this one: Electric Literature’s “The Commuter” is open for poetry and graphic narrative submissions until Monday, December 23rd (11:59pm)—that’s tonight! Pays: $100.
• “Extra Teeth is a Scottish magazine with an international outlook—meaning that we will always champion and cultivate great Scottish writing, but we also publish work from writers located elsewhere. We especially welcome submissions from underrepresented groups.” What they’re looking for: “We accept creative fiction and nonfiction between 800 and 4,000 words. We look for short stories that stick with you, lingering in the memory long after reading, and essays that explore specific interests or issues from a new perspective. We offer a space for writers to be strange, bold and experimental, and to express their unique style however they see fit.” Pays: “We offer £100 for each selected piece, as well as two copies of the magazine in which the piece is featured. We pay via bank transfer within 30 days of receipt of a signed publishing agreement.” Deadline: December 31.
• “The Lyric College Poetry Contest is open to undergraduates enrolled full time in an American or Canadian college or university.” Entries must be sent via postal mail, but there is no entry fee. Cash prizes: $500/$150/$100. Deadline: December 31.
• Reminder: December 31 is also the deadline for the next cycle of the Natan Notable Books award for nonfiction on Jewish themes.
• “The Steinbeck Fellows Program of San José State University was endowed through the generosity of Martha Heasley Cox. It offers writers of any age and background a $15,000 fellowship to finish a significant writing project. Named in honor of author John Steinbeck, the program is guided by his lifetime of work in literature, the media, and environmental activism. Fellowships are currently offered in Creative Writing (excluding poetry) and Steinbeck Studies. Fellows may be appointed in many fields, including literary scholarship, fiction, drama, education, science and the media. While in residence in the San José area, Fellows are afforded office space and, when needed, housing assistance through the Center for Steinbeck Studies and the Department of English and Comparative Literature.” Deadline: January 2, 2020.
• “The New York Times Magazine is looking for a strong and experienced story editor to join our team. This is a big job for a seasoned editor, someone who knows how to generate ambitious ideas, make smart assignments for a fast-paced news and cultural publication, guide accomplished writers through their work and edit long-form narratives on a range of subjects at a very high level. “
• “The English Department at the University of South Florida is hiring a tenure-track assistant professor of creative nonfiction to start August 7, 2020. Teaching responsibilities include graduate and undergraduate creative nonfiction writing. Course load is 2/2. Additional duties include serving on graduate thesis committees. Salary is competitive.”
• “The English Department at the University of South Florida is hiring a tenure-track assistant professor of poetry to start August 7, 2020. Teaching responsibilities include graduate and undergraduate poetry writing. Course load is 2/2. Additional duties include serving on graduate thesis committees. Salary is competitive.”
• In Iowa, “Waldorf University seeks candidates for a term tenure track, full-time English & Creative Writing faculty member (residential) in the Department of English to begin August 2020. Initial faculty rank is dependent on experience. The department seeks an active writer and dedicated teacher with a demonstrated abiility to teach both fiction and creative nonfiction courses. The successful candidate will teach a 4-4 course load, to be split between creative writing and first-year composition, with the possibility for some literature courses, dependent on experience and interest.” 
• At the University of California, Riverside, “the Department of Creative Writing is recruiting for a Visiting Assistant Professor(s) for Spring 2020 to teach poetry and/or fiction, nonfiction or genres.”