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.

• Tinderbox Poetry Journal is open for submissions until May 20. Pays: “$15, regardless of how many poems are selected.” (As you learn more about the journal, you might want to peruse Trish Hopkinson’s recent interview with Editor-in-Chief Hannah Dow.)
• Barrelhouse is open for essay submissions until “the end of the day” on May 24. They’re interested “only in essays that deal, in one way or another, with pop culture, though pop culture here is defined in a fairly broad way (essays we’ve published have included: roller derby, Night of the Living Dead, hip-hop, Guns N’ Roses, The Far Side, heavy metal screams, Adrian Grenier, Rulon Gardner/Olympic wrestling, sports mascots, roller coasters, The Real Housewives franchise, and more). Ideally, the pop culture angle is a lens for discussing more than just a particular cultural artifact (i.e., we’re not into movie or album reviews, or TV show recaps, and we’re very bored by 2 page rants about how you hate some specific celebrity).” Payment: $50.
• UK-based freelancers: Sian Meades, whose Freelance Writing Jobs newsletter you should be subscribing to, is offering something very generous:  “six grants of £100 each for freelance writers who have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.” Each recipient will also receive an hour-long mentoring session with her (over phone or Zoom). Deadline: “midnight (UK time) on 24th May 2020.”
• From @Ryan_Schnurr at Belt magazine: “Hello writers: I have a freelance budget for essays with a strong sense of (Rust Belt/Midwestern) place. $100-$200, depending on length. Pitch me!” (HT @WeisChoice)
• Attention, Canadians! May I introduce Cloud Lake Literary? “We seek and accept submissions from across Canada and are always looking for new writers and artists. We currently publish fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and children’s literature (ages up to and including YA). In addition to written work, we seek and accept submissions of visual art from artists across Canada.” Receives submissions year-round, but work received by June 30 will be considered for the fall 2020 issue. Payment: $50 CAD per page to a maximum of $150 CAD for writing; $50 CAD per submission for visual art. (HT @Duotrope)
• Quick reminder that we’re a little more than halfway through May; if you haven’t yet read this month’s edition of The Practicing Writer, you’ll still find there plenty of fee-free, paying opportunities that remain open.
• “The Department of English at Michigan State University invites applications to fill a two-year (9 month) full-time fixed-term Assistant Professor in Creative Writing beginning August 16, 2020. Teaching responsibilities include three courses per semester (3/3 teaching load), to fill areas of department need. The successful applicant must be able to teach a multi-genre Introduction to Creative Writing course, as well as single-genre workshops in fiction at the introductory and advanced levels. Secondary areas of expertise in creative nonfiction and arts programming are desirable.”
• The Geffen Academy at UCLA is advertising for an educator to deliver “an excellent summer Creative Writing/Poetry enrichment course for the Academy’s secondary school students. The Educator will teach one section, up to as many as fourteen (14) classes which are 75 minutes long, over a three (3)/four (4) week period.” NB: The “recruitment period” for this position ends on May 22.
• “The Department of English at the University of California, Davis invites applications for an open-rank visiting faculty appointment in the area of creative writing with a specialty in fiction or nonfiction.”
• Southern New Hampshire University is currently seeking online adjunct faculty to teach in its Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) program.

Quick reminder: I continue to update this site’s new page of info on Covid-19-focused emergency grants and related info for writers. Check it out at bit.ly/EmergencyResourcesWriters, and please share as you find appropriate.