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.

• From Nimrod: “We believe that Black lives matter and Black stories matter, and so we’re offering no-fee general and thematic online submissions for Black writers through July 31st. We would love to see your fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry.” Current theme: “Endings and Beginnings.” Payment: Guidelines indicate “$10/page, with a maximum payment of $200.”
• For a September issue focused on Billy Wilder, Bright Wall/Dark Room seeks essays “on all facets of [Wilder’s] life, from focuses on single films to broad surveys, from academic lenses to personal responses, and we hope you won’t be afraid to go niche—the world doesn’t need one more generalized overview of Sunset Blvd. or The Apartment….Creative approaches are always encouraged! We pay on a sliding scale based on the scope of a given piece, with a range of $100 – $300 per essay.” Deadline: July 31.
• The Brooklyn Public Library’s “newly established Poet-in-Residence program offers time, space, resources, and mentorship to a Brooklyn-based poet. The Resident will serve as a creative force to enhance the Library’s current poetry offerings while supporting BPL’s goal of providing a space where patrons of all backgrounds and every economic standing can participate in a wide range of literary and cultural programs. One chosen resident will receive a stipend of $5000, office space (social distancing rules permitting), computer use, access to Brooklyn Public Library catalogue and reserves, support from the Brooklyn Public Library staff, yearlong mentorship from the Brooklyn Poet Laureate, opportunity for civic engagement with the Brooklyn literary community via workshops and collaboration on a National Poetry Month event.” Application deadline: July 31.
• Reminder: Plenty of opportunities listed in the July issue of The Practicing Writer remain open for submissions/entries.
• Ruminate, “a nonprofit, contemplative-arts magazine in its fourteenth year of publication,” welcomes applications for a part-time (15-18 hours per week) fiction editor position. Payment will be $16/hour. Applications close tomorrow (July 21). Caught this one via the Minorities in Publishing newsletter.
• The Mary Sue seeks a part-time books editor, “preferably…someone who can work with us in our office in New York City (when that becomes possible again), but we’re open to remote applicants.” Application deadline and salary not specified. Caught this one via @WeisChoice.
• “The Wall Street Journal is looking for a columnist to write a reported column about the quirks, realities and frustrations of the workplace today. Loosely modeled on the WSJ’s popular Cubicle Culture from the early 2000s, this regular column would be told from the worker’s perspective and report what it’s like to implement the policies dictated by upper management. Among the many topics to explore: working from home vs. inside the office, demands on productivity, the challenges of incorporating technology into work, the transition in management from baby boomers to millennials, office relationships, mental health issues and more. The column should be based on reporting but we invite humor, voice and a point of view.”
• Denver-based Lighthouse Writers Workshop is advertising for a Program and Communications Coordinator and for an Administrative Associate. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these are both temporarily remote positions.