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 November 15. “We are a paying market that offers contributors $15, regardless of how many poems are selected.”
• “2020 stinks. That’s why we’ve got our eyes to the future. For one issue, the Arkansas International is morphing into the Arkansas Intergalactic, an exploration of the futuristic and otherworldly. For this themed issue we’re looking for science fiction and speculative work of all genres. Send us your weird, your uncanny, your utopic or dystopic — it just might find a home in our pages. We welcome previously unpublished, unsolicited submissions of fiction, poetry, essays, comics, and works in translation from both established and emerging voices.” Deadline: December 1. “Until we reach our monthly cap with Submittable, there will be no fee to submit.” Pays: “$20 a printed page (capped at $250).”
• Chicken Soup for the Soul has just announced a new book project, titled I’m Speaking Now: Black Women Share Their Truth in 101 Stories of Love, Courage and Hope. “We’re looking for everything from the serious to the silly. There will be 101 [true] stories, so we can go wide and deep, and we’d like to share stories from Black women of all ages, from late teens to women in their nineties.” Deadline is January 15, 2021, “but submissions will be reviewed as they come in, so please don’t wait until the deadline.” The Story Guidelines page “will answer many of your questions about subject matter, length, and style.” Pays: $200 plus 10 free copies.
• From Mitzi Szereto: “I’m currently seeking original new material for two separate books in my true crime franchise, The Best New True Crime Stories. Please scroll all the way down to see both calls.” Payment: “One-time payment per story: USD $130, and 2 print copies of the book.”
• New-award alert: “The Bergman Prize awards $10,000 and publication to the author of a first or second collection of poetry. In the prize’s inaugural year, the winning manuscript will be selected by poet Louise Glück and published by Changes. The prizewinner receives a generous publishing contract, national distribution through PGW, extensive advertising & publicity, 100 free copies of their book, as well as a two-week summer residency at Castello San Basilio (Southern Italy) in 2021 and a fall book launch at McNally Jackson in New York City. Submissions open on January 1, 2021 and close on March 1, 2021.” As with everything else I curate for you here, there is no entry fee.
• At Emory University in Atlanta, “the Creative Writing Program seeks applicants for [a] two-year Fellowship in Poetry.”
• “The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, one of the nation’s leaders in residency programs for emerging artists and writers, seeks a full-time online program manager for its year-round workshops program in creative writing.” NB: “This position is remote-friendly.”
• “Milkweed Editions, one of the nation’s leading independent book publishers, seeks a Marketing & Publicity Associate. This position requires an individual to work some full days per week in our warehouse, which is located in the Open Book literary center in downtown Minneapolis.”
• The North Carolina Arts Council is advertising for a Theater and Literature Director who “promotes writers, literary organizations, theater artists, and theater organizations through programs, resources, technical assistance, and partnerships. This position administers grant funds to literary and theater organizations, along with fellowships and residency programs for individual artists. Position provides a range of consultation and programmatic services to literary and theater constituents, including but not limited to providing professional development workshops, organizing roundtables, and setting up readings for Fellowship recipients. This position assists with the state Poet Laureate selection process and provides support to the Poet Laureate appointed by the Governor, as needed. The Theater and Literature Director responds to general inquiries from the public, as needed, determining appropriate referral resources both in-house and at the local/state/national levels.”
• In New York, “Sarah Lawrence College is seeking a new Director to expand upon the success of its distinguished Writing Institute. The Writing Institute Director will build new audiences and create new opportunities for non-degree program offerings while fostering connections with the College’s undergraduate and graduate programs to strengthen the writing ecosystem at Sarah Lawrence.”
• “The Creative Writing Program at Oberlin College invites applications for a full-time tenure-track faculty position in the College of Arts and Sciences in the general area of Fiction, with special consideration given to candidates with secondary expertise in screenwriting, writing for performance, translation, creative nonfiction, or graphic narrative. Initial appointment to this position will be for a term of four years, beginning fall semester of 2021, and will carry the rank of Assistant Professor. We seek candidates with a strong record of achievement in undergraduate teaching, and a firm commitment to diversity and equity in education.”