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.

• The Poetry Foundation seeks “several independent contractors to write short (150-300 word) reviews of new poetry books for the soon to be launched Harriet Books component of the Poetry Foundation website.” Payment: “We offer competitive pay at $175 per review + $35/hr for meetings.” Deadline: February 2.
• “The Bethesda Urban Partnership & The Writer’s Center have partnered on the 2021 Poetry Contest. All Poetry Contest winners will be published on the Bethesda Urban Partnership website and honored at a special virtual event during Local Writer’s Showcase in April 2021.” Michael Collier will judge. “Residents of Washington, D.C. and the select counties of Maryland (Montgomery, Prince George’s, Howard and Frederick) and Virginia (Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William) are eligible.” Cash prizes range from $75 for honorable mention to $350 for first place. Deadline: February 5. 
• From Belt Publishing: “We are currently soliciting proposals to edit one volume of a new series of books about music in the Midwest, with a focus on the Rust Belt. Each volume will focus on one genre and one city (some examples would be Cleveland Post-Punk, Chicago House, Detroit Garage Rock). Editors will write an introduction as well as conduct or compile interviews and/or oral histories with musicians and producers. Editors should be experienced music critics with deep ties to the city. All will receive an advance and royalties.” (Scroll down the page for the announcement.)
• In Minnesota, the Anderson Center’s Jerome Emerging Artist Residency Program offers month-long residency-fellowships at Tower View to a cohort of early-career artists from Minnesota or one of the five boroughs of New York City for concentrated, uninterrupted creative time to advance their personal artistic goals and projects. The program aims to meet the specific needs of emerging artists while welcoming them into a supportive and inspiring residency environment that empowers them to take risks, embrace challenges, and utilize unconventional approaches to problem-solving.  Thanks to support from the Jerome Foundation, selected emerging artists receive a $625/week artist stipend, documentation support, art-making resources, facilitation of community connections, lodging & studio space, a travel honorarium, groceries, and chef-prepared communal dinners.” Applications close February 15.
• Anna Halkidis, Digital Features Editor at Parents, is looking for “personal essay & big trend pitches for Parents.com.” (Payment not specified.)
• From Kristen Radtke, Art Director at The Believer: “CALL FOR PITCHES: Looking for writers for @believermag‘s schema, which is a spread that categorizes something cultural in an uncommon way. 500-1,000 words, flat rate is $500.” Details threaded on Twitter.
• Reminder: By this time next week, the February issue of The Practicing Writer 2.0 will have been sent out to subscribers. Meantime, you will still find fee-free, paying opportunities that remain open for your submissions/entries/applications in the January issue. (Remember: Nothing listed in the monthly newsletter is limited to residents of a single city/state/province, although the weekly blog posts do encompass those more restricted opportunities.)
• The Poetry Foundation is also hiring “an independent contractor to curate a weekly roundup of poetry-related news from around the internet, for the soon to be launched Harriet Books component of the Poetry Foundation website.” Compensation: “We offer competitive pay at $300 per news roundup + $35/hr for up to 2 monthly meetings.” Apply by February 2.
• Commonplace, a podcast founded and hosted by poet Rachel Zucker, “seeks part-time help to assist with social media and digital marketing strategy.” Compensation: “Commensurate with experience but not less than living wage based on where you live and will start with a trial period (one week of planned social media engagement).” Apply by February 5.
• “Publishers Weekly, the leading B2B news and reviews platform servicing the publishing industry, is seeking a Nonfiction Reviews Editor with impeccable editing and writing skills. Under the direction of the Executive Editor, this individual will primarily be responsible for assigning and editing pre-publication reviews of nonfiction books, assigning and editing author interviews, and contributing to our twice-yearly announcements issues and other features as needed.”
• In New York, the English Department of Barnard College seeks “an entry-level, tenure-track Assistant Professor, or renewable Assistant Professor of Professional Practice, to serve as Associate Director and administrative head of Creative Writing. This appointment will involve a 4-course teaching load, with a one-course release for administrative duties, to begin July 1, 2021. Management of Barnard’s active, and historically distinguished Creative Writing program includes course assignments, public readings, internal and external prize committees, student advising, and appointment of adjunct writing staff. A post-baccalaureate fellow assists with these tasks. We seek a creative writer in any genre. An MFA or PhD is preferred, but not required, and evidence of some administrative experience is strongly preferred. The successful applicant will show evidence of readiness to teach Barnard’s increasingly diverse student body, and will have an established record of publication.”
• Minnesota State University Mankato is advertising for an assistant professor who is a poetry specialist.
• “The Literature and Creative Writing Department of Hamilton College invites applications for a practicing fiction writer to fill a one-year position at the rank of Visiting Assistant Professor, starting July 1, 2021.”
• In Philadelphia, “the M.F.A. program in Creative Writing at Temple University invites applications for the position of Visiting Instructor of Creative Writing (Fiction). This two-year adjunct appointment will begin in the Fall 2021 semester. The Visiting Instructor will teach two courses in the fall and one course in the spring, most likely all graduate-level courses. Additionally, the Visiting Instructor will be asked to assist with administrative work such as application review and thesis advising. Salary is expected to be $10,000 per course and $10,000 for administrative work, for a total of $40,000 per year.”