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.

• “For an upcoming issue, Creative Nonfiction seeks pitches for essays addressing/highlighting/grappling with the evolution of the genre. We’re interested in histories, observations, arguments, speculations, and perspectives on the genre’s past (where we’ve been), present (where we are), and future (where we’re headed). We hope for thoughtful explorations of specific forms and subgenres; we also enthusiastically invite discussions of voice, audience, privilege, race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity and cultural background, education, and economics in relation to the development, growth, success (and perhaps, also, failures or limitations) of the creative nonfiction genre. We’re committed to featuring the widest possible variety of voices. Your idea should be something that you could cover in 1,000 – 1,500 words in the finished piece, although we will also consider commissioning longer pieces. This is a paying market. Accepted pieces will be due by early May.” Deadline for pitches: March 15.
• “Gutter is a magazine of new Scottish and international writing. We look for work that challenges, re-imagines or undermines the status quo; that pushes at the boundaries of form and function; that is striking and beautiful. Gutter Magazine is dedicated to creating space for poetry and prose in Scotland and beyond. For prose, we accept both fiction and creative non-fiction. We will also consider publishing drama scripts of literary merit.” Pays: £25. “This will be paid by cheque made out to the author name, please specify if you wish to be paid under a different name. Published authors will also receive a complimentary copy of the issue.” Deadline: March 15.
• “Playing With Reality, Immerse’s May/June 2021 issue, will be themed around games and nonfiction media. We are interested in probing the influence of game engines, tools, infrastructure, and logics on immersive nonfiction storytelling projects. We are also interested in how immersive and emerging forms of nonfiction interact with and in turn affect gaming platforms, spaces, narratives, and notions of audiences. We are seeking proposals for pieces of 1200–1500 words that critically and imaginatively reflect on these approaches….Proposals should be 200 words or less in length and submitted by Friday, April 2, 2021….Accepted proposals will be notified by mid-April. Our standard fee is $250.”
• Shared on the My Machberet blog last Friday: paying calls from TC Jewfolk and Protocols.
• In Minneapolis, the Milkweed Fellowship is “a paid, one- to two-year immersion program is designed to offer the tools, experience, and exposure necessary to pursue a career in book publishing or nonprofit fundraising.” Application deadline: March 22.
• Seattle’s Hugo House is currently receiving Writer-in-Residence applications. Deadline: March 31.
• “Catapult is looking for a forward-thinking, self-motivated editor to join a dynamic and hardworking editorial team and help lead the digital magazine (catapult.co) as it evolves.” NB: “Open to remote applicants in 2021; would ideally want this position to be based in NYC in 2022.”
• In Virginia, “the George Mason University Department of English invites applications for an Associate Director of Watershed Lit: Center for Literary Engagement and Publishing Practice.”
• In Kentucky, “the Department of English and Philosophy at Murray State invites applications for the position of Assistant Professor of Creative Writing, fiction concentration.”
• In New York, “the English department at St. Lawrence University invites applications for a one-year, full time visiting appointment in poetry writing and screenwriting for the 2021-22 academic year. We plan to offer in-person courses for the academic year. The successful candidate will offer coursework in beginning and advanced poetry writing, as well as in the literary genre of poetry. The successful candidate will also offer coursework in beginning and advanced screenwriting.
• “The Mile-High MFA in Creative Writing Low-Residency Program at Regis University seeks qualified candidates for an Affiliate Faculty position to teach Fantasy Fiction and/or Creative Nonfiction in our low-residency program.” NB: “Pay begins at $2,300 and increases according to enrollment.”