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.

• “Funicular Magazine publishes quality fiction and poetry that shocks, surprises, moves, and tickles us. Maybe all of those things in a single piece. We are a Canadian magazine and we want to publish Canadian voices, but don’t be shy if you aren’t Canadian. We love sharing international writers with our readers too.” Closes April 14. Pays:  $10/printed page (up to a maximum of $100) for a short story, $25/flash piece, $25/poem.
• “Island welcomes poetry submissions from Australian and New Zealand citizens until April 29. Pays $125/poem. “less the cost of a 4-issue subscription if you are not a current subscriber,” as explained on their website. (HT @Duotrope)
• “The Café Royal Cultural Foundation is delighted to announce our expansion to New York City.  For over ten years the foundation based in Hamburg, Germany, has supported and fostered talented artists of all kinds, enabling them to enhance their craft and realize their artistic vision. Café Royal Cultural Foundation NYC is now offering grants for artists in NYC.” For NYC-based writers (“authors of prose [fiction/creative nonfiction], poetry, and playwriting”), the deadline for a literature grant (up to $10,000) is 9 a.m. on May 17.
• “GrubStreet’s Teaching Fellowship for Black Writers provides financial and professional development support to two self-identified Black writers interested in teaching classes, participating in events, and working with our instructors and staff to deepen our curriculum. The fellowship includes compensation of $20,000, artistic mentorship, and access to the GrubStreet community and the Muse and the Marketplace conference.” NB: “Although all of our programming is currently taking place virtually, we hope that fellows will be able to join us in-person later in 2021 and in 2022. Priority will be given to applicants who will be able to join us in Boston when it’s safe to do so.” Deadline: May 25.
• From Brianna Wellen, Culture Editor at Chicago Reader: “Just a reminder that I am ALWAYS accepting arts and culture pitches for the @Chicago_Reader: reported features, criticism, profiles, etc. POC and LGBTQ+ writers encouraged to reach out! Tell me what the people of Chicago need to know about. bwellen at chicagoreader dot com.” Pays: “Rates range from $75-$400 depending on the length and type of piece (that typically covers the 250-4,000ish word range), though we’re always working on getting grants for longer pieces and special projects to offer more.”
• In Minneapolis, Coffee House Press “seeks a Publicity and Marketing Assistant to support our communications team with book and author events, awards submissions, email and social media marketing, in-house sales, and customer service. This position also co-coordinates our internship program. The ideal candidate is an adventurous reader and literary-arts enthusiast with strong written and interpersonal communication skills. They excel at detail-oriented work, enjoy collaboration, and take initiative.”
• “Third Place Books is a large independent bookstore with three locations in the greater Seattle area. We are seeking an Author Events Manager. Our Author Events Manager plans, manages, and promotes roughly 150 events/year featuring both local and nationally touring authors. Third Place Books is seeking an enthusiastic and detail oriented individual to maintain and grow our successful events program.”
• “The English Department at Eastern Illinois University invites applications for a tenure-track position in creative writing, with primary focus on poetry, at the rank of Assistant Professor.”
• In New York, “Wells College is seeking applicants for the position of ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF CREATIVE WRITING (Tenure Track), beginning August 16, 2021. We seek a colleague who can offer expertise in undergraduate fiction and nonfiction creative writing instruction while serving as a dynamic member of a small but vital English department. The successful candidate will have a demonstrated commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion.
• “The Department of English and the MFA in Creative Writing Program at the University of Idaho seek to hire a Visiting Assistant Professor or Lecturer of Fiction. This is a full time, academic year appointment with the possibility of renewal, with a 2/3 teaching load at lower- and upper-division levels, including graduate workshops and seminars. Areas of specialization include the writing and study of contemporary fiction with emphasis on a range of conventional and experimental forms. Additional responsibilities include directing MFA theses, and service to the department, university, and profession. Continuing creative and/or scholarly activity is expected. Secondary expertise in creative nonfiction is desirable. Visiting Faculty customarily indicates that the appointee holds a regular teaching or research position at another institution. A visiting appointee who does not hold a professorial rank elsewhere may be designated as a lecturer.”
• “The University of South Alabama English Department invites applications for a non-tenure track, 9-month, one-year-only Assistant Professor of Creative Writing position, starting August 15, 2021. This position is primarily in fiction although a secondary genre is encouraged.”
• “The Creative & Professional Writing Program at The University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg is seeking a full-time Visiting Teaching Writer-in-Residence to begin in the fall term 2021. The ideal candidate will have published 1-2 books of fiction with a national press; have significant, cross-genre national publications or awards; and must hold a MFA degree or terminal degree in the field. Expertise and publications in multiple genres, especially poetry, would be ideal, as would the ability and expertise to contribute to a developing Writing and Healing Arts course sequence.”
• “The Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh welcomes applications for a non-tenure stream visiting lecturer teaching position. Position appointments may be renewable based on need, funding, and performance. It is a full-time position teaching three courses per term, and they do not include summer teaching.  Applicants must have completed all requirements for their terminal degree by Sept. 1, 2021. The Writing Program is specifically interested in candidates who can teach introductory classes, especially our Introduction to Creative Writing, which is a multi-genre class (poetry/fiction/nonfiction), as well as introductory and Intermediate classes in fiction or nonfiction. Candidates should also have experience and interest teaching composition classes as needed by the department. The minimum basic qualification is an advanced degree (MFA or PhD) in Creative Writing. Preferred qualifications include a record of superior academic teaching or professional experience; ability to be self-directed within broadly defined learning objectives; excellent communication skills; experience with digital storytelling or with multi-media production.”
• “The English Department of Texas Christian University invites applications for an Instructor of Creative Writing, a non-tenure-track, renewable position beginning in August 2021. Applicants should demonstrate experience in teaching introductory creative writing with a specialization in creative prose and/or drama/screenwriting to contribute to our growing creative writing curriculum and programming. Candidates whose creative work engages with critical race and ethnic studies; decolonization; anti-racism; translingualism; disability studies; queer studies; intersectional women, gender and sexuality studies; Black, Indigenous, Latinx, or Asian American studies; and other areas related to racial, ethnic, cultural, sexual, gendered, economic, or religious difference are especially encouraged to apply.”