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.

• McCoy’s Monthly publishes “original, unique writing unrestricted by literary conventions. Approximately one piece of fiction appears on our website around the first of every month.” Pays: “$20 per piece.” (Found this one via @Duotrope.)
• The Greek Bicentennial Poetry Pamphlet Prizes (Michael Marks Awards) are “one-off prizes for new work in poetry in the English language and for original illustrations.” Submissions must “reflect on the culture and history of the Greeks, from ancient to contemporary times, on the occasion of the Bicentennial celebration of the creation of Modern Greece. We would like to honour the richness and vitality of Greek culture, its complexity and continual reinvention, its many traditions, its humanist philosophy, its cosmopolitanism and its lasting impact on the world as we know it.” International submissions welcome. The Poetry Prize confers £10,000 and publication of the portfolio “as a pamphlet, with illustrations and Greek translations, distributed internationally.” Deadline: June 18 (midnight, UK time).
• From @JamesYeh: “Some personal news: I am delighted to share that I am now the reviews editor of @Believermag. I’d love to see pitches for upcoming, misunderstood, and/or underappreciated works—books, films, TV, art, music, performance—that you’d like to write about.” Check the thread for more info about both current (themed) and general pitches. Pays: “For print reviews, it’s $150-250, depending on length. The rate for departments is $300. For microreviews it’s $50.”
• Observer‘s Erin Taylor is taking pitches for arts stories (this includes book-focused pitches; see the quoted thread for details/pay rates; thanks to Opportunities for Writers for pointing it out).
• Attention, Wyoming writers: “Creative Writing fellowships are $3,000 unrestricted awards of merit, based on a writer’s body of work, and honoring Wyoming’s literary artists whose work reflects serious and exceptional writing. One fellowship is awarded in each category of Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, and Fiction, for a total of three fellowships. Applications are juried by noted authors, literary agents, or writing professionals from outside the state. Jurors may award honorable mentions. Recipients of the Creative Writing fellowships share their work at one of the three Wyoming literary conferences.” The current deadline is coming up SOON: June 10, 2021. (Native American writers who live in Wyoming may also want to check out the Native Art Fellowship, which also has a June 10 deadline.)
• The Atlantic has posted several intriguing books-related job announcement over the past week, with positions available in New York or Washington: Senior Editor, Books and Culture; Associate Editor, Books and Culture; and Senior Editor, Recommendations.
• At Harvard University, there’s a Managing Editor position available for Transition and the Du Bois Review, journals published by the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.”
• “The English Department and the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Environment at Iowa State University invite applications for a Post-MFA/Post-Doctoral Scholar position starting in the fall semester (August) of 2021. The selected candidate must have received an MFA or Ph.D. in creative writing (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, playwriting, or screenwriting) or a related field within the last five years. We are particularly interested in receiving applications from candidates whose work emerges from diverse perspectives, including Black, Indigenous, Asian, and/or Latino/a/x experience.” Additional details: “The Post-MFA/Post-Doctoral Scholar position carries a three-course per year teaching load of undergraduate and/or graduate courses in creative writing. This is a twelve-month appointment, renewable for up to one additional year. The annual stipend is $53,000, plus health benefits, funds for relocation expenses, and a research fund.”
• “The Department of English at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) invites outstanding applicants for a 10-month, non-tenure-track Visiting Assistant Professor position in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences starting July 31, 2021….The successful candidate should be able to teach Introduction to Creative Writing (both poetry and fiction writing), Topics in Creative Writing (any genre), and a 300-level Fiction Workshop. The successful candidate should be an active, published fiction writer, have an M.F.A., demonstrated excellence in teaching, and a strong commitment to the education of undergraduates. Teaching responsibilities will include four courses per semester.”