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.

• Fiction submissions at Shenandoah re-opened on July 12 (and will remain open “until we fill up.”) Editorial fellow Jenzo DuQue “will be reading and choosing short stories for our fall issue.” Pays: “$100 per 1000 words of prose up to $500.”
• Posted by Michèle Mendelssohn: “Looking for academic contributors who can write well about *LITERARY ANNIVERSARIES HAPPENING IN 2022* for English Review, a magazine for A-level students Rate: £100-150/1500-2000 words.” (H/T Opportunities of the Week)
• “No Contact is proud to announce its very first poetry contest, judged by Matt Mitchell! One winner will receive $250 and publication in Issue Twenty-Three (August 12). Two finalists will receive $50 and publication in Issue Twenty-Three. The contest is free to enter, and all poems will be considered for publication.” Deadline: July 26. (H/T @Duotrope)
• Until the end of July, Jellyfish Review is open “exclusively to writers of colour” who wish to send fiction or nonfiction. “There is no specific theme this month – so please send in something great.” Pays: $25.
• Attention North Carolina fiction writers residing in Wake, Durham or Orange counties: Applications are open for the position of Piedmont Laureate for 2022. “We hope to elevate explorations of fiction writing across sub-genres and forms. Whereas we have in the past separated fiction genre by application year for speculative, mystery, and ‘classic’ fiction literature, we are this year collapsing such sub-genre lines. Further, we welcome writers of novels, short stories, and flash fiction. We do ask that the fiction writing is created for an adult audience and emphasizes the written form. Note that future Piedmont Laureate specialization years will include playwriting and screenwriting, poetry, and creative nonfiction, and as such we are not accepting submissions this year from these genres.” Positions confers an honorarium of $6,000. Application deadline: August 25.
• The Poetry Foundation is advertising for “two independent contractors to write new poet biographies and to edit and expand existing poet biographies on the Poetry Foundation website.” These are remote positions. “Compensation is $35/hour” with an “anticipated commitment” of “a minimum of 15 hours per month.” Apply by July 28. “This is a 12-month contract, with potential for extension.”
• In New York, the Poetry Society of America seeks a Program and Development Associate.
• “The Chicago High School for the Arts seeks a part-time Creative Writing instructor for the 2021-22 school year” to teach Poetry II (Second Year Course): “This three hour class takes place from 2:00-5:00 PM Wednesdays. This is a year-long course.” The same school also seeks a part-time instructor to teach Writing the Self, Writing the World: “Three hour class takes place on Mondays 2:00-5:00. This is a year-long course. Writing the Self, Writing the World is a Creative Nonfiction course that combines a close study of essay and memoir with interdisciplinary media approaches to producing written work. This is a new course that will allow the students to explore the foundation of creative nonfiction writing and content creation. The instructor of this course will develop the curriculum to develop strong creative, critical thinking, writing and production skills.”
• In Maryland, “the English department at Salisbury University invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track Assistant Professor position in creative writing with a specialization in creative nonfiction.”