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.

• A thread from Matt Ortile that begins: “PITCH CALL for FICTION: I’m p omnivorous in what I take for short stories at @CatapultStory, so I’ll thread what I pubbed in 2021 to give a sense of what I like. Only req for now: 4k words max. We pay min. $200 for fiction.” (As always, be sure to read the full thread before proceeding with a pitch or submission.) UPDATED TO ADD DEADLINE OF JANUARY 12.
• And a thread from Patrice Peck that begins: “Very excited to announce that I’ve recently joined @Cosmopolitan as the senior opinion editor. So pitch me! I’m looking for personal essays, reported pieces, and cultural criticism for the *opinion* section.” Pays: “Rates typically start between $250-$350 and can scale up depending on the scope and requirements of each piece. Ideal word count typically ranges from 600-900.”
• UK-based Neon is currently open for submissions. Note that alternate issues are themed, and the next theme will be “Cuisine.” In general, they “prefer darker pieces, especially those with an element of the surreal or speculative, but are open to anything and like to be surprised.” Pays: 2p/word for prose and 20p/line for poetry, with minimum payment of £10.
• From Ireland-based Tolka, “a new, biannual literary journal of non-fiction: publishing essays, reportage, travel writing, auto-fiction, individual stories and the writing that flows in between”: “Submissions for Issue Three are now open. The deadline for submissions is Thursday 27 January.” Pays: “We offer contributors a flat fee of ‎‎€300, which we pay prior to publication; contributors also receive a copy of the issue in which their work is featured.”
• Rivanna Review wants stories and essays up to 3000 words by January 31 for the March 1 issue. Pays: $100 on publication. Via email, I was reminded that they take “black-and-white photographs and drawings too, $100 for a spread of four.” (Scroll down their homepage to find downloadable guidelines.)
• For a winter theme on “Female Friendship,” HerStories Project seeks “personal essays about female friendship at midlife.” Pays: $50. Deadline: “Submissions will be accepted and published on an ongoing basis through the end of February.”
• The 2022 Bucknell Seminar for Undergraduate Poets “will be held virtually from June 4 – June 25, 2022. Each accepted student will receive a $1,000 stipend to support the cost of housing, meals, and/or any technological needs during the three-week Seminar. The application deadline is Jan. 31, 2022.” Note: “Undergraduates at U.S. colleges and universities who will complete their sophomore, junior, or senior year in the year of application are eligible.”
• Woodrow Hall Top Shelf Awards will confer $250.00 to three winning books of flash fiction that were published in 2021. Entries must be postmarked by February 1. Be sure to scroll down the page to locate current guidelines. (Thanks to Jean Feingold for mentioning this one to me.)
• Applications for A Public Space‘s Editorial Fellowship are open until January 31. Note: “A Public Space is based in New York City. The Editorial Fellow is expected to work remotely for 2022, and to attend occasional in-person meetings….The Editorial Fellow must be a resident of New York City at the start of the Fellowship.”
• Also in New York: “The National Book Foundation, presenter of the National Book Awards, is seeking a full-time Awards & Honors Manager….This is a full-time position based in New York, though may begin remotely for a temporary period to accommodate candidates who are not currently local.”
• “Online and Continuing Education at Linfield University seeks an adjunct professor to teach ‘Intermediate Creative Writing: Fiction’ (ENGL 317) in the coming Spring 2022 semester. Work- shop, conferences, and practice in techniques of fiction writing, especially the short story. Reading of modern fiction writers and study of various fictional genres. This is an online class that begins February 14, 2022 and ends May 26, 2022. ” (Looks as though this one closes Wednesday, so act fast if you’re interested.)
• “The Penn State Altoona English Program is taking applications for a one-semester teaching residency in creative writing. Candidates should have credentials in at least two genres (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, drama, screenwriting). The program is targeted at early-career writers, preferably without a published book. The residency is designed to offer an emerging writer substantial time to write and offers a salary of $10,000 in return for teaching one general education level introduction to creative writing workshop during the Fall 2022 Semester (August 22 to December 9). The resident writer will also give a public reading, visit other creative writing courses, work informally with our English majors, and seek opportunities for engagement at the College and within the community. We are looking for a writer with publications of at least two genres in literary magazines. Emphasis will be placed on the quality of the work submitted. Writers from underrepresented populations are encouraged to apply. Successful candidate typically lives in the Altoona area during residency for the Fall 2022 Semester. Benefits and housing are not included.”
• “The Department of English at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville seeks an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing with specializations in literary translation and poetry writing. Candidates should have strong publication records of original poetry and of literary translation, including at least one book (of original poetry or of translation). MFA or PhD required.”
• “Utah Valley University’s Department of English and Literature invites applicants for a tenure-track position in Creative Writing specializing in Nonfiction.”
• In Ohio: visiting position for a fictionist. “The Creative Writing Program at Oberlin College invites applications for a full-time non-continuing faculty position in the College of Arts and Sciences. Appointment to this position will be for a term of one year, beginning in the Fall semester of 2022, and will carry the rank of Visiting Assistant Professor.”