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.

• From Canada-based PRISM international: “Send us your best pitches! PRISM Reviews is seeking interviews that ask questions that slip beneath the surface, reviews that turn a book over the way a child holds a crystal to the sun.” Pays: “$40 per review/interview.” No deadline indicated.
• “Every Tuesday, The Margins publishes the work of emerging and established Asian American and diasporic poets. We publish English-language poems and translations of poems. We pay contributors $50 to $90 (USD) for original and translated poetry; the fee varies based on the number and length of poems we publish. We may offer additional payment to the author of translated poems, depending on the work’s publication status. We do not pay for reprints.” Deadline: May 31.
• The Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award for Veterans “is hosted by The Iowa Review and made possible by a gift from the family of Jeff Sharlet (1942–69), a Vietnam veteran and antiwar writer and activist. The contest is open to veterans and active duty personnel writing in any genre and about any subject matter.” The award confers a first prize of $1,000 and publication; a second prize of $750; and $500 to each of three runners-up. Deadline: May 31. (Thanks to Winning Writers for the update on this one.)
• The Literary Laddership for Emerging African Authors by Suyi Davies Okungbowa is “a three-component writing fellowship to support, elevate and connect emerging fiction authors of African descent writing from Africa.” There are multiple components to this fellowship, including a grant of $500 as part of a digital residency. Application deadline: May 31.
• From Narratively: “Call for Pitches: What does true love look like today? We’re seeking stories about finding love, losing love, re-finding love, re-losing it…you get the gist! Please read this thread for more information.” Deadline: June 1. Payment: “Pay starts at $500, with room to go up for more ambitious stories.”
• For its summer issue Olit is open for submissions of fiction and nonfiction (including flash) and poetry until June 1. “Olit is indie and polished. Literary with grunge roots. Our goal is to give underrepresented writers the floor, the mic, and the space they deserve.” Note: “Strong preference for Orlando based writers/submissions about Orlando and surrounding areas.” Pays: “$10 (PayPal).”
• 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 $25,000, artistic mentorship, and access to the GrubStreet community and the Muse and the Marketplace conference. In time, the program aims to offer sustainable support to Black Writers and create a cohort of fellows who have direct access to GrubStreet resources, classes, and events. We also hope the fellows can influence GrubStreet’s pedagogy and cultural vision based on their experience and feedback.” Deadline: June 1. Note: “Priority will be given to applicants who will be able to join us in Boston when it’s safe to do so.”
• Reminder: Many opportunities listed in our May newsletter remain open for your consideration!
• “Vestal Review is seeking a contributing editor to read submissions, participate in editorial decision-making, and occasionally handle social media requests. Position comes with an honorarium of $150 per issue. BIPOC applicants strongly encouraged to apply.”
• In Ireland, The Stinging Fly is looking for a new editor. “This is a part-time position, working on average 18 hours per week,” with “a gross salary of €24,000 per annum.” Note also: “The Magazine Editor will work remotely for the most part, with a need to be available to attend key meetings and events in Dublin throughout the calendar year.” Apply by May 30. (Hat tip: Freelance Writing Jobs.)
• The Yale Review is hiring an Editorial Assistant (“a 30 hour/week, in-person opportunity with benefits located in New Haven, CT”) and a Production Editor (“this is a contractor position estimated at ~15-20 hours a week. Work is paid on an hourly basis. Some work can be done remotely but we would prefer to hire a candidate who can work in our offices in New Haven some of the time).
• In DC, The Washington Post seeks a Books Editor. (Apologies that there was no post last week: “Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled, but those received by 05/20/2022 will be prioritized.”)
• Study Hall, “a digital community supporting freelance writers and media workers as well as an original editorial operation reporting on the media industry,” is hiring a Newsletter Editor. “We’re flexible about this role; applicants are welcome to apply for a full-time position (starting pay $60,000 per year) or part-time or contract roles with comparable pay.” U.S. applicants only. Apply by June 5.
• The Poetry Foundation is hiring a Communications Manager. “This role is based in Chicago, Illinois, at the Poetry Foundation building; due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the staff is working in a hybrid environment.” Salary: $95,000.
• There are multiple open positions advertised at the PEN/Faulkner Foundation (DC), PEN America (NYC)
• At the University of Chicago, the Program in Creative Writing in the Department of English invites applications for a position as part-time Assistant Professor of Practice in the Arts to start July 1, 2022 or as soon as possible thereafter. The selected candidate will teach two courses per year in the Program in Creative Writing and will pursue their own writing. Applicants must have a record of publication of fiction (short or long format), an MFA in Creative Writing, and experience teaching creative writing at the University level. Additional publication record in nonfiction is desirable.” Apply by May 25.
• Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is advertising for an Associate Teaching Professor (non-tenure-track). Appears to be a position for a fiction specialist. Note also the mention of the University’s proposed low-residency program.
• From the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: “Job openings! We’re looking for lecturers for fiction writing (https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/21674) and non-fiction writing (https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/21690).”
• Brigham Young University in Utah is advertising for an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing/Fiction.