Markets and Jobs for Writers

Background of a keyboard, mug of coffee, and wallet on a tabletop; text label indicating "Markets and Jobs for Writers: No fees to submit work/apply. Paying gigs only."

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.

  • Nominations for the 2023 Stowe Prize are open through December 1, 2022. This prize “recognizes a distinguished book of general adult fiction or nonfiction that illuminates a critical social justice issue in contemporary society in the United States. The book must be written by a U.S. author and have been published in the United States during the previous three calendar years. The book should apply informed inquiry, be accessible and engaging to a general audience, and promote empathy and understanding. Because Stowe’s writings challenged slavery and promoted women’s education, social issues impacted by racism and gender discrimination will be prioritized. In making this award, the Stowe Center recognizes the value of diversity to strengthen our communities and encourages submissions by authors from populations that have historically faced discrimination or marginalization.  An award of $10,000 will be conferred on the author of the winning book. Programming events for the author and the book are part of the prize.” (Thanks to WinningWriters.com for the reminder!)
  • Attention, writers from DC/Maryland/Virginia: The Washington Writers Publishing House (WWPH) is running its second annual holiday poetry & prose contest, and you still have time to enter (deadline is December 4). They’ll award $100 top prizes in poetry and in micro-prose (fiction or CNF); $50 finalist prizes in poetry and in micro-prose. Prompt (with credit to Ralph Waldo Emerson): “Write about the word that inspires your 2022 holiday.” (Hat tip: WOW! [Women on Writing] Markets Newsletter.)
  • While I was wandering the WWPH website, I found this opportunity, too: “The new WWPH Fellowship provides the opportunity for undergraduates and graduate students, and others with a keen interest in the literary arts, to get hands-on experience working with the Washington Writers’ Publishing House. WWPH fellows/interns will learn small press publishing from WWPH executive board members and authors while helping advance the press’s mission. Participants will gain invaluable insight into the running of an independent, nonprofit literary press and the publishing business in total. Each participant will receive a $500.00 stipend. Our WWPH Fellowship is made possible with a generous donation from Dr. Jean Feldman.” Note: Responsibilities include a “commitment to work three to four hours per week remotely and availability for in-person events or meetings (always in public spaces) on as-needed basis.” Application deadline for the winter fellowship is December 6.
  • “Sarabande Books is proud to sponsor the Flo Gault Student Poetry Prize in memory of Flo Gault and with generous support by the Gault family. The first prize winner will receive $500, a letterpress broadside of the winning poem, and will be a featured poet on the Sarabande Books website. Second and third prize winners will receive $250 and $100, respectively. Deadline is December 9, 2022.” Important note about eligibility: “Full-time undergraduates enrolled in a Kentucky college may enter.”
  • By this time next week, the December newsletter—loaded, as usual, with current fee-free and paying opportunities (that don’t limit eligibility to writers in a single city/state/province) will have landed in subscribers’ inboxes. Remember that it’s never too late to sign up to receive this free item yourself! And in the meantime, be sure you haven’t missed anything in the November issue (or in recent Markets & Jobs posts).
  • “The Department of English at Florida Atlantic University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Creative Writing with a specialization in creative nonfiction, beginning in August 2023. We invite applications from candidates with additional specializations, including poetry and publishing/editing.”
  • The Department of English at Michigan State University “invites applications for the Audrey and John Leslie Endowed Chair in Literary Studies with a focus on Creative Writing and North American Indian and Indigenous Literary Studies. This tenure-stream position is open to Assistant or Associate Professors. The position requires either an MFA in creative writing or a PhD in creative writing, literature, American Indian or Native studies or an equivalent field.”
on a tabletop: a keyboard, a mug of coffee, and a wallet with cash, plus a text label announcing Markets and Jobs for Writers