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.

• Open for submissions through December 7 (Wednesday): Stone’s Throw, “the monthly companion to Rock and a Hard Place Magazine. In addition to our regular issues, we want to deliver shorter, sharper content on a regular basis….We’re looking for all the same dark fiction, crime and noir as our usual submissions, but with a target length between 1,000 and 2,000 words. We’ll read through the best and choose the one story that shines brightest and publish it online the following month, paying $25 per accepted story. After a year, we’ll collect all twelve stories into a Stone’s Throw Anthology, to be published alongside our other print issues.” More information about what they seek for December is available on the website; they’ll continue to hold monthly submission windows thereafter.
• Stanchion will be open for 48 hours beginning December 11. This publication “is always looking for original, never-before-published short stories (3000-ish word max), flash fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, prose poems, stray thoughts, short screenplays, monologues, experimental work, interviews with inanimate objects, reviews of everyday items and moments, comic strips, black & white photography (vertical, portrait-oriented images are preferred), black & white drawings, black & white collage art, and other evocative images of mixed media artwork (you guessed it, also in black and white).” Pays: “$15 + each contributor receives one complimentary copy of their issue.” (Hat tip: Brenda Joyce Patterson.)
• From Moniack Mhor (“Scotland’s creative writing centre”): “Established in 2015, the Emerging Writer Award (formerly the Bridge Award) is now in its eighth year, and is run by Moniack Mhor in partnership with The Bridge Awards, a philanthropic venture that provides funding for the arts, cultural heritage, conservation, and community projects. The 2023 award winner will receive a tailor-made package worth up to £2,000 including tuition via open courses, retreat time and/or mentoring at Moniack Mhor.” Eligibility: “Emerging Writer Award is open to unpublished prose writers (fiction) living and working in the UK with a collection of short stories or novel in development. Writers can be writing for any age group (including children and young adults) and may have had excerpts or articles published in the past, but have not yet published any major body of work. We would particularly encourage applications from those who experience barriers to the writing process.” Deadline: December 13.
• At Willamette Writers, submissions to Timberline Review (and the Kay Snow Awards) are currently fee-free “for those who identify as LGBTQ+, BIPOC and other people of color, or those living with disabilities. Please use the waived-fee submission form if you are a member of these groups.” The theme this year is “Dream,” and journal submissions will also be considered for the award. They welcome poetry, fiction (flash, short story, novella, and novel excerpt), creative nonfiction (including essay and memoir), critical commentary (writing about writing including literary analysis, and craft instruction), and drama and screenplay). Journal contributors receive $25 and an e-copy. For the awards, which confer prizes in categories of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and screenplay , first prize is $100 cash prize and one-day admission to the Willamette Writers Conference, and the runner-up prize is $50 cash prize and one-day admission to the Willamette Writers Conference. Deadline: December 15.
• Here’s one for “writers who reside in Oregon”: For its spring 2023 issue, Oregon Humanities plans a theme of “Joy and Pain,” for which they’ve posted a call for submissions: “We want to hear stories about experiences that bring both happiness and suffering. Consider, for example, the pleasures and burdens of parenthood, the ecstatic highs and lows of adolescence, the satisfaction and bodily harm of physical labor, or any other human endeavor that is at once bitter and sweet. We’re also interested in pieces that explore activities that bring joy to some while inflicting pain on others, such as tourism, agriculture, professional sports, and the service industry in general. In this issue we hope to see personal narratives that illuminate universal experiences alongside broader explorations of society and history. We welcome all forms of nonfiction writing, including essays, journalism, and excerpts from forthcoming or recently published books. Successful submissions will reflect our vision of an Oregon that invites diverse perspectives, invites challenging questions, and strives for just communities. We encourage submissions from writers of all levels of experience.” Pays: “All contributors are paid between $500 and $1000, depending on the length and complexity of the piece.” Deadline: December 21.
• Reminder: You’ll find dozens of fee-free and paying calls and competitions in the December issue of The Practicing Writer 2.0, which went out to subscribers last Wednesday.
• Publishers Weekly “is looking for experienced freelance book reviewers for both traditionally published and self-published works.” Pays: “$25 per review.”
• In London, The Bookseller “is recruiting for an experienced freelance writer to cover a period of maternity leave on The Bookseller’s monthly New Titles: Fiction preview. The preview covers first format adult fiction released in a particular month. It is written with high street booksellers in mind to aid with their buying decisions, and is also read widely by other journalists, publishers, agents and authors.” Compensation: “£550 per calendar month.” Hat tip: Sian Meades-Williams.
• In Brooklyn, the Poetry Society of America seeks a Public Programs and Community Manager. “This is primarily an in-person position with some flexibility for remote work. The candidate must be able to accommodate a flexible schedule, as most events will take place in the evenings or on weekends.” Salary: “$50000.00 to $55000.00.”
• The Furious Flower Fellowship in Black Global and Diasporic Poetry is a “three-year, 12-month position for a scholar whose research focuses on Black poets and poetry in the Diaspora” at James Madison University in Virginia.
• In Illinois, “the Medill School at Northwestern seeks to hire a full-time faculty member to serve as the inaugural George R.R. Martin Chair in Storytelling. The person named to this position will lead the George R.R. Martin Summer Intensive Writing Workshop, as well as teach courses on writing to both undergraduate and graduate journalism students. Some teaching or mentorship/coaching experience is preferred. Successful candidates must be a distinguished published author of works such as novels, short stories, screenplays, plays or nonfiction narrative. Some background in journalistic or essay writing is required. This person will fill an unusual role at a journalism school: teaching storytelling skills that can be used in journalism as well as teaching storytelling skills to journalists interested in writing fiction. This is an open rank faculty position. No advanced degree required.” 
• In Pennsylvania, “Temple University’s Department of English is seeking a fiction writer to join the MFA Program in Creative Writing as a tenure-track Assistant or Associate Professor, to begin in Fall 2023. Candidates should have an MFA or PhD in creative writing, at least one book of fiction published by a prominent house, and teaching experience at the undergraduate and graduate level.”
• “The Department of English at Texas Christian University invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track position as Assistant Professor in Creative Writing (Prose), to begin in August 2023. We welcome candidates with a specialization in prose forms-fiction, creative nonfiction, and/or hybrid genres-to contribute to our growing Creative Writing program. Candidates with teaching expertise in decolonial and anti-racist pedagogies and practices, Indigenous studies, Latinx studies, and/or multimedia pedagogies and practices are especially encouraged to apply.”
• In Tennessee, “the English & Languages Department at Tusculum University invites applicants for an instructor position in English for classes offered online and/or on our residential campus. Candidates should have credentials in American literature. Teaching assignments will include courses in minority literatures. Preference will be given to candidates who also have a background in creative writing, especially poetry.”