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.

• Reminder that by the time next week’s Markets and Jobs post goes live, the May issue of The Practicing Writer 2.0 will have hit subscriber mailboxes. So, consider this a last call to check the April issue for its still-open opportunities! (And, of course, to subscribe if you’re not already receiving the newsletter directly.)
• Foundlings Press remains open until April 30 for submissions for the Ralph Angel Poetry Prize. “The winning poet will receive a $250 award and a limited edition broadside publication of the winning poem. Submission is free and open to all.” Judge: Victoria Redel.
• Relegation Books “is delighted to offer an open reading period for story collections and short novels up to 50,000 words. Our selected work will be released in 2025, and will receive Relegation’s standard contract, national distribution, and marketing and publicity campaign….We will close general submissions after receiving 500 manuscripts, and will accept up to an additional 100 by writers living in Washington, D.C., Maryland, or Virginia. D.C. is Relegation’s home, and we are eager to publish authors in our community.” Per the contract details: “Relegation will publish 250 copies of the selected work or works, retaining the option to release an additional 250-book run. Books will retail for $15. When the manuscript is accepted, Relegation will pay the author 50% of each published copy’s list price, so the author will be paid $1,875.00 per print run. Authors retain all other rights, and copyright reverts to the author two years after the contract is signed.” (Hat tip: Robert Lee Brewer/Writer’s Digest.)
• Canadian residents only for this one: Fiction and poetry submissions are open at This Magazine until May 1. Note that the fiction editor “is accepting stories from BIPOC writers only at this time, with a special interest in queer and/or trans perspectives.” Note also that submitting both fiction and poetry is not permitted. Compensation: “We pay $125 per accepted short story up to 2500 words. We pay 60$ per flash fiction story under 1000 words (we will run two flash stories in an issue in this case). We pay $50 per accepted poem. We acquire first serial rights (print and web).” (Hat tip: The Writer’s Job.)
• “Shepherd University’s Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence (AHWIR) Project and the WV Center for the Book announce the 2023 West Virginia Fiction Competition, a literary competition to encourage writers and storytellers, whose talent and ability in creative writing is distinctive and promising, and to foster an appreciation of Appalachian people culture and values represented in the diverse writing of the region. Submissions are encouraged from any resident of West Virginia or student in West Virginia.” Prizes: “$500.00 First Prize Award and possible publication, $100 each for Second Place, Third Place, and Judges’ Choice Awards for high school and middle school students.” Final judge: Ann Pancake. Deadline: May 1.
• Illinois Humanities is advertising for a remote internship: “The Gwendolyn Brooks Youth Poetry Awards (GBYPA) Intern will primarily work on the GBYPA program during this internship, with the potential for additional tasks related to educational programming as needed. This internship will take place during the summer of 2023 with a flexible start date and a preferred end date of August 18, 2023. The intern will be compensated at a rate of $20 an hour for their work.”
• Sapir “is seeking an Editorial Assistant (EA) to work an average of 8 hours a week through October 2023, to shepherd two issues of the journal through their creation and launch process.” Compensation: “hourly rate will range from $25 – $40, depending on experience.” (Thanks to Merri Ukraincik for letting me know about this; cross-posted on My Machberet.)
• The Department of Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington “is seeking a full-time, tenure-track Associate Professor of Creative Writing/Fiction on a continuing 9-month appointment starting August 2023.”
• The Department of English at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) “is seeking a tenure-track faculty member in Creative Writing, with a specialization in narrative, at the rank of Assistant Professor.”