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.

• Diet Milk, “a magazine devoted to Gothic prose, poetry, & art,” is open for submissions until May 15 for its annual themed mini-issue (current theme: “Food”). Pays: $10/piece for poetry; $20/piece for prose (via Paypal).
• Old Pal, which publishes “poetry, fiction, criticism, excerpts, audio, mixed media, and various mediums of art,” is open for submissions until May 20. Pays: “$50 upon publication.” (Hat tip: AuthorsPublish.com)
• Write or Die, now allied with Chill Subs, is open for submissions until May 31. Pays, as per guidelines: $20, for interviews, “first-person narrative essays that explore the intersection of writing and life,” and features (“booklists on a specific theme/topic/element of craft, articles with words of wisdom, or helpful tips on the writing life”).
• Also open until May 31: the University Press of Kentucky, for full-length “manuscripts of contemporary poetry and fiction that exhibit a profound attention to language, strong imagination, formal inventiveness, and awareness of one’s literary roots.” (Hat tip: Brenda Joyce Patterson.)
• In Colorado, “Adams County Parks, Open Space & Cultural Arts (POSCA), in partnership with Anythink Libraries, seeks an experienced poet, performer and artist to serve as the inaugural Adams County Poet Laureate and idea ambassador for a two-year residency. The Poet Laureate Residency provides a local recognized poet an opportunity to advance their art, advocate and promote their literature and work, and to serve as a public face for Adams County.” Among the requirements, candidates must “be connected to Adams County (residence, roots, or workplace in Adams County, Colorado).” Payment: “The total compensation for the two-year Poet Laureate Residency is $40,000, payable in four (4) installments over 24 months.” Note: “Finalists (3-4) will each receive a $750 honorarium to prepare a detailed project proposal to present at in-person interview.” Deadline: May 14.
• In South Carolina, “the Hub City Writers Project, a mission-driven literary nonprofit that includes Hub City Press and the Hub City Bookshop, seeks an Operations Assistant to provide administrative support to the Executive Director/Publisher, and to other staff as delegated, along with managing the administrative needs of the organization….This is a full-time, salaried, 35-hour a week position located in Spartanburg, SC. Salary is $34k and benefits include 9 paid holidays, 12 days annual PTO (additional leave accrues with years of service), a non-taxable $3600 healthcare stipend, and access to dollar-for-dollar matching SIMPLE 401K savings plan and access to financial advisors.” Apply by May 14.
• “Graywolf Press seeks an organized, versatile, and detail-oriented person for the position of Editorial and Administrative Assistant….The Editorial and Administrative Assistant is a nonexempt, full-time (forty hours/week) position and requires physical presence in Graywolf’s Minneapolis office Monday–Thursday, with the option to work remotely on Fridays. This position is not open to applicants who are unable to relocate or to hybrid/remote applicants.” Compensation: “The salary for this position is $40,000 annually. Compensation includes paid time off; health and dental insurance, as well as short-term disability, long-term disability, and life insurance with all employee premiums paid 100 percent by Graywolf; paid parental leave; and a fully subsidized transit pass.” Apply by May 16, 5pm (Central).
• Boston’s GrubStreet has multiple jobs open.
• “The Department of English and the MFA in Creative Writing Program at the University of Idaho seek to hire a Visiting Assistant Professor or Lecturer of Creative Nonfiction. This is a one-year, non-renewable position with a 2/3 teaching load at lower- and upper-division levels, including graduate workshops and seminars.”
• In Portland (Oregon), Reed College is advertising a “Visiting One-Year Appointment in Creative Writing (with a concentration in Poetry).”
• The University of North Texas Department of English is advertising a position for a Visiting Lecturer.
• In Massachusetts, “Lesley University seeks an Adjunct Faculty member for an adjunct teaching position starting in Summer/Fall 2023. This will be for an MFA Writing Faculty in the Nonfiction & Memoir writing genre. Adjunct in the MFA teach GCRWT 6000, 6500, 7000, 7500: Creative Writing I, II, III, & IV and GCRWT 7502: Creative Thesis and serve as a faculty mentor with students to design an appropriate study plan involving the production of both new work and revisions in their genre. The position requires attending two 9-day residencies per year, in January and June, and giving feedback on four submissions of creative and critical writing over the distance-learning semester.”