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.

• It’s May 15! A popular day both for deadlines and for opportunity openings. Make sure you haven’t missed anything already posted in our May newsletter.
• At National Geographic, editor Starlight Williams is “looking for a couple of travel writers with a hyper focus on Japan for a project. Strong clips needed.” Compensation: “$1000-$1200.” Contact by May 30. (Hat tip: Kaitlyn Arford.)
• Open for submissions until May 31: Bombay Literary Magazine, which welcomes “fiction, poetry and graphic fiction. You are welcome to send us translations, but please indicate clearly on your manuscript that it is a translation.” Pays: “an honorarium of Indian rupees 5,000 (approx. $61) per contribution.” (Hat tip: @Duotrope.)
• Also open until May 31: the reading period for poetry (“full-length, chapbooks, etc.”) at Game Over Press, which “is looking to publish work that is entertaining and thought-provoking, cheery, dark, or otherwise.” Compensation: “Game Over Books generally offers 30% royalties and 25 author copies.” (Hat tip: Emily Stoddard’s Poetry Bulletin.)
• From Jaded Ibis Press: “We are looking for a new, fully remote editor for our paying online literary blog, Scarlet. This person will screen submissions and select one or solicit quality submissions from their network for a bi-monthly post. The editor will be paid $80 per month and the writers are paid $80 per piece. Please check out our website and past pieces for an idea of what we like to publish.”
• Applications close May 30 for GrubStreet’s Teaching Fellowship for Black Writers, which “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, a showcase of the Fellows’ work, 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.”
• Applications close May 31 for The Center for Fiction / Susan Kamil Emerging Writer Fellowships, which offer “grants, editorial mentorship, and other opportunities to early-career New York City-based practitioners who are at a critical moment in their development as fiction writers.”
• Cincinnati Review is hiring an Assistant Editor. They are seeking “a skilled social media and web writer with excellent organizational skills and mentorship experience. The selected candidate will create and maintain a coordinated social media presence for the magazine, as well as mentor graduate students in that practice, and oversee web writing and scheduling. The candidate will also assist the managing editor with a redesign of the magazine’s website, keeping accessibility issues in mind; local in-person and virtual events, making sure to coordinate with other department entities that host events; and paperwork related to the production of the magazine and the payment of contributors. When needed, the candidate will help with other editorial responsibilities, including identifying material worthy of publication. This part-time position (75% FTE, calendar year) includes benefits, and the selected candidate will become a vital part of a small but committed staff.” Note: “This position will offer flexibility for a hybrid remote work option for applicants with a residence within the Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana Tri-State Area. Hybrid/remote work arrangements are subject to change in accordance with university policies.”
• At the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California, they’re hiring a Poetry Awards Assistant to work with the Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards. This is a part-time position (“approximately 16-19 hours per week”) with compensation listed as “$18.00 to $20.00 hourly.”
• Southern New Hampshire University is looking for faculty to teach in their online Master of Fine Arts courses. Position criteria include “established publication record in: Popular fiction, Romance, Young adult, or Sci-fi/Fantasy genres.”