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.

• Slate‘s Senior Culture Editor is open for pitches, “looking for smart, funny, original criticism (and more) about TV in particular, film, books, fame, online, and whatever else is “culture” these days. rates start at $350, increase with reporting/scope.” (Hat tip: Jenn Baker.)
• From Poet Lore: “For our Summer/Fall 2023 issue, Guest Editor Ruben Quesada will curate a folio of poems engaging with Traditional Poetic Forms.” Submissions are open until June 25. “Poet Lore pays contributors $50 per published poem. Contributors also receive one copy of their issue, plus a copy of the following printed issue of Poet Lore.“
• 105 Meadowlark Reader, “a Kansas journal of creative nonfiction,” remains open for submissions until June 30. “We are looking for true stories about Kansas written by Kansans, therefore you must be a Kansas resident or have lived in Kansas at some point in your life.” Pays: “$10 per story and one contributor copy of the journal.”
• From Typehouse: Until June 30, “in honor of Pride Month, no-fee submissions are open for all  LGBTQIA+/Queer creators, not limited to those in the US.” They publish prose, poetry, and visual art; “genre fiction submissions are welcome, particularly speculative fiction.” Pays: $25.
• July 1 is the early-bird deadline for submissions for Monosyllabic Queer Theory, “a book-length poetry collection that welcomes all forms of poetry (short, long, prose poems, free verse, highly formal, and beyond).” The challenge here: “to transform your favourite queer theory text into a poem that uses only single-syllable words.” Co-editors are Lucas Crawford and thom vernon. For submissions received by the early-bird deadline the pay rate is $300 CAD. (The final deadline is August 1, with payment of $250.)
• From The Drift: “We’re seeking an experienced editor to help us commission and edit drafts of longform essays for issues that come out three times a year in print and online. A Drift essay should present a sharp, surprising intervention in a contemporary conversation….This is a full-time position, and salary will be commensurate with experience. (Range: $50k-70k, with benefits.) While The Drift is based in New York City, we are open to considering remote candidates.” Apply by July 14.
• From Sundress Publications: “The Sundress Reading Series in Knoxville, TN, is seeking poets to read for our series with an emphasis on marginalized voices.” Pays a $100 honorarium. Apply by July 15. (Hat tip: @KaitArford.)
• “Mass Poetry, a nonprofit arts organization headquartered in Boston, MA, seeks an experienced manager and talented educator with a passion for poetry to serve as its full-time Program Director….A flexible schedule with hybrid work is possible. In-state traveling is required, and applicants will need to live within commuting distance of Boston. Owning a car or having regular access to a car is desired.” Salary range: $55,000-$65,000. NB: “The application deadline is August 15, 2023. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled, so applicants are encouraged to apply early.”
• Also in Massachusetts, “Hampshire College, an experimenting institution with a mission to advance social justice and transform higher education, is accepting applications for a full-time visiting assistant professor of creative prose for the 2023-2024 academic year. We seek candidates with demonstrated expertise in a variety of forms including fiction, non-fiction and/or hybrid genres.”
• “The Writing Program, part of the English Department at the University of Pittsburgh, accepts applications for up to two part-time, non-tenure track faculty positions beginning in the academic year 2023-24. Appointments may be renewable based on need, funding, and performance. We are especially interested in instructors who can teach introductory-level fiction and/or non-fiction sections (19 student maximum) in our undergraduate program.”
• “OSU-Cascades in Bend, Oregon invites applications for one or more fixed-term, non-tenure-track full or part-time instructor positions to teach on a term by terms basis for the 2023-2024 academic year. Instructors may be needed to teach on campus and remote graduate courses in the following areas: Fiction Writing (Short & Long), Creative Non-Fiction, Poetry & Poetics.”
• In Minnesota, Carleton College’s English Department “invites applications for a tenure-track position in creative writing at the rank of Assistant Professor, beginning September 1, 2024. Creative writing is an important part of our English major, and the department also offers a minor in creative writing. We seek candidates to teach fiction writing, including a mixed-genre introductory workshop and intermediate and advanced short-story workshops, with the possibility of literature courses in any area of the candidate’s expertise. We also welcome candidates with expertise in creative non-fiction (such as essay and memoir), speculative fiction, or genre fiction. The teaching load for this position is five courses annually, over three ten-week terms.”