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.

• In Maine, “Millay House Rockland, in partnership with the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation, is offering a one-month, juried residency in October 2024, that includes a $1,200 stipend. Open to writers of any genre—poetry, fiction, nonfiction, plays, or journalism. The residency offers comfortable accommodations in the house where Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was born. Mark Doty will serve as the judge of this year’s residency.” NB: Applications will open February 22; “only the first 100 submissions will be reviewed.” (Hat tip: Erika Meitner.)
• Ontario residents: The Toronto Star Short Story Contest remains open for submissions until February 28. “The contest, now in its 46th year, also carries one of the biggest prizes in Canada for a short story contest, with the first-place winner receiving $5,000, plus the tuition fee for one of two programs at the Humber School for Writers, either the Creative Writing Graduate program, which has an approximate retail value of $3,695 or the Summer Workshop in Creative Writing, which has an approximate retail value of $1,550. The second-place winner will receive a cash prize of $2,000 and the third-place winner will be awarded $1,000.”
• Mud Season Review remains open for submissions until February 29. “We may close the reading period early by genre if volume demands.” Compensation: “We pay authors and featured artists $50 for work that appears in our issues. For artists whose images are paired with writing, and for poets whose work appears in The Take: Mud Season Review, we offer payment of $15.”
• Miracle Monocle “is pleased to announce the third installment of its award series: the Miracle Monocle Award for Young Black Writers. The winner of the prize will receive a $200 prize and publication in the journal. We welcome work in the following categories: poetry, prose, and experimental and hybrid literature. Writers must be 25 years old or younger and identify as Black. We seek only original work that has not been published elsewhere.” Deadline: March 1.
• In California, Mesa Refuge “is seeking a part-time Program Manager to provide support for our residency and retreat programs, alumni engagement, social media, events and fundraising. Mesa Refuge is a three-bedroom writer’s retreat in Point Reyes Station, founded in 1997, that has provided time and space for more than 1,000 writers, activists, radio journalists and filmmakers focused on the environment/climate change, economic equity and social justice.  The ideal candidate has nonprofit and/or book, publishing or event experience in the Bay Area and lives within 25 miles of Point Reyes Station.” Compensation: “$65,000 to $70,000, depending on experience. This position starts at 4 days/week. Benefits include holidays, vacation and IRA contributions after the first year of service.” Deadline: March 29.
• North Carolina Central University is advertising for an Assistant Professor and Endowed Chair in Creative Writing. Among the position requirements: “ability to teach a wide variety of Creative Writing courses, including multi-genre Introduction to Creative Writing, Fiction, Nonfiction. Ability to teach Drama Writing and/or Poetry a plus.”
• The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO) is hiring Instructor of English in Creative Writing. “The preferred candidate will have experience teaching Creative Writing, both poetry, prose, and/or creative nonfiction, as well as a commitment to teaching freshmen composition.”
• In New York, the Literature and Creative Writing Department at Hamilton College invites applications for a one-year visiting position at the rank of Visiting Assistant Professor, beginning July 1, 2024. We seek candidates to teach poetry writing.
• In Virginia, the English Department of Washington and Lee University (W&L) “invites applications for a visiting assistant professorship in Creative Writing, with a focus on Creative Nonfiction, starting in July 2024. This is a one-year position with the possibility of a renewal for a second year.”