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.

• Big Wing Review is “now accepting literary submissions through June 15, 2024 (midnight EST) for our third (!!!) print + digital publication (scheduled for release in August 2024). We accept essays, prose, flash fiction, poetry, spoken word, and visual art works….For this round of submissions…we will be accepting work on the subject of healing. Healing can mean restoration, regeneration, or rebirth. We shed parts of ourselves constantly. What are you healing from? How can your journey relate to that of others? Does healing require revenge, justice, or retribution? Or is it self-contained?” Payment: $10. (Hat tip: Jeanne Lyet Gassman.)
• Attention, Utah writers! “Since 1958, the annual Utah Original Writing Competition has celebrated Utah’s dynamic and varied voices and aided Utah writers on their path to publication and broader recognition. Numerous awardees selected by our nationally recognized judges have gone on to significant statewide and national acclaim. Please read through the entire guidelines before submitting.” Eligibility, prize details, and more information are available on the website. Deadline: June 30.
• The Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South (RCWMS) “is committed to supporting women (trans and cis) and nonbinary folks as they find their voices and make them heard. In addition to our writing classes, workshops, and retreats, we run an essay contest most years. Our 2024 Essay Contest opened for submissions on May 15 and will remain open through June 30, 2024.” Submissions should respond to the image(s) supplied as a prompt. Prizes: “$600, to be split among three winners. Winning essays may be published in the RCWMS newsletter, South of the Garden, in September or December 2024, and will be featured on the RCWMS blog.”
• The FSG Writer’s Fellowship “is a yearlong program designed to give an emerging writer from an underrepresented community additional resources to build a life around writing: funding, editorial guidance, and advice on how to forge a writing career. It offers the unique opportunity for a writer to spend time with and enjoy the support and mentorship of the FSG community. The fellowship celebrates the spirit of the FSG list and its commitment to invention, curiosity, and extending the limits of literature.” NB: Although “the applicant must be a U.S. Permanent Resident (green card) or U.S. Citizen,” there “are no experience, degree credentials, or location requirements. This fellowship will take place remotely.” Apply by June 30.
• The University of North Carolina Wilmington seeks an Assistant Director of the Publishing Laboratory. Responsibilities include “a twelve-month schedule of supporting the Department of Creative Writing’s Publishing Laboratory and its book and magazine operations under supervision of the director. This position maintains the desktop publishing facility, including a seventeen-station Macintosh lab and adjacent bindery. Additional responsibilities include mentoring the graduate student staff and supervising editorial and design projects toward departmental advertising. This role also supports the work of Chautauqua and Ecotone magazines and book imprint, Lookout. The successful candidate will teach courses in publishing and contribute to curriculum development and administration of both the department’s BFA and post-baccalaureate certificates in publishing, as well as serve on departmental committees.” Apply by June 27.
• The Lichtenstein Center at New York’s Stony Brook University “is seeking part-time visiting writers to teach introductory and elective courses and workshops in creative writing as part of the BFA and Minor in Creative Writing.  Elective courses may include topics in fiction, poetry, or multigenre. The successful candidate is expected to teach 1 or 2 courses or workshops per semester, dependent on course availability.  In addition to teaching, the successful candidate will advise students on independent reading or other projects. This is a non-tenure track position to begin in the Fall 2024 semester (8/26/24).” Apply by July 6.