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.

• “Submitting to The Wild Umbrella means sending your stories, essays, poems, and now cover art (for our print edition) to a team of thoughtful readers and editors who’ll take time and care to polish, publish, and energetically promote your work. Submissions are free, and contributors will be paid €10 per poem and €25 per story or essay, and €50 for accepted cover art submissions.” Deadline: September 30. (Hat tip: @Duotrope.)
• Toronto Journal publishes “short stories from anywhere in the world. We will also consider non-fiction pieces that are either set locally or explore some local history (Toronto, GTA, and surrounding).” Their next deadline is October 1, and they pay “$50 per piece. All published writers will also receive a printed copy of the issue in which they appear.” (Hat tip: Jeanne Lyet Gassman.)
• The next deadline for PEN America’s U.S. Writers Aid Initiative is October 1. This program “is intended to assist fiction and nonfiction authors, poets, playwrights, translators, and journalists in addressing short-term financial emergencies. To be eligible, applicants must be professional writers based in the United States, and be able to demonstrate that this one-time grant will be meaningful in helping address a short-term emergency situation.” 
• “Sinister Wisdom seeks a managing editor for a part-time contractual position beginning in the fall of 2024.” Compensation: “The compensation is $1,000 a month for approximately 50-60 hours/month. This position is fully remote.” Apply by October 15.
• Morgan State University in Baltimore is hiring a lecturer in creative writing.
• At Mississippi State University, “the Department of English seeks a poet for a tenure-track assistant professor position to begin August 2025.”
• In Pennsylvania, “the Department of English Literature at Swarthmore College invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track appointment in Creative Writing with specific expertise in poetry. Because this is an open-rank position, we will hire a poet at the assistant professor or tenured associate/full professor level, depending on qualifications and experience. This position will begin in Fall 2025.”
• In North Carolina, “the Department of English Studies at Western Carolina University is seeking candidates for a 9-month tenure-track Assistant Professor of Creative Writing—Fiction.”
• In New York, “the College of Staten Island seeks applicants for appointment in the Department of English to a tenure-track Assistant Professor position with specializations in fiction writing and contemporary Latine literature. Preference will be given to those who work in both areas and can teach courses in Spanish; however, applicants from a broad range of areas are encouraged to apply.”
• “The Department of English at The Pennsylvania State University at University Park, Pennsylvania, invites applications for a Visiting Assistant Professor in Creative Writing (Fiction) to begin January 2025, with flexibility.”
• At Pepperdine University in California, they’re advertising for “a full-time Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing to begin August 2025. The successful candidate will teach undergraduate level courses with primary responsibilities in the Creative Writing program and secondary responsibilities in the English program. This is a multi-genre position — a background in fiction writing is required; additional background in poetry writing is preferred.”

Reminder: The October edition of The Practicing Writer 2.0 will go out to subscribers one week from today. Now’s a good time to ensure that you’ve checked out all of the fee-free-and-paying opportunities in the September newsletter and in the latest Markets and Jobs posts here on Practicing Writing.