Erika Dreifus

For many years—since long before Substack arrived on the scene—I’ve been curating weekly “Monday Markets and Jobs” posts on the Practicing Writing blog, where everyone can still find them (albeit slightly later in the day than in the past). But some months ago, I began sharing this information early every Monday morning via Substack, too, as a benefit for paid subscribers.

Please note: These posts are supplements to the free monthly newsletter, allowing me to amplify opportunities that I may not have caught in time for each month’s edition. And by the way—the November 2025 issue, featuring 60+ opportunities that are now or will soon be open for submissions—went out to subscribers just three days ago! If you haven’t had a chance to peruse it yet, you can find it here.

Another note: Unlike the monthly newsletter, which filters out listings that may be limited to writers in single city/state/province, these weekly posts do carry such localized opportunities (jobs included).

But in all cases, calls and competitions must not charge submission/application fees, and they must offer payment for winning/published work (or, in the case of residencies, they must not charge application or participation fees).

And yes, although the November issue is just three days old, there are already more opportunities to share. This week’s gleanings below.

• “In light of the current cuts to SNAP funding that started November 1, 2025 in the United States, Open Secrets Magazine is issuing this call for submissions for personal essays by and about people currently experiencing food insecurity. We will pay $200/essay and publish up to 5 essays. We will accept submissions until we commission all food insecurity essays. Any updates to this call for submissions will be made in this post.”
• “Fodor’s is looking for some hot takes for our recurrent series, Hot Takes, in which we invite writers to share a take that will stir up conversation and debate….The spicier the take, the better.” Pays: “Typical rate is around $300.” No deadline indicated. (Hat tip: The Write Jobs.)
• Brooklyn-resident writers may want to peruse the grant opportunities currently open at the Brooklyn Arts Council. Grant amounts vary; deadlines appear to all be November 7.
• For Minnesotans: Applications for 2026 McKnight Fellowships for Writers Administered by the Loft are open until November 30. “One $25,000 fellowship is awarded each year in children’s literature, including poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. This year’s award is offered to a writer for children younger than 8 years old. Four $25,000 fellowships are offered in alternating years to writers of creative prose and poetry/spoken word. The 2026 year cycle is in poetry and spoken word.”
• The WWPH Fellowship “provides undergraduates, graduate students, and recent graduates with a keen interest in the literary arts with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience working with the Washington Writers’ Publishing House. WWPH fellows/interns will learn small press publishing from WWPH executive board members and authors while helping advance the press’s mission. Participants will gain invaluable insight into the operations of an independent, nonprofit literary press and the publishing business as a whole (read on for more details). Each participant will receive a $500.00 stipend for the 12-week virtual internship.” NB: “The Fellowships are largely virtual. However, we are planning a number of events in the DC-area for 2026 and ideally would like our Fellows available to assist at them.” Deadline: November 30.
• “It’s time for the 8^th Annual Weird Christmas Flash Fiction ConThology! It used to be a contest; now it’s an anthology….This is a contest for flash fiction of no more than 350 words that’s both about Christmas (or any other winter holiday) and simultaneously weird. Exactly what that means is up to you because you’re the one with literary pretensions and a damaged psyche. All you have to do is make something about the Christmas season seem new and unsettling with a bit of that grinning like you’re not sure if it’s funny or creepy, and you make your fellow co-conspirators in this hell of existence a bit more bearable.” Payment: $35 for each piece selected. Deadline: December 1.
• Just re-opened for submissions (for its next spring-summer print issue): Epiphany, which publishes a “great variety of stories, poems, essays, and genre-bending work” (also including translations, and art). Pays: $175 for fiction/nonfiction; $75 for poetry. Deadline: December 15. (Not fee-free.)
• Chicago Magazine’s editorial department “is seeking a motivated, enthusiastic college graduate for our paid six-month research assistant position. This role is remote, but for Illinois-based applicants only.” Pay rate for this part-time position: “The hourly wage is $16.60.” No deadline indicated. (Hat tip: MEOjobs of the Week.)
• The Connecticut-based Fairfield University Low-Residency MFA Program “seeks an established writer and teacher of creative writing to serve as a full-time Associate Director….Candidates will have credentials to teach in the program and should be a published writer of fiction, nonfiction, poetry or dramatic writing. The Associate Director will contribute to the MFA program’s aim to support, sustain, and extend the Jesuit ideal of developing the writer as a whole person within a community committed to justice, honest expression, and beauty.” Application review will continue “until the position is filled.”
• Kentucky’s Murray State University is advertising for a tenure-track assistant professor whose “minimum” background includes “MFA or Ph.D. in Creative Writing with an open genre (poetry preferred) with expertise in a second, related area such as YA literature, play or screenwriting, or literary publishing.” Deadline: November 30.
• The Department of English at Arizona State University “invites applications for an Assistant Teaching Professor position in Creative Writing, specializing in prose with an anticipated start date of August 2026.” Deadline: “Initial review of applications will begin on December 1, 2025 and will continue on a weekly basis in subsequent months throughout the academic year as needed until the search is closed.”
• In Massachusetts, the Department of English at the College of the Holy Cross “invites applications and expressions of interest in the Jenks Chair in Contemporary Letters. The Jenks Chair is held by a distinguished writer with a significant publication record, an established national or international literary reputation, and evidence of exceptional future creative promise. Writers of fiction and nonfiction, including in emerging and experimental genres, are invited to apply. The Jenks Chair is a full-time faculty appointment with an initial three-year term (renewable for up to two additional years).” Deadline: December 4.
• “The Department of Literature, Writing, and Film in the College of Letters and Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater seeks an academic staff position to serve as the managing editor of the department’s national literary journal, Either/Or. This is a twelve-month position that includes teaching responsibilities in first-year English composition and/or creative writing courses.” Deadline: “Completed applications received by December 31st, 2025, are ensured full consideration.”