Opportunities for Writers – May 2024
Opportunities for writers including writers conferences, workshops, contests, and submissions. Updated 5/6/24.
Submit your opportunity to mail@indianawriters.org. Submit your opportunity by the 1st of the month to ensure it is included.
Have a short story, poem or other work you’re just dying to share? Check out these publications, workshop and contest opportunities.
*Advice on Writing Contests:
When considering contests, look to see how they handled winners’ work from previous years: Is there a list of previous winners? Where you can go to read or have access to the winning pieces of writing? Who are the judges? Are they people who you would read yourself? If you win, what kind of audience would you receive for your work? Research contests and their reputations online. Use places like duotrope.com, Poets and Writers (pw.org), the New Pages (newpages.com), or The Review Review (the
reviewreview.net), to see whether there is any other information about the contest from other sources.
Mental Health and Wellness Grants for Creatives
Artists, creatives and arts workers– Get funding for your mental health! You can request up to $750/month from Indy Arts Council for services like professional counseling and creative therapy.
This funding is available until it’s gone! Requests will be reviewed and paid out on a monthly basis as long as funding is available.
Submit the short application online for the Mental Health and Wellness Grant for Creatives. If writing isn’t your thing, reach out to me directly and I’ll be happy to help or find an alternate format to apply.
To qualify for these funds, you must:
- be 18 years of age or older.
- be able to provide a Social Security Number (SSN), Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) or A-Number/USCIS Number.
- be a resident of one of the following counties, which are within the Arts Council of Indianapolis’ service area: Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Marion, Morgan, Johnson, Shelby.
- have worked professionally in the arts for at least 1 year (artists and arts administrators).
- submit a short application, which includes proof of your arts work history (like a resume) and samples of your work in the arts.
Poetic Justice Seeking Poets
The Learning Tree seeks four Indianapolis-area poets for their Poetic Justice Poet in Residence program. Poetic Justice is a peace-building and community safety program that integrates poetry and creative writing to foster social connectedness and cultivate visions of safe, nurturing communities through writing and asset-based community projects. We currently seek poets interested in having their original written work studied during our cohort sessions and participating in several of our meetings.
Poets should be Indianapolis residents, able to commit to three 1.5 hour meetings within the 15 weeks and be actively involved in the community within the last 5 years. Poetic Justice uses a cohort model, meeting once a week for 15 weeks. Poets in residence are expected to share at least one poem for a cohort to read, lead at least one poetry writing workshop and discussion, attend at least three PJ sessions, and offer one original writing to the Poetic Justice anthology.
Writers in residence will receive a $1,500 stipend.
Community Poetry Workshop
Attention all writers, poets, aspiring poets, and everyone in between: Butler MFA is hosting an upcoming
Community Poetry Workshop—taught by poetry professor Alessandra Lynch! 
This workshop is a supportive creative community designed to inspire, challenge, and enlighten poets of all levels of experience.
Dates: Tuesdays and Thursdays, April 30th- May 23rd, 6:30-8:30pm
Location: Efroymson Center for Creative Writing (530 W Hampton Dr)
Alessandra Lynch’s most recent collection of poetry, “Pretty Tripwire,” was published in 2021. She is also the author of three other poetry collections: “Sails the Wind Left Behind,” “It was a terrible cloud at twilight,” and “Daylily Called It a Dangerous Moment” (winner of the Balcones Prize, finalist for the LA Times Book Award and the UNT Rilke Prize, listed as a NY Times top ten poetry books of 2017).
Currently, Alessandra serves as Butler University’s poet in residence where she teaches in the undergraduate and MFA programs. Her fifth book of poetry, “Wish Ave,” will be published by Alice James Books in 2024.
Please contact Mindy Dunn at mdunn1@butler.edu with any questions. Link in bio for full information & registration.
Grist’s Imagine 2200 climate fiction contest
Since 2020, Grist’s Imagine 2200 climate fiction contest has celebrated short stories envisioning the future of climate progress, and works that imagine futures of abundance, adaptation, reform, and hope. Today, we are excited to open submissions for the fourth year of our contest, and once again invite writers from all over the globe to imagine a future in which solutions to the climate crisis flourish and help bring about radical improvements to our world.
Learn about this year’s Imagine contest
Imagine 2200 is an exercise in looking beyond the current moment, to discover hope in the world we can build. These stories are rooted in creative climate solutions and community-centered resilience, showing what can happen as solutions take root, and offer gripping plots with rich characters and settings, making that future come alive.
Ready to start writing? Dive deeper into this year’s prompt, and some resources to learn about climate solutions and future visioning.
The winning writer will be awarded $3,000. The second- and third-place winners receive $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. An additional nine finalists will each receive $300. All winners and finalists will have their story published in an immersive collection on Grist’s website. We are also partnering with Oregon State University’s Spring Creek Project, which will offer the winning writer the opportunity to participate in its Environmental Writing Fellowship and Residency.
Not a writer? Here’s how you can help:
- Help us create some buzz – share this link with writers groups, schools, communities, friends, or family who might be interested in submitting a story.
- Use our media kit for graphics and sample language to spread the word on social media.
We’re eager to see where this year’s submissions take us, and we can’t wait to explore the worlds their authors invite us into. We hope you join us on this exciting journey into a cleaner, greener, more equitable future.
NewPage Big List of Writing Contests
The Big List of Writing Contests features a comprehensive list of magazine contests, book contests, chapbook contests, writing contests, audio contests, video contests, and competitions from independent publishers, literary magazines, alternative magazines, creative writing programs, and writing conferences and festivals. If you are interested in contests for young writers, check out our Young Writers Guide to Contests. You can view more information about currently open contests here.
Westchester Review
(Katita Miller, Automatic Drawing #16)
We are a literary magazine based in Westchester County, NY but not limited to that in our readers/writers. While we used to focus on Westchester writers when we launched in print in 2007, we have vastly expanded our reach and contributor base and, since the pandemic, are published fully online with an audience around the world. We launch four seasonal issues a year with a carefully curated array of short stories, creative nonfiction, 10-min plays and poetry.
We specifically want to encourage submissions on the prose end of things right now — fiction and essays — and would love for you to share this message and flyer attached with your students/audiences who might write in those genres.
Our submission portal opens and closes depending on our needs/deadlines in various genres at the moment, with all the guidelines in the submit link below. We charge no submission fees for work to be considered and welcome your interest.
Our fall issue: https://www.westchesterreview.com
11 Literary Magazines Accepting Writing and Art from Teens
Pen to Paper Writing Group
What we’re about
We write. We share. We live.
Pen to Paper is Indy’s most notorious coterie of misfit writers.
What We Do
In its simplest form, we write stuff, share it with each other, and talk about it. Of course, to organize this effort requires a few rules, a calendar, and a sextant.
We critique each others written material and provide creative support, constructive criticism, and sage advice.
Who May Join
If you write, you may join. Hell, even if you don’t write, give us a whirl, as long as you provide us with homemade cookies and lemonade.
We accept people at all skill levels, from the doe-eyed novice to the curmudgeonly expert.
If you want to write or improve your writing, then you’ve come to the right place.
We critique all manner of writing, be it fiction, non-fiction, poetry, travelogues, erotica, technical manuals … if it has words, we’ll read it.
So, You Want to Join
Follow these simple steps to initiate yourself into our mysteries:
1) Check out the Newbies page on our website at http://www.pentopaperblog.org/newbies-start-here/
2) Check out our guiding principles on our website at http://www.pentopaperblog.org/rules-of-write-club/
3) Come to a meeting.
It’s really that simple. For what are you waiting? An incorrectly placed preposition?
Note: It may appear from the RSVP’s that attendance is sparse. That is not really the case. We’ve been around so long that members rarely RSVP anymore.
Formerly known as Crazyhorse, swamp pink publishes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction on a semi-monthly basis.
Poems receive $40 each, and we pay $0.05 a word for prose. Maximum payout for accepted work is $200.
Submissions of fiction and nonfiction can be up to 7,500 words in length. We have published exceptional work that falls outside this range, but it is an unusual occurrence. For poetry, please submit a set of 3-6 poems. We accept simultaneous submissions for all genres. More specific guidelines for each genre can be found below.
It typically takes us 12-16 weeks to respond to submissions.
Young Writers: Watermelon University Open for Enrollment!
Each month on a Saturday, young scholars are invited to meet Professor Watermelon and Mister Smart at the Indianapolis Public Library. For three adventurous hours, the class dives into a themed topic, like a mythical forest, a spooky town or a harvest garden. These amusing settings are chosen to inspire a wealth of ideas and topics for young scholars to cultivate and use as springboards for creative writing and drawing. Young scholars research their topics by using the Dewey Decimal System and other valuable tools/resources found at the library. These academic skills are presented in a FUN and creative way, while children make stories, make art and make friends!
Speed City Sisters in Crime
We have opened submissions to our chapter’s ninth short story anthology, to be published in November of 2023 in time for our chapter’s 20th anniversary in 2024.
Submissions are open to all who are Speed City chapter members in 2022/2023.
Attached to this email are the complete submission guidelines for our new publication.
Title: Amber Waves of Graves
Editors: Lillie Evans, Tony Perona and Stephen Terrell
Theme: Rural settings, country graveyards and small-town life in Indiana can be beautiful. And deadly.
The complete submission guidelines are also available online on our website.
The Flying Island
Flying Island, the Online Literary Journal of the Indiana Writers Center accepts submissions on a rolling basis from Indiana residents and those with significant ties to Indiana.
- Fiction: up to 5,000 words
- Nonfiction: up to 3,500 words
- Poetry: up to three poems, no more than 50 lines each.
Visit the journal and submit your work.
Please follow this link to carefully read their guidelines and submit your best work – the competition will be extraordinary as they have some key pieces from very well known authors already.
More than a publication; a community.
Of Rust and Glass is a literature and arts publication featuring talent from all across the Midwest United States, including writers, artists, photographers, videographers, musicians, and everything in between. It is a celebration of the thriving creative spirit within our wonderful community.
Currently seeking submissions for themed releases:
“Fall” Submissions open through 9/15/2022
For more information on these themes visit our submissions page.
Old Iron Press open to submissions!
Old Iron Press is a female-led small press dedicated to retooled classics and new voices innovating the familiar. Existing apart from traditional publishing with an entirely different set of values, we are focused on originality over sales.
Submissions for our inaugural anthology, “Playing Authors,” will go live on May 1, 2022 and run until October 1, 2022. Selected contributors will receive one free contributor copy and an honorarium..
Inspired by the classic game of Authors, originally published in 1861, we are asking what it means to be an author—and an Author.
For more information, visit our submission guidelines at www.oldironpress.com.
The Paper 24-7.com accepting articles
We are two small local newspapers – one in Crawfordsville and the other in Noblesville. We have an electronic Sunday edition in Crawfordsville that is similar to newspapers of yesteryear – pages devoted to food, health, home, etc. We also have a Voices section and get submissions from writers from all over.
How to submit for Sunday Voices:
E-mail your article to Tim Timmons at ttimmons@thepaper24-7.com. Do not attach the article, simply include it in the body of the e-mail. Also include a brief bio and jpeg mugshot and note that you agree for Sagamore News Media to publish your piece. Although SNM does not pay for submissions, we do have a paid Sunday readership and your work will be available to our circulation base and also on our website. SNM does not accept third-party submissions. Each one must come from the author.
Authors Publish 32 Magazines that Publish Flash Fiction
These magazines publish flash fiction; a few also publish micros. Many of them publish longer work too, as well as other genres, like nonfiction and poetry. Most, but not all, of these are open for submissions now. They are a mix of genre and literary outlets, and listed in no particular order.
Authors Publish 5 Paying Literary Magazines
These magazines pay for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They are a mix of literary and genre markets.
Inked Voices
A Platform for Writing Groups and an Online Space for Writers
With Inked Voices, writing groups and workshops can collaborate intimately despite distance and strange schedules. We are not a giant critique forum, but a collection of small workshopping communities.
Join the community and check out the plans
The Glacier: Poetry for the Coming Ice Age now Accepting Submissions
The Glacier is an online literary magazine based out of Indiana University South Bend. The magazine is accepting submissions of poetry, visual art, and fiction for its inaugural issue.
Curated by poet and artist David Dodd Lee and managed by editor and poet Austin Veldman, The Glacier is a sister press to both 42 Miles Press and Twyckenham Notes, both also of South Bend, Indiana.
We seek the best art possible. Accepted work will be presented in a clean online aesthetic. For an idea about how your work will be presented, please visit the latest issue of Twyckenham Notes.
Indiana Pandemic Poetry Project
COVID-19 has created a time in history like no other; students, specifically, have faced many unique challenges because of this. With this poetry project, we hope to assemble a collective reflection in response to the trials and time at home we have faced, as we work towards the end of the Pandemic together.
Indiana students in the years of study of 4th-12th grade or the undergraduate, graduate, or doctorate levels are all welcome to submit one original poem.
Storm Cellar: A Literary Journal of Safety and Danger
Storm Cellar is a nationally distributed, independent literary arts magazine rooted in the Midwest, appearing in print and ebook editions. This is a journal of safety and danger. We want your prose, poems, chimeras, and ideas penned on envelopes in buses and train cars. The magazine aims to publish amazing work by new and established writers and artists, present a range of styles and approaches, and cure (not merely displace) boredom. If you write one thing to be read while waiting for the all-clear to sound, send it here.
-La Libreta- Open for Submissions
-La Libreta- is published online three times each year. We publish the work of intergenerational writers and artists of color from the Bronx and beyond that identify as women.
– December 1st deadline – for publication on January 30
– April 1st deadline – for publication on May 30
– August 1st deadline – for publication on September 30
Please read and follow submission guidelines.
Cutleaf Journal Open to Submissions
Cutleaf publishes a new issue twice a month. We welcome unsolicited original prose (both creative nonfiction and fiction) and poetry from established and emerging writers.
Work published online in Cutleaf may be chosen for inclusion in the print Cutleaf Reader.
You can find updated submission guidelines here.
Acre Books open to submissions
Acre Books, the book-publishing offshoot of The Cincinnati Review, aims to build on the excellence that its parent publication has become known for. Like CR, our small press will focus on surprising, imaginative, and absorbing works—of poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction, and hybrid forms—that are expertly crafted and beautifully polished, and that engage readers aesthetically as well as emotionally. We are devoted in particular to finding, and bringing to a broad readership, remarkably talented newcomers. Initially we will bring out 6 titles annually, but we intend in the coming years to expand our lists and our staff. Visit our home page to subscribe to our mailing list.
Acre’s titles are distributed by the CDC (Chicago Distribution Center).
The American Poetry Review Seeks Submissions
Seeking poetry submissions, submissions for first book prize, and prose writing related to poetry such as book reviews and interviews. Visit them on Submittable to learn more.
Seeking Submissions for Meditation Anthologies
Hazelden Publishing is the leading publisher of addiction recovery and self-help resources. Part of the?Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, the nation’s largest nonprofit treatment provider, we offer a variety of accessible and life changing materials–from daily meditations to evidence-based programs.
In the past, our meditation-a-day format books have been written by a single author. Now, we are taking the opportunity of using the 365 days in a year to expand the number of voices we can uplift and recognize.?The more people who hear about the call for submissions, the more inclusive, reflective of the community, and useful the final books will be.
Complete information about How We Heal: Meditations for Reclaiming Our Voices from Addiction and Sexual Trauma is available here: https://www.hazelden.org/store/publicpage/meditations-anthology-writing-detail
Complete information about Leave No One Behind: Daily Meditations for Service Members and Veterans in Recovery is available here: https://www.hazelden.org/store/publicpage/meditations-anthology-writing-leave-no-one-behind
Washington Post Seeking Op-eds
In our effort to bring in more voices from across America, the Washington Post’s op-ed department would like to hear from writers with a wide variety of backgrounds, interests and outlooks. The one constant should be that they are good writers with strong viewpoints, and value facts and reasoned argument over invective. We’ll welcome one-off submissions, or pieces on breaking news events that we solicit, but we also hope that some writers will develop into regular contributors.
The Washington Post maintains a high bar for acceptance: We receive a large volume of op-ed submissions and have limited space, so even worthwhile op-eds might not be accepted if they don’t meet our needs at the moment. But our having a designated venue for op-eds from across the country does expand the possibility that your submission could find a home here. (A good target length for op-eds is 750-800 words.)
Here are some examples of writing that would fit into this category. As you can see, the range of topics is broad – political, personal, analytical, humorous, legal, business-oriented, you name it. What ties them together is that they don’t originate in Washington or universities or think tanks or other common sources of opinion articles. They bring first-hand experience or on-the-ground knowledge to bear on matters that may be local to the writer but could easily be of interest to readers everywhere.
Extra note: It’s best to send pieces in both an attachment and pasted into the email (reading in the email is fastest, but if there are links within the text, they convert more easily from a document).
Send op-eds to Mark Lasswell, Mark.Lasswell@washpost.com
Write for Sixty Inches from Center
Sixty welcomes writers and artists of all experience levels to pitch ideas for traditional and experimental arts writing around topics, and practices that are relevant to the cultural landscapes of the Midwest.
Priority will be given to writing by, about, and for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists, artists with disabilities, and the long list of writing, art-making, and cultural practices that have been neglected in mainstream conversations and canons about art and culture. We publish writing, photography, art, archive materials, video, and conversations that are thoughtful, generative, experimental, and relatable to a variety of readers.
Once a pitch is accepted, writers have full and free access to our editors, transcribers, translators, photographers, and illustrators to support the creation and completion of the final piece.
To see what type of articles they publish and other guidelines, visit the link.
Driftwood Press Submissions Open
John Updike once said, “Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.” At Driftwood Press, we are actively searching for artists who care about doing it right, or better. Driftwood Press is a bi-annual literary magazine founded in Tampa, FL in 2013.
As of 2018, we pay our contributors (see guidelines for rates) for each contribution made to our magazine.
At Driftwood Press, we are actively searching for artists who care about doing it right, or better. We are excited to receive your submissions and will diligently work to bring you the best in full poetry collections, novellas, graphic novels, short fiction, poetry, graphic narrative, photography, art, interviews, and contests.]
Visit their website for more information and to submit your work.
Extinction Rebellion Creative Hub Open for Submissions
Welcome to the Extinction Rebellion Creative Hub: an anthology of songs, fiction and poetry that’s inspiring, meaningful and original, and that reflects the principles, concerns and values of the Extinction Rebellion from a global, regional or local perspective.
This collection is a voice and a resource for Extinction Rebellion members everywhere, and a contribution to the global XR profile in the wider world.
Find out more and submit your work.
blankcoverpress.com
Submissions open in all genres!
For submissions, email: submissions@blankcoverpress.com
https://blankcoverpress.com
McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: A Force Outside Myself: Citizens Over 60 Speak
Deadline: Rolling
If you are 60 or older, we’re interested in your thoughts right now and hope you can write a short first-person narrative. (100-500 words) Send entries to Kitania Folk at aforce@mcsweeneys.net and watch our site for ongoing updates.
Awakenings Review Seeks Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction, Photography, and Art
Established in 2000, The Awakenings Review is an annual lit mag committed to publishing poetry, short story, nonfiction, photography, and art by writers, poets and artists who have a relationship with mental illness: either self, family member, or friend. Our striking hardcopy publication is one of the nation’s leading journals of this genre. Creative endeavors and mental illness have long had a close association. The Awakenings Review publishes works derived from artists’, writers’, and poets’ experiences with mental illness, though mental illness need not be the subject of your work. Visit www.AwakeningsProject.org for submission guidelines.
Complete Guide to 2022 Artist Grants & Opportunities
A list of the top international open calls, residencies, fellowships, and awards that we believe will benefit artists during the upcoming year! The complete list is broken down into six categories: grants, residencies & fellowships, calls-for-entry, publications, COVID relief funds, and opportunity sites.
This list will be updated throughout the year, so make sure to bookmark the page, check back often. View the list.
Poets & Writers: New Writing Contest Deadlines!
For information regarding writing contests and deadlines: Go Here
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE YOUR OPPORTUNITY LISTED HERE? Email the details to: mail@indianawriters.org
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