Opportunities for Writers – February 2023
Opportunities for writers including writers conferences, workshops, contests, and submissions. Updated 2/7/2022.
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 (thereviewreview.net), to see whether there is any other information about the contest from other sources.
Poetry Foundation LatinX Poetics Anthology Launch
Join us for a celebration of University of New Mexico Press’s landmark anthology Latinx Poetics: Essays on the Art of Poetry, featuring editor Ruben Quesada and poetry readings from eleven contributors. This is a hybrid event, which will be offered in-person and via livestream.
In-Person Attendance
All guests over the age of two must wear a mask inside the Poetry Foundation building. Guests over the age of five must show proof of vaccination and booster up to the level to which they are eligible for their age group. Guests over the age of 18 must show ID alongside their proof of vaccination. If you cannot meet these requirements, you will not be granted entry to the event. Please note that some performers may choose to perform without a mask. Guests are encouraged to register in advance.
Livestream Attendance
The livestream link will be shared with registered guests on the day of the event. In order to receive the livestream details, please register in advance here.
Butler Bridge Program
| In this workshop, poets will explore the concept of image and the ways in which they may express themselves through the power of words. Through the use of vivid imagery and creative writing exercises, poets will discover how to use poetic devices to create captivating moments in time. Register here! |
Golden Haiku Poetry Contest
The Golden Triangle BID’s tenth annual Golden Haiku poetry submission period opens on January 9, 2023 and will close on February 5, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
Poets are invited to submit up to two original, self-authored haiku. Haiku are selected by the panel of judges, like this year’s winning haiku
Forms & Features Online–Shape Poetry at Capacity
All are welcome to a poetry discussion and creative writing workshop led by Maggie Queeney. In this session, we focus on shape poetry in conversation with Tishani Doshi’s essay In Praise of Shape Poetry. The group will explore a wide variety of poems and conclude with a guided creative writing workshop, where participants will compose an original shape poem.
Registration is required; space is limited. We will do our best to accommodate everyone’s wishes while allowing as many people to participate in these workshops as is possible. This program is for adult participants, aged 18 and older.
Tuesday, February 7, 2023, 6PM CST–8PM CST
Wednesday, February 8, 2023, 2PM CST–4PM CST
Thursday, February 9, 2023, 10AM CST–12PM CST
Open Door: José Olivarez, Britteney Black Rose Kapri, Vic Chávez & Raych Jackson
Join us for an Open Door reading with José Olivarez, Britteney Black Rose Kapri, Vic Chávez, and Raych Jackson, celebrating the launch of Olivarez’s book, Promises of Gold. The Open Door series highlights creative relationships in Chicago, including mentorship and collaboration. This is a hybrid event, which will be offered in-person and via livestream.
In-Person Attendance
All guests over the age of two must wear a mask inside the Poetry Foundation building. Guests over the age of five must show proof of vaccination and booster up to the level to which they are eligible for their age group. Guests over the age of 18 must show ID alongside their proof of vaccination. If you cannot meet these requirements, you will not be granted entry to the event. Please note that some performers may choose to perform without a mask. Guests are encouraged to register in advance.
Livestream Attendance
The livestream link will be shared with registered guests on the day of the event. In order to receive the livestream details, please register in advance here.
Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to the public.
Forms & Features Online with Lisa Low
All are welcome to a poetry discussion and creative writing workshop, “Reorienting the Audience through Ars Poetica,” created and led by Lisa Low.
In this session, we will explore the relationship between writer and reader through the form of the ars…
Saturday, February 11, 2023, 11:00AM CST
Forms & Features Online: Alliteration
All are welcome to a poetry discussion and creative writing workshop led by Maggie Queeney. In this session, we focus on alliteration, a repetition of initial consonant sounds. The group will explore a wide variety of poems and conclude with…
Monday, February 13, 2023, 6PM CST
Celebrating the Visiting Teaching Artists of Forms & Features
Join us for a virtual reading celebrating the 2022 Forms & Features Visiting Teaching Artists: Cecilia Caballero, Christiana Castillo, Antoinette Cooper, Sara Elkamel, Ernest Ògúny?mí, and Chessy Normile.
Thursday, February 16, 2023, 7PM CST
Writing Lab Indy Presents The Writers Workshop Series
February 18 1:30 – 5:00 PM at Indianapolis Public Library- Michigan Road Branch, 6201 Michigan Road
Have an idea for a movie, but don’t know where to start? Started writing a script, but got writer’s block? Meet us @ The Writing Lab Indy!
At the 1st workshop of the New Year we will be discussing the basics of writing a feature film, where to start what makes a good film and more!
Our guest speaker will be Earvin Owensby of O Entertainments & Productions
Price includes lunch!
Questions? Contact Boss Lady Media @ 317-279-1336 or bossladymed@gmail.com
Poetry and the Meditative Mind – Veteran Writing Workshop
Monday Feb 27; 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library, 543 Indiana Avenue
Join us for our next installment of Journaling & Creativity Workshops to Inspire Guided Action.
Workshop participants will consider poems that enact the meditative process. What reflective spaces do poems allow us to explore? How is this exploration tied to discovery? Participants will dedicate time to drafting their own poems, paying attention to various writing and thinking practices.
Another Chicago Magazine Residency
In 2023, Another Chicago Magazine will award a free multi-week residency in Belfast, Maine, which is on the coast, about two hours north of Portland and one hour southeast of Bangor. S.L. Wisenberg, ACM editor and author of the forthcoming Juniper prizewinner, The Wandering Womb, is the final judge.
The recipient will be a nonfiction writer whose work brings uncommon insight, incisive language, and strong storytelling to the subject at hand, which could be anything that blends the political and personal, or summons justice, or dives deep into individual experience, but always with larger contexts in mind. As for tone, ACM continues to encourage play and rage and courage. ACM will consider all submissions for publication.
The Shannaghe Residency in Belfast is a solo experience in a fully renovated stable, with a full kitchen and open living room, large lofted bedroom, laundry facilities, newly installed AC/heater, internet access. The stable sits on land that extends to the Penobscot River, and is within walking distance of three bookstores, two farmer’s markets, and the bay, via a rail trail. The resident can choose a two- or three-week stay, and is responsible for travel to Bangor. The kitchen is stocked with cooking basics. Shannaghe will provide a few meals.
Eligibility
- Working in English or translating to English
- Capable of working/living solo
Apply between January 15 and March 17; the portal closes at 120 applicants. The application fee is $20, waived for BIPOC writers. The residency is available June – July, October 15 – December 31. Apply here. Applicants will submit an unpublished writing sample and a statement about the scope of the project. More details: https://anotherchicagomagazine.net
Onyxfest: Full production grants available for Black playwrights throughout Indiana
Lack of financial resources is often the most daunting obstacle for new writers trying to bring fresh, innovative story ideas from the pages of their script to the stage. For a few aspiring writers, OnyxFest 2023 – the first and only Indiana theater festival exclusively for African American playwrights – will cover all expenses required to bring scripts to life.
This competition is designed to showcase the broad spectrum of stories that depict Black life
and culture. OnyxFest Director Vernon A. Williams said, “This is an event that empowers Black
artists to create their own narrative, to tell their own stories.”
Scripts will be accepted for consideration up to midnight Friday, March 10th. Winners will be notified in the first week of April. We will also communicate with those not chosen.
Entries must be original one-act plays – between 45 minutes and an hour in length. There
may be no more than six characters per cast. The scope of OnyxFest subject matter is broad. Williams recommends that writers avoid stereotypes, degrading or disrespectful portrayals of Black life and culture, and gratuitous violence or sexual content.
To request an interview of Onyxfest organizers, please contact Teresa Francis at tfrancis@iupui.edu or Vernon A. Williams at 317.457.8779.
Fioretti Open for Submissions
Kings River Review Call for 2-Year College Student Submissions
The Kings River Review publishes artwork, creative nonfiction, short fiction, and poetry of current 2-year community college students.
Submission Deadlines: March 15 for the spring issue and October 15 for the fall issue. Submission requirements: up to 5 pieces of artwork and photography sent as .JPEG files; creative nonfiction and fiction of up to 3,000 words; and up to 5 poems. Go to kingsriverreview.com for full submission guidelines.
INverse Poetry Archive Now Accepting Entries
| INverse Poetry Archive Now Accepting Entries |
| 02/01/2023 |
 INverse Poetry Archive Now Accepting Entries(INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.) The Indiana Arts Commission (IAC), in partnership with the Indiana State Library, announced today that INverse, the state poetry archive, is accepting entries.INverse, an initiative of former Indiana Poet Laureate Adrian Matejka, celebrates and preserves the diverse range of Indiana poetry for future generations of Indiana writers and readers. The works of 33 poets were added to the poetry archive in September 2022. “We are excited to once again open the INverse archives to entries,” said Miah Michaelsen, IAC Executive Director. “INverse is a wonderful celebration of Indiana’s diverse, creative voices and we are proud to partner with the Indiana State Library to preserve Hoosier poetry for all to enjoy. ”All eligible residents of Indiana are encouraged to submit poems to the archive for review. Sample Submission Form Guidelines Access the Archive Entries are due April 30, 2023. |
The Awakenings Review
Exploration and Catharsis: Mental Illness and The Awakenings Review
Deadline: Year-round
The Awakenings Review is an award-winning literary magazine committed to publishing poetry, short stories, nonfiction, and photography by writers, poets, and artists who have a relationship with mental illness, either self, family member, or friend. Located in the Chicago area but international in scope, our hardcopy publication, soon to be published biannually (beginning in Spring 2023), is one of the nation’s leading journals of this genre. While we are most interested in works of recovery and healing, at The Awakenings Review we are not averse to providing a forum and liberating experience of all manners of work and a vehicle of insight for our readers. Refer to our submission guidelines at www.AwakeningsProject.org.
Butler Bridge Program — Youth Writing Club
The Butler Bridge Program is an engaging creative writing club for students in grades 3-12 led by Butler University MFA graduate student mentors.
Sat, February 18 1:00 – 3:00 PM EST
$20 per student. Register here!
Efroymson Center for Creative Writing:
530 West Hampton Drive Indianapolis, IN 46208
Butler University Youth Creative Writing Camp
Butler University has a summer Creative Writing Camp for students who love reading and writing, and our camp is officially open for our 26th year! If you have any talented writers/readers or interested students entering 3rd-12th grade this fall, please suggest our one-of-a kind camp. We are offering the following times for camp:
Week 1 (on campus): June 12-16
Week 2 (on campus): June 19-23
Week 3 (virtual): June 26-30
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.
Rialto International Poetry Contest
The RSPB and The Rialto are additionally working with BirdLife International, the Cambridge Conservation Initiative and the University of Leeds Poetry Centre. There’s a fantastic range of prizes on offer and prizewinners will be invited to read their poems at an event with Ian McMillan at CCI in June 2023.
The closing date for entries is midnight on 1st March 2023.
As well as offering poets the chance to win considerable cash prizes and publication of their poems, the competition supports conservation and poetry. We are working in partnership with leading independent UK poetry magazine, The Rialto, as we feel the magazine will be the perfect place to showcase the winning entries.
Prizes
1st PRIZE £1000
2nd PRIZE £500
3rd PRIZE £250
Our judgeis celebrated poet, Ian McMillan.
Ian McMillan is a writer and broadcaster who presents The Verb on BBC Radio 3 every Friday night. He’s written poems, plays, a verse autobiography Talking Myself Home and a voyage round Yorkshire in Neither Nowt Nor Summat. His new book with Bloomsbury is My Sand Life, My Pebble Life a memoir of a childhood and the sea (pub.9 June 2022). Ian’s most recent collection is To Fold The Evening Star – New and Selected Poems (Carcanet).
The entry fee is £7 for the first poem and £4 for each subsequent poem.
Full details and the facility to enter online can be found on The Rialto 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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