Opportunities for Writers – October 2021
Opportunities for writers – October 2021, including writers conferences, workshops, contests, and submissions. Updated 10/11/2021.
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. Read below to discover opportunities for writers for October 2021 and beyond:
*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.
Call for Spirit and Place Stories, Poems, & Essays
This year, the Indiana Writers Center, Dance Kaleidoscope, Jewish Community Center, and Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library are partnering to present, Leave Them Something, a Spirit and Place program inspired by Edith Vonnegut’s artwork on environmental justice.
We invite you to use one of her paintings as a springboard to explore the devastating effects of climate change and/or imagine what the future will look like for ourselves and our children when we do what’s needed to reverse them. Poetry, short fiction, and essays will be considered for inclusion in an online anthology to be published in November. Dance Kaleidoscope dancers will choose 10-12 entries to choreograph and perform at “Leave Them Something” on Sunday, November 14 at the JCC Indy.
Deadlines
Work must be submitted by October 4 to be considered for choreography by Dance Kaleidoscope dancers. Work submitted by October 22 will also be considered for the online anthology, whether or not it is chosen to be part of the performance.
Stories submitted by October 22 will be considered only for the online anthology.
Feeling a little insecure at the prospect of writing about art? Here’s a link to “Writing about Art,” a free Zoom class taught by Barbara Shoup: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/ewazEvBvCPG1rFH1ZVhgxi1x5_ni6ZYtQjnNIRHtmPrqQLKjueZv00kxJQdM4-Ch.ejSJbSCWu4eidUDM
Access Passcode: p.5baZgg
And if you’re thinking about writing about the future, here’s another link. This one to “Visionary Worldbuilding,” taught by Saundra Mitchell: https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/L3hD9AvvRnZR89E4oJp4-Gp21-85OoxjGqyfogB10xHCCX2xDHnI4-OkA81a705J.eICxV-u5Qc_KTDh4
Access Passcode: 0M.P8eGZ
Feel free to email Barbara Shoup if you have any questions: barbarashoup@indianawriters.org
Indiana Review‘s Creative Nonfiction Prize and general submissions are open from now through October 31st.
For the Creative Nonfiction Prize, we’re accepting submissions of creative nonfiction of up to 5k words. The winner will receive $1000 and publication in Indiana Review; Anna Qu will serve as final judge. Each $20 entry fee includes a year-long subscription to Indiana Review.
We are also accepting submissions of general fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, as well as submissions to our Summer 2022 special feature, “Borders Between Worlds.” General and feature submissions are free for Black and/or Indigenous writers.
Submission guidelines and details on how to submit are available on our Submittable page.
Creative Writing Awards Competition Launches With New Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry
Penguin Random House and We Need Diverse Books (WNDB), a national grassroots organization that advocates for diversity in children’s literature, have opened submissions for the 2022 Creative Writing Awards. This is the first year the awards are featuring the newly named Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry. For the third consecutive year, we are partnering with WNDB to nurture the next generation of literary talent by supporting young writers from a variety of backgrounds.
The 2022 competition launches on October 1, 2021, and closes on February 1, 2022 — or when 1,000 applications have been submitted. Current high school seniors who attend public schools in the United States, including the District of Columbia and all U.S. territories, and are planning to attend college in fall 2022, are eligible and encouraged to apply.
Five first-place $10,000 prizes will be awarded in the categories of: the Amanda Gorman Award for Poetry; the Maya Angelou Award for spoken-word; fiction/drama; and personal essay/memoir.?In recognition of the Creative Writing Awards previously being centered in New York City, the competition will award an additional first-place prize to the top entrant from the NYC area. Runners up will also be honored.
To apply and to read more about eligibility and rules, please click here.
Winners will be announced and posted on the Penguin Random House Creative Writing Awards website in early June.
Midwest Writers Workshop Agent Fest Online 2021
Here’s an opportunity to pitch your book directly to vaunted agents in search of new voices! Advocate for your book in a high-energy environment, and you might just become another MWW success story. Connect with literary agents who are actively searching for the next big thing across all genres including fiction, nonfiction, young adult and more. During the Agent Fest Online 2021, you’ll have a chance to meet agents one-on-one and capture their attention with the basic concept of your book.
We’ve assembled a dynamic roster of top-tier agents to participate in our Agent Fest Online 2021. We have four days of valuable sessions; no matter what you’re writing — fiction or nonfiction — the sessions will help point you in the right direction. Writers of all genres are welcome.
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.
Folkways Press Open Submission Call
Please note that for this anthology we will be only accepting essays between 2,500 and 3,500 words. No poetry or fiction.
DEADLINE: Submissions will be open until October 1st at midnight.
Whilst mental health is a more openly discussed topic within society today, there is still stigma surrounding mental ill-health. This stigma keeps those struggling silent and prevents them getting the help they need. Many health institutions, political figures, and societal structures often overlook mental illness and the importance of providing access to mental healthcare for all, leaving many struggling without adequate help and resources – especially marginalized and/or impoverished communities.
Keeping this in mind, we at Folkways Press want to open this anthology to discussions of mental illness, mental health, and the many circumstances and experiences existing within. We want this anthology to serve as a platform for those living with mental illness, working within the mental health field, those affected by mental illness, and beyond. This is intended to be part of a movement to reduce stigma, raise awareness and understanding, and amplify voices of those who are often silenced by societal judgements and indifferences.
We invite writers of all ages and backgrounds to contribute to our anthology. Topics can be wide-ranging (ex. mental ill-health and trauma; mental health and institutions; mental health and sports; mental health and race/gender/sexual orientation, etc.), but we would ask that you please keep within the overall theme.
Any and all submissions that DO NOT adhere to our submission guidelines WILL NOT be considered.
Please refer to the general guidelines before sending your work.
We are looking forward to reading your words and sharing your stories! Find the full guidelines and submit your work.
Alice James Books Open Reading Period
Alice James Books is open for submissions of full length poetry through October 15, 2021. The Alice James Award welcomes submissions from emerging as well as established poets. Entrants must reside in the United States. The winner receives $2000, book publication, and distribution through Consortium. In addition to the winning manuscript, one or more additional manuscripts may be chosen for publication as the Editor’s Choice.
To submit electronically, visit the Submittable site. For details on submission guidelines and how to send a hardcopy submission, review ther guidelines.
Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize in Poetry
Deadline October 31, fee $30
Poets! We are accepting manuscript submissions for the 2022 Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize, open to female-identifying writers. The winner receives book publication, $1,000, & the option of an expenses-paid, six-week residency in 2023 at Civitella Ranieri in Italy. Previous winners include Molly McCully Brown, Valencia Robin, Cynthia Marie Hoffman, & many others. For guidelines / submission, click here: LINK
Gal’s Guide Anthology
Share your experience with women’s history with us. Any story or poem of how women’s history or women in history has impacted your life is what we are looking for.
Deadline is 12/16/2021 for publication in March 2022 Women’s History Month!
Submission will be chosen by a jury of 3, one representing Gal’s Guide, one representing Four Eyed Media and one impartial judge from the literary world. Stories will picked for the anthology will be ones that best fit the theme of women’s history and follow the submission specs below.
Writers will grant rights to Gal’s Guide to the Galaxy and Four Eyed Media from the time of acceptance to publication (approx. January 2022-March 2022) At time of publication, all rights will revert back to the writer. Poetry or Prose (fiction or non fiction) accepted.
Get Inked Teen Writing Conference
The Get Inked Teen Writing Conference offers an inclusive, safe space for teens to workshop their writing with like-minded peers and published authors.
Just $70 per student, the Get Inked provides teen writers the experience of attending the type of event typically reserved for adults. From key-note speakers to hands-on breakout sessions, students will get to spend time with published authors and have a chance to improve their own writing skills.
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.
Poems can be about positive or negative things students have learned during this time, effects of this time on their work, school, or home life, ways that they have coped with these experiences, or new initiatives they have creatively embarked on due to this pause.
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.
Submissions are open from August 16th to November 16th 2021. Applicants are permitted one submission per author. Donations for the Storyteller scholarship, a fund that will benefit Indiana college students of English writing, literature, teaching, communications, and history (the storyteller majors) will be collected. More information about the Storyteller Scholarship, including a call for applications to receive the scholarship, will be released after the poetry submission window closes on November 16th, 2021.
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).
Paper Dragon Literary Journal accepting submissions
Paper Dragon is the Drexel MFA literary magazine committed to publishing poetry, short stories, short screenplays, creative nonfiction, and artwork that resonates with contemporary readers. We are committed to showcasing exciting and inclusive work across genres. Paper Dragon seeks work that challenges us to see the human experience in new and honest ways through both established and emerging voices.
We are currently open for submissions. Fall 2021 submissions will open September 13, 2021 and close October 15, 2021. Please follow us on social media or sign up for our newsletter for announcements about publication dates and our next submission period.
For more information on exactly what Paper Dragon is looking for, click here.
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
The Flying Island: New Look for 2021!
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.
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.
Hip Mama magazine is looking for unique, creative, strong, edgy, alternative parenting stories for upcoming issues.
Check out the magazine here.
Send submissions to: hipsubmissions@gmail.com
Complete Guide to 2021 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
Did you find Opportunities for Writers June 2021 useful? Please share with your community!