The Practicing Writer 2.0: November 2023
Discover more from The Practicing Writer 2.0: A Newsletter from Erika Dreifus
The Practicing Writer 2.0: November 2023
As usual in this 20th year of serving writers: dozens of carefully curated, fee-free opportunities that pay for fiction, poetry, & creative nonfiction. But first, some important notes.
Welcome, new readers (251 subscribers have joined us since the last newsletter went out), and welcome back to the regulars.
For updates and additional opportunities between newsletters, please check the “Practicing Writing” blog and follow Erika Dreifus on Twitter (yes, I’m still calling it that, and for reasons I don’t entirely understand, I’m still there), Facebook, and/or Substack.
If you are accessing this newsletter via email, you may find a “Message Clipped” notice as you continue reading. That’s due to the length of this info-packed missive. Please be sure to click as appropriate to access the full text.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Editor’s Note
Success Stories
Featured Resource(s)
Contests, Competitions, and Other Opportunities (NO FEES TO ENTER/APPLY; PAYING OPPORTUNITIES ONLY; NOTHING THAT’S LIMITED TO WRITERS IN A SINGLE CITY/STATE/PROVINCE)
Submission Alerts (NO SUBMISSION/READING FEES; PAYING CALLS ONLY; NOTHING THAT’S LIMITED TO WRITERS IN A SINGLE CITY/STATE/PROVINCE)
Blog Notes
Newsletter Matters
1. EDITOR’S NOTE
Greetings, practicing writers:
What a month it’s been.
I find myself in a paradoxical position of feeling as though I have a great deal to say—and feeling as though I have no words at all. I will try to stay focused here, sticking as closely as I can to newsletter-related matters.
On that note: As many of you have graciously acknowledged over the years, this (free, and ad-free) newsletter takes a lot of time and effort to put together. This month, with my energies required for an array of emergency efforts in the wake of Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel, I’ve had to make a change that I’m fairly certain will be lasting: Detailed pay-rate information won’t be specified any longer within the newsletter’s “Submission Alerts” section.
Detailed pay-rate information won’t be specified any longer within the “Submission Alerts” section of the newsletter.
I promise this: I will share only fee-free litmag opportunities that (as far as I can tell) pay a double-digit minimum and specify their rates within the guidelines. This shift will require a little more research on your part, but it brings a little bit of relief for me. (I’ll extend more flexibility for book publishers since, particularly where royalties are concerned, there’s no way to predict the exact earnings a writer can count on.)
At this time I’m also compelled to issue a reminder: This is a curated list; I am a curator. When I discover that a publication, press, or literary organization—particularly one that proclaims a commitment to diversity, anti-racism, and inclusion—supports and/or amplifies anti-Israelist antisemitism and inflammatory tropes and rhetoric, I can and will refrain from listing its associated opportunities.
When I discover that a publication, press, or literary organization—particularly one that proclaims a commitment to diversity, anti-racism, and inclusion—supports and/or amplifies anti-Israelist antisemitism and inflammatory tropes and rhetoric, I can and will refrain from listing its associated opportunities.
As Gal Beckerman has noted in an important Atlantic piece, writers, of all people, should know that precision and clarity of language matter. It is possible to care about the suffering of one group of people without demonizing and distorting the history of another. If I become aware that a literary venue lacks that capacity—as I have since October 7 through numerous organizational public statements and individual signatures (with self-disclosed editorial affiliations attached) on equally public open letters/petitions—it’s not merely my right to omit the venue’s calls and competitions from future newsletters. It is, in fact, my obligation—to myself as well as to all of you.
I thank you for your understanding.
May we all live in better, more peaceful times.
And may our writing practices always reflect the best that is in each one of us.
ERIKA
P.S. A different sort of postscript, for a very different month. If you’re considering supporting organizations that are working to support Israelis and Palestinians at this time of acute crisis, please spend a few moments with my highly personal set of recommendations.
2. SUCCESS STORIES
From Yitzchak Francus:
Thanks for cluing me into the Mitford Museum’s GetLit! Writing Contest in your August 2023 edition of The Practicing Writer. My story, “Principal for a Day” was selected as the winner. I appreciate all you do for writers.
From Steve Bieler:
I've been meaning to write to you for a while. In June of 2022, I read about the Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation Short Fiction Contest. I had eight weeks to write something. I never win contests, and my honorable mentions have meant just about nothing, and the entry fees add up. I thought, one last time. I wrote the story. I submitted the story on the final day. The months passed. I forgot the story. Then in May of this year, Moment contacted me. I won the 2022 contest. What?! I won! They interviewed me. They posted my story. They illustrated my story. They’re printing it on paper right now. And it’s all because a) I am an optimist, and b) I discovered this contest on My Machberet. This is my biggest victory as a writer. Thank you, Erika, for helping writers all these years, for helping this writer.” (ED note: You can now find Steve’s winning story on Moment’s website.)
Reminder: Please share news from your writing practice that may be connected with this newsletter, or my blogs/other resources. I love to celebrate and amplify in this space!
3. FEATURED RESOURCE: “AFTER OCTOBER 7”
“After October 7: Readings, Recordings, and Resources” does not aim to be comprehensive. Its purpose is both personal—to record many of my own encounters with texts and other materials following the launch of Hamas’s terrorist attack on southern Israel the morning of October 7—and educational. As an academically trained historian, educator, and multi-genre American Jewish writer who happens to possess more than a passing familiarity with Israeli history, literature, and culture, I’m offering this document as an informed resource.
My overall emphasis here is on amplifying Jewish perspectives—including writers’ perspectives—from Israel and the Jewish Diaspora that I’ve found especially resonant and/or clarifying. I’ve made this my priority in part due to longstanding currents in the literary and literary-adjacent communities with which I am most familiar. At best, such tendencies erase Jewish voices that do not adhere to a prevalent (if, for Jewish communities beyond those bubbles, decidedly minority/fringe) anti-Israelist ethos. Far more dangerously, they amplify increasingly visible and virulent antisemitic statements and tropes.
Please check back for additions and updates. Thank you for reading.
4. CONTESTS, COMPETITIONS, AND OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
ON THE PREMISES MINI-CONTEST
Deadline: November 3. “For this mini-contest, tell, show, or evoke a complete story between 25 and 50 words long in which some kind of food, or the idea of food in general, plays an important role.” Prizes: “First place pays $35, second pays $25, and third pays $15, all in US dollars. Honorable mentions get published, but make no money.”TOI DERRICOTTE & CORNELIUS EADY CHAPBOOK PRIZE
Deadline: November 5. “Since 2015, Cave Canem has collaborated with O, Miami to spotlight exceptional chapbook manuscripts by Black poets. The winner of the prize receives a $1,000 award, publication of their manuscript by O, Miami Books, 10 copies of the chapbook, a residency in The Writer’s Room at The Betsy Hotel in Miami, and a featured reading.” (ED note: As some of you may have seen, I’ve had some difficulty understanding the eligibility criteria—is this opportunity truly open to “Black writers,” as the guidelines indicated, or only to those who haven’t published a first book [also as the guidelines indicated]? Maybe this is clear to everyone except me—my brain has been over-challenged these past couple of weeks. But if you have any questions, please do not contact me. Please contact Cave Canem instead.)CAVE CANEM FELLOWSHIPS
Deadline: November 10. For Black poets. “Each year a cohort of 10–20 new Fellows is selected based solely on the quality of their poems. Cohorts encompass a range of different aesthetics and poetic practices (the spoken word tradition, formalism, multimedia performance, text-based composition, etc.), to ensure an equity of voices in our gathering—all united by a common purpose to improve craft and find productive space. Fellows receive an unparalleled opportunity to study with a world-class faculty and join a community of peers at the Retreat, a week-long series of intensive poetry workshops, thought-provoking presentations, both public & private readings, and creative discourse.” Fellowships include: invitation to the Retreat, a subscription to MasterClass, access to Fellows and Faculty Fund, access to “exclusive scholarships for select writing residences,” and more.PENROSE POETRY PRIZE
Deadline: November 12. “The intention of the Penrose Poetry Prize is to uphold and celebrate LGBTQIA+ voices in the poetry community.” Prizes: “$200, $100, and $50 cash awards to three winners with works to be published as a special online volume with a special note on the first place work from our 2023 guest judge to be announced. A long list, short list, and honorable mentions to be announced at date of publication.” Welcomes international submissions.GAIUS CHARLES BOLIN DISSERTATION AND POST-MFA FELLOWSHIPS
Deadline: November 15. These fellowships at Williams College “promote diversity on college faculties by encouraging graduate students from underrepresented groups to complete a terminal graduate degree and pursue careers in college teaching.” They offer “two-year residencies at Williams. Two scholars or artists are appointed each year. Fellows devote the bulk of the first year to the completion of dissertation work—or in the case of MFA applicants, building their professional portfolios—while also teaching one course as a faculty member in one of the College’s academic departments or programs. The second year of residency (ideally with degree in hand) is spent on academic career development while again teaching just one course.” NB: “Ph.D. candidates must have completed all doctoral work except the dissertation by the end of the current academic year. MFA candidates must be recent recipients of the degree; only those with degrees granted in 2023, or to be granted in 2024, are eligible to apply.” Fellowships confer an annual stipend of $57,000. “The College will also provide health and dental benefits, relocation and housing assistance, academic support including office space and a computer, and an annual allowance of $4,000 for research-related expenses.” Check detailed eligibility guidelines and note that the application asks post-MFA applicants for “2-3 short stories, 10-15 poems, or novel passages not to exceed 50 pages,” which (to me) suggests a focus on candidates who specialize in fiction or poetry.BROOKLYN NON-FICTION PRIZE
Deadline: November 15. From the Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival. “The Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize, a cash award of $500, will be awarded to the best Brooklyn- focused non-fiction essay which is set in Brooklyn and is about Brooklyn and/or Brooklyn people/characters. We are seeking compelling Brooklyn stories from writers with a broad range of backgrounds and ages (minimum age 18 years old) who can render Brooklyn’s rich soul and intangible qualities through the writer’s actual experiences in Brooklyn. From the collection of selected Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize submissions, several authors will be selected to read from their work and discuss their Brooklyn stories with the audience at our annual finale event. The exact date/time and venue will be announced later. These stories and several other submitted stories will be published on the Brooklyn Film and Arts Festival website and made available to the public.”TREEHOUSE CLIMATE POEM PRIZE CONTEST
Deadline: November 15. Honors “exceptional poems that help readers recognize the gravity of the vulnerable state of our environment.” Prizes: $1,000/$750/$500. “In addition, all three poems will be published in the popular Poem-a-Day series….Poems may also be featured in the award-winning education series Teach This Poem.” Judges: poet Elizabeth Bradfield and climate scientist Kate Marvel, PhD. As always, be sure to check guidelines for eligibility information.AWP CONFERENCE COMMUNITY SCHOLARSHIPS
Deadline: November 21. “The AWP Conference Community Scholarship aims to increase access to the annual conference and bookfair. While anyone may apply, AWP encourages those who identify as people of color, disabled, LGBTQIA+, and/or low-income to apply. Membership is not required to apply.” The next AWP conference is scheduled for February 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri. “Seventy-five percent of community scholarships will be awarded to local Kansas and Missouri residents.”THE PETERSFIELD BOOKSHOP GHOST STORIES AT THE BOOKSHOP COMPETITION
Deadline: November 23. From the UK-based shop: “There is a long literary tradition of ghosts stories in this country, particularly at Christmas and so, in the run up to the festive and spooky season this year we are launching our ‘Ghost Stories at the Bookshop’ competition. Last time we did this we had a huge and brilliant response when we asked for ghost stories that were set in a bookshop. This time we are changing it up a little. This time we would like to read ghost stories that have a sense of place – your place. We would like to read stories that draw on where you live, its history, folklore and landscape. However you choose to interpret it, that’s the direction we would like you to be thinking.” Prizes: “One overall winner will receive £100, two runners up will receive £50 each. The winning stories and others selected from among the entries may be published in an anthology” (complimentary contributor copies to be provided). NB: Per their response to my inquiry, this competition is also open to writers outside the UK. (Hat tip: Freelance Writing Jobs.)GULLIVER TRAVEL GRANT
Applications: November 1-30. From the Speculative Literature Foundation. Since 2004, the Gulliver Travel Grant ($1,000) “has been awarded annually to assist writers of speculative literature in their non-academic research. These funds are used to cover airfare, lodging, and other travel expenses. Travel may be domestic or international. You may apply for travel to take place at any point in the following year.”HUDSON REVIEW SHORT STORY CONTEST
Deadline: November 30. Open for stories (up to 10,000 words) by writers never before published in The Hudson Review. No simultaneous submissions. “First prize: $1000. Second and third prizes: $500. Winning stories will be published in The Hudson Review. All submissions will be considered for publication and payment at our regular rates.” (Hat tip: Jeanne Lyet Gassman.)SOMERSET MAUGHAM AWARDS
Deadline: November 30. From the Society of Authors. “W. Somerset Maugham set up a fund in 1947 to enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience of foreign countries. The awards are given for a published work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry.” Note that to be eligible, an author “must be a British national, or resident in Great Britain and Northern Ireland for three years prior to the date of submission for the award, and writing in English.” The work they enter “must be a full-length book and have been first published in Britain and Northern Ireland in 2023”; it “may be poetry, fiction, criticism, biography, history, philosophy, belles-lettres or a travel book.” In 2023, six authors received awards of £2,700 each.J.F. POWERS PRIZE FOR SHORT FICTION
Deadline: November 30. From Dappled Things. “‘One foot in this world and one in the next’: that’s how J.F. Powers described the Midwestern priests he wrote about in his fiction. Having one foot in another world can be awkward, and Powers’ characters are known not for their graceful mysticism, but for the humiliating and mordantly entertaining stumbles they make while trying to live their faith. We’re looking for carefully crafted short stories with vivid characters who encounter grace in everyday settings—we want to see who, in the age we live in, might have one foot in this world and one in the next.” Confers $500 for first place and $250 for second place (and publication); up to 8 honorable mentions will receive publication in the journal and a one-year subscription.QUEEN’S KNICKERS AWARD
Deadline: November 30. From the Society of Authors. “This annual prize, generously funded by Nicholas Allan, author of The Queen’s Knickers, is awarded to an outstanding children’s original illustrated book for ages 0-7. It will recognise books that strike a quirky, new note and grab the attention of a child, whether this be in the form of curiosity, amusement, horror or excitement. The winner will receive £5,000, as well as a golden Queen’s Knickers badge, as depicted in Nicholas Allan’s original book. The runner-up will receive £1,000 and a silvered badge.” The guidelines/eligibility criteria discuss division of the award between a winning author and illustrator. Note that works “must have been first published in the UK and Republic of Ireland between 1 September 2022 to 31 August 2023” and that submissions must be made by publishers, who “can submit no more than THREE titles per imprint.”PAUL TORDAY MEMORIAL PRIZE
Deadline: November 30. From the Society of Authors. “Paul Torday published his first novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen aged 60. The family have decided to set up this new prize in Torday’s honour, celebrating first novels by authors aged 60 or over. The winner will receive £3,000, with a set of Paul Torday’s collected works. Runners-up will receive £1,000 and one specially selected Paul Torday novel with a commemorative book plate.” Note that while there are no residence or nationality restrictions, submitted novels “must have been first published in the UK and Republic of Ireland between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023.” Note also that submissions must be made by the publisher.BETTY TRASK PRIZE
Deadline: November 30. From the Society of Authors. “Betty Trask left a bequest to the Society of Authors in 1983 to fund prizes for first novels written by authors under the age of 35 in a traditional or romantic style. Each year a single prize winner receives £10,000 and the remaining fund is split between the shortlist.” Among eligibility criteria: “The author must be resident in Great Britain and Northern Ireland or the Commonwealth for three years prior to the date of submission for the award, or a British national, and writing in English.” The work submitted may be published (between 1 December 2022 and 30 November 2023) or unpublished (and not previously submitted for this prize).UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS RILKE PRIZE
Deadline: November 30. This t$10,000 prize recognizes “a collection that demonstrates exceptional artistry and vision written by a mid-career poet and published in the preceding year. The prize is named after the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), a writer whose work embodies the qualities of ambition, intellectual and imaginative scope, and technical mastery we seek to recognize.” Check eligibility specifics on the website.ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH LIBRARIES JEWISH FICTION AWARD
Deadline: December 1. “All works of fiction with significant Jewish thematic content written in or translated into English which are published and available for purchase in the United States during 2023 are eligible for the 2024 award. Jewish thematic content means an extended grappling with Jewish themes throughout the book, including Judaism, Jewish history and culture, Jewish identity, etc. The award will include a $1,000 cash prize as well as support to attend the AJL conference to receive the award.”(DAVID J.) LANGUM, SR. PRIZE IN AMERICAN HISTORICAL FICTION
Deadline: December 1 (received). “A prize and $1,000 honorarium is awarded to the winner each year for the best book in American historical fiction published in the preceding year. Both the winner and the finalist also receive handsomely framed certificates. The novels must be submitted by December 1st of their year of first American publication. Novels that are published in the month of December are eligible and must be submitted for that year’s prize, but may be submitted by December 1st in advanced reading copies or proofs.”LOVE LETTERS TO LONDON WRITING COMPETITION
Deadline: December 1 (noon [UK time]). “Now in its third year, this competition is open to everyone to celebrate our wonderful, fantastic, infuriating city in prose or poetry. Open to all ages, and to all writing styles - fiction, poetry, essays and reportage - whether you live in the capital or not. There are special categories for under 18s, as well as prizes for schools.” This year’s theme: “Love Letters to London of the Future.” For adults, “open” and “poetry” categories will each confer cash prizes of £500/£250/£100.SCHOMBURG CENTER SCHOLARS IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM
Deadline: December 1. This program at the New York Public Library “offers both long-term and short-term fellowships designed to support and encourage top-quality research and writing on the history, politics, literature, and culture of the peoples of Africa and the African diaspora, as well as to promote and facilitate interdisciplinary exchange among scholars and writers in residence at the Schomburg Center.” Long-term fellowships “provide a $35,000 stipend to support postdoctoral scholars and independent researchers who work in residence at the Center for a continuous period of six months”; short-term fellowships, “for a continuous period of one to three months,” confer stipends of $3000 per month.SILLERMAN FIRST BOOK PRIZE FOR AFRICAN POETRY
Deadline: December 1. Awarded annually “to an African poet who has not yet published a collection of poetry. The winner receives USD $1000 and book publication through the University of Nebraska Press and Amalion Press in Senegal. The Sillerman Editorial Team, including Kwame Dawes, Chris Abani, Matthew Shenoda, John Keene, Gabeba Baderoon, Phillippa Yaa de Villiers, Aracelis Girmay, and Mahtem Shiferraw will judge.” NB: “An ‘African writer’ is taken to mean someone who was born in Africa, who is a national or resident of an African country, or whose parents are African.” Also: “Only poetry submissions in English can be considered. Work translated from another language to English is accepted, but a percentage of the prize will be awarded to the translator.”J. ANTHONY LUKAS WORK-IN-PROGRESS AWARDS
Deadline: December 7. Two awards, each in the amount of $25,000, “are given annually to aid in the completion of a significant work of nonfiction on a topic of American political or social concern. Recognizing that a nonfiction book based on extensive original research often overtaxes the resources available to its author, the project envisions the award as a way of closing the gap between the time and money an author has and the time and money that finishing a book requires. Applicants for the award must already have a contract with a U.S.-based publisher to write a nonfiction book.”
REMINDER: Some competitions listed in last month’s newsletter remain open into November; make sure you haven’t missed them!
5. SUBMISSION ALERTS
“With a focus on place, climate, and justice, TERRAIN.ORG is an independent magazine of literature, artwork, commentary.” They re-opened for submissions in October.
From THE SUNLIGHT PRESS: “For upcoming closures, please check our website Submit page. We plan to close to poetry submissions on Nov. 1, and to all work for the year on Nov. 15. Stay tuned.”
CUTLEAF is scheduled to open for poetry submissions November 1. (And apparently, they’ll be open only for that day.)
A reminder from THE MALAHAT REVIEW: “Submissions from Canadian writers are accepted for consideration all year. Because we receive so many submissions, submissions from international (including US) writers are accepted only during certain months, depending on the genre.” November is a month for international poetry submissions; writers from outside Canada may also submit nonfiction year-round.
From NEW ORLEANS REVIEW: “In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, there are no submission fees during the month of November for all Indigenous writers, not limited to those living in/born the US.”
At VARIANT LIT, November is a month for poetry and art submissions.
The annual submissions window for the ZERO STREET FICTION series at the University of Nebraska Press will open November 1. This is a series featuring “LGBTQ+ literary fiction with commercial potential, providing marginalized authors opportunities for a wide readership in the trade fiction market. The series editors are Timothy Schaffert, bestselling author of The Perfume Thief, and SJ Sindu, author of Blue-Skinned Gods. The series seeks LGBTQ+ literary fiction of all kinds, from stories of modern life to innovations on traditions of genre and are particularly interested in BIPOC authors, trans authors, and queer authors over 50.”
ONLY POEMS will be open for submissions November 1-7.
From THE FABULIST: “The Fabulist Flash, a new flash-fiction project…welcomes submissions from November 6-12 for fantastical and speculative writings of up to 1,000 words.”
UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND PRESS “is delighted to announce a new anthology, which will collect twenty-five personal essays by Autistic women and gender-diverse people, co-edited by Autistic writers Jo Case and Clem Bastow, generously supported by the Australia Council. The anthology, which will be published in April 2025, will combine fifteen commissioned essays with ten more essays to be selected from a nationwide call-out, which closes Wednesday 8 November 2023.” (Hat tip: Lawrence Schimel.)
For a special online issue “being produced by students in Mike Ingram’s Writers at Work class at Temple University,” BARRELHOUSE is calling for submissions on the theme “What’s That Smell?”: “Give us the good, the bad, and the downright stinky. We want short stories, essays, and poems that center smell in some way.” Deadline: November 10, but “it’s possible we’ll need to cut the reading period short if it looks like the number of submissions is going to become unmanageable. So get those submissions in soon!”
From GALLEY BEGGAR PRESS: A “special women’s-only submissions window has been opened because in our spring submissions window – and while there were many excellent books, and from a wide variety of writers – we did not find any that ultimately fitted what we are currently looking for. As we read, we also became aware that around 80% of the submissions were from men – which is why we now feel this particular need to open a dedicated window, encouraging female writers.” This window will close November 10. This UK-based press welcome submissions from writers outside the UK, too. “We publish adult literary fiction (novels and short story collections) and narrative non-fiction. We are not currently considering other genres (e.g., poetry, lifestyle, commercial fiction).”
The Digital Studies Collective has issued a call for submissions for the second issue of DISCO: “We invite submissions from all disciplines to rethink HACKING as a digital and/or analogue method of deviation from, or interference with, a SYSTEM.” Prospective contributors should submit an abstract/writing sample by November 12. (Hat tip: Freelance Writing Jobs.)
From THE STINGING FLY: “We will be open for submissions from Monday November 13th until (midnight Irish time on) Tuesday November 28th.” (No simultaneous submissions.) “We currently accept submissions in the following four categories: short fiction; novel extracts; non-fiction; poetry. Writers may only submit work to us under one category per submission period. Graphic fiction and non-fiction submissions are welcome.”
Closing November 15: SWIM MEET LIT MAG, “an online literary publication based in Meanjin (Brisbane, Australia),” that’s currently planning an issue on the theme of “Feel.” Note that although they accept submissions from writers worldwide, they can pay only Australian writers. (Hat tip: WOW! Women on Writing Markets Newsletter.)
BENNINGTON REVIEW’s next submissions period will begin November 15 (and end March 8, 2024). They consider “fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, film writing, and cross-genre work.”
I’ve been advised via email that THE MAINE REVIEW will hold a fee-free between November 18 and 24 in honor of Native American Heritage Month.
THE BALTIMORE REVIEW remains open for submissions until November 30.
BLACK FOX LITERARY MAGAZINE also remains open until November 30.
THE FIDDLEHEAD, based in Canada, is similarly open until November 30. They’re seeking “good writing in English or translations into English from all over the world and in a variety of styles, including experimental genres. Our editors are always happy to see new unsolicited works in fiction, including excerpts from novels, creative nonfiction, and poetry. We also publish reviews, and occasionally other selected creative work such as excerpts from plays.”
POET LORE is also open until November 30.
AIR/LIGHT, which seeks “new and innovative works of literary arts across all mediums and genres,” is open until December 1. “While Air/Light is based in Los Angeles and approaches the literary arts from a Southern California perspective, we want to read and publish work by everyone from everywhere.”
New publication MIDSTORY MAGAZINE is now open for personal essays “about love, loss, and friendship at midlife. These stories could incorporate coupling and uncoupling, keeping and ending friendships, and grieving the loss of relationships or loved ones during this messy middle of life. We are looking for a strong, clear writing voice and raw, honest storytelling, in keeping with our mission to elevate the voices of midlife women.” They also welcome submissions for their “Unsent Letters” column. Deadline: December 15.
WRITER’S DIGEST has posted its issue editorial calendar for 2024: “We urge writers to get creative in their interpretations of our 2024 issue themes. We offer a brief description of how we interpret them, but look forward to ideas we weren’t necessarily expecting.”
A reminder from PALETTE POETRY: “Submissions for our Featured Poetry category are open year-round to poets at any stage of their careers. Featured poems are published online only and will spotlight a number of poems from new authors each month. We highly encourage emerging authors to submit.”
Reminder: Make it a habit to check the CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL website, where titles in development are posted. Note: “If this is your first time, please visit our Story Guidelines page.” Current calls with upcoming deadlines seek work for volumes on “Funny Stories” (deadline: November 20); “Miracles, messages from heaven, angels” (December 8); “Cat Stories” and “Dog Stories” (both with deadline of December 15).
Reminder: THE FORGE, which “publishes one prose piece per week selected by a rotating cast of editors,” opens for free submissions on the first of each month (except for September and December). “If there is no free link, we’ve hit our quota.”
Reminder: ROUGH CUT PRESS seeks “experimental work of all genres by writers and allies of the LGBTQIA community. To get a sense of what we publish please read some of our former issues. We don’t know what we like until we see it. Each month we announce a different theme, but don’t worry if the work you submit doesn’t quite fit: we often build issues around work that takes us by surprise.”
Reminder: There’s a rolling deadline (the 25th of each month) for OFF TOPIC PUBLISHING’s Poetry Box, which supplies subscribers with a poem “printed postcard-style” along with tea and chocolate. Poems should be no longer than 15 lines (“including blank lines”).
Also:
, which aims to “revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful,” selects one story for publication each month and considers reprints.
REMEMBER: Multiple venues listed in last month’s newsletter remain open for submissions, too. And please keep reading the “Blog Notes” below for an important reminder about additional opportunity listings!
6. BLOG NOTES
The newsletter is published just once each month, but there’s always something new on the Practicing Writing blog:
(Monday) Markets and Jobs for Writers (including fee-free/paying opportunities that don’t make it into the monthly newsletter)
(Friday) Finds for Writers
#SundaySentence
Occasional Notes from a Practicing Writer
Please visit, comment, and subscribe.
Interested in matters of specifically Jewish literary and cultural interest? Please also visit the My Machberet blog (“machberet” is the Hebrew word for “notebook”). And be sure to consult our collection of Jewish Writing Resources.
7. NEWSLETTER MATTERS
Information contained in The Practicing Writer is researched carefully but readers should always verify information. Any necessary corrections, when discovered, are added post-publication within each archived issue. The Practicing Writer and its editor disclaim any liability for the use of information contained within. Thank you for following/reading.
We value our subscribers, and we protect their privacy. We keep our subscriber list confidential.
About the editor: Erika Dreifus is a writer, teacher, and literary consultant whose books include Birthright: Poems and Quiet Americans: Stories. A Fellow in the Sami Rohr Jewish Literary Institute and an adjunct associate professor at Baruch College/CUNY, she lives in New York. Please visit ErikaDreifus.com to learn more about her work and follow her right here on Substack, on Facebook, and/or on Twitter, where she tweets (mostly) “on matters bookish and/or Jewish.”