LITERARY ARTS GRANTS
South Arts
DEADLINE: December 4, 2024
INFO: As part of its Literary Arts Initiative, South Arts is excited to announce grants for literary arts projects for writers and publishers. These grants deepen our commitment to amplifying literary traditions and practices of the American South through directly funding the initiation, development, and completion of literary arts projects in poetry, fiction, creative or literary nonfiction, young readers’ literature, and drama (playwriting and screenwriting).
Literary Arts Grants will be made to writers, independent literary publishers, and small presses:
LITERARY ARTS GRANTS FOR WRITERS: South Arts will award literary grants up to $5,000. Applicants (writers or organizations) must apply through Salesforce and include writing samples and other required attachments specified in these Guidelines.
LITERARY ARTS GRANTS FOR PUBLISHERS: South Arts will award literary arts grants up to $5,000 to support Southern independent publishers and small presses. Applicants must apply through Salesforce and include the publisher’s representative work samples and other required attachments as specified in these Guidelines.
IMPORTANT DATES:
Deadline to Apply: 12/4/2024
Awards Announced: February 2025
Funding Cycle: March 1, 2025 – August 30, 2026 (18 months)
The award announcement may be earlier or later than the date listed above, depending on the number of applications and judging process.
Applicants who are not selected for an award will receive notification via the email on their application form before the award announcement.
South Arts reserves the right to not consider incomplete or improperly submitted applications without informing the applicant.
Judges do not communicate any information or details of their review. Given the volume of applications received, South Arts cannot provide individual feedback on the application and from the panel.
Applicants who move from the South Arts Region after they submit their application are encouraged to notify South Arts and will not be eligible to receive a grant award.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
ELIGIBLE ENTITIES
All applicants are eligible to receive only one grant award.
Current, full-time resident or Headquartered in the South Arts Region (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, The Carolinas, Tennessee) both at the time of application and at receipt of the award.
For Writers
One application per artist or arts organization per funding cycle will be accepted.
Applicant artists must be 18 years of age or older.
Applicant artists must not be enrolled in a literary arts/writing academic program at time of application and at receipt of award.
Current, full-time residents for at least the prior 12 months s of the South Arts region (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, The Carolinas, Tennessee) both at the time of application during the project period.
Works authored by more than one person are ineligible.
For Literary Arts Organizations
For Publishers: Independent nonprofit publishers and small presses including journals.
Based in the South Arts Region for at least the prior 12 months (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, The Carolinas, Tennessee) both at the time of application and during the project period.
Other non-profit organizations with a literary arts mission.
INELIGIBLE ENTITIES
Units of government
Colleges/Universities are ineligible to apply for this grant.
UNALLOWABLE ACTIVITIES
General operating support.
Support for a full season of programming.
Courses or coursework in degree-granting or continuing education institutions.
Literary publishing that does not focus on contemporary literature and/or writers.
Publication of books, exhibition of works, or other projects by the applicant organization's board members, faculty, or trustees.
Projects for which no curatorial, juried, or editorial judgment has been applied to the selection of artists or art works.
Social activities such as receptions, parties, galas, community dinners, picnics, and potlucks.
Costs of entertainment, including amusement, diversion, and social activities and any associated costs are unallowable; generally, this includes activities at venues such as bars, wineries, and breweries where the consumption of alcohol/social activity is the primary purpose of the venue.
Awards to individuals or organizations to honor or recognize achievement.
Commercial (for-profit) enterprises or activities, including arts markets, concessions, food, t-shirts, artwork, or other items for resale. This includes online or virtual sales/shops.
Construction, purchase, or renovation of facilities.
Sub-granting or regranting.
UNALLOWABLE COSTS
Cash reserves and endowments.
Startup costs or other costs associated with establishing new organizations.
Alcoholic beverages or other hospitality costs.
Purchase and/or use of gift cards and gift certificates to support project costs.
Gifts and prizes, including cash prizes as well as other items with monetary value (e.g., electronic devices, gift certificates).
Contributions and donations to other entities, including donation drives.
General miscellaneous or contingency costs.
Fines and penalties, bad debt costs, deficit reduction.
Marketing expenses that are not directly related to the project.
Audit costs.
Rental costs for home office workspace owned by individuals or entities affiliated with the applicant.
The purchase of vehicles.
Costs incurred before the beginning or after the completion of the official project period.
MATCHING REQUIREMENTS
All grants require a 2:1 cost share. South Arts matches $2 for every $1 the applicant contributes towards project costs.
Grants will pay up to 2/3 of the total cost of the opportunity, with a maximum award of $5,000. The applicant must cover remaining expenses, and South Arts requires a 2:1 match (2 South Arts: 1 grantee). Artists may include their own cash in the match. Examples:
Total Project Cost- $6,000, the applicant can request up to $4,000 and contribute the remaining $2,000 of funds through a combination of their own cash and other contributions.
Total Project Costs are $15,000: The applicant can request up to $5,000 and contribute the remaining $10,000 of funds through a combination of their own cash and other contributions.
Toal Project Costs are $3,000: The applicant can request up to $2,000 and contribute the remaining $1,000 of funds through a combination of their own cash and other contributions.
Budget details should identify the source of funds (including self-funding, private contributions, institutional stipends, or additional grant funding) not requested from South Arts.
Total projected expenses must meet or exceed the request by 50%.
Funds can be used for these eligible expenses directly related to participation in proposed activities:
For Organizations: Itemize project personnel costs
Travel (itemize air, ground, lodging, per diem, visa services)
Equipment rental (itemize all equipment rental expenses)
Office expenses (itemize supplies, and shipping/postage)
Services/professional fees (itemize editorial, graphic design, photography/videography, financial, publishing, production, and distribution services, etc.)
Marketing
Facility expenses (itemize rent, space rental, utilities)
Insurance
Childcare or elder caregiver service costs that arise as a result of applicant planning and executing the proposed project
southarts.org/grants-opportunities/literary-arts-grant
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INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING FELLOWSHIP
Ida B. Wells Society
DEADLINE: December 6, 2024 at 11:59 pm EST
INFO: The Ida B. Wells Society is thrilled to launch its investigative reporting fellowship for 2025! This no-cost, intensive program will bring professional journalists to Atlanta to sharpen their investigative reporting skills under the guidance of some of the most accomplished reporters and editors in the industry. The fellowship is intended for journalists not presently assigned to investigative teams. Up to 12 fellowships will be awarded.
During training, participants will work on projects they have proposed for publication in their respective newsrooms. Freelance journalists also are invited to apply.
The selected journalists will join the Society in Atlanta for up to a week, once a month from February through July to delve into topics related to investigative reporting including:
The Investigative Reporting Mindset
Data Journalism
Process and Development
Interviewing and Writing for Investigations
Interested applicants must work with their newsroom leadership to ensure their availability to attend. Proposed projects should also be cleared by leadership to ensure their publication upon completion.
ELIGIBILITY:
Applicants must have at least three years of professional news reporting experience.
The program is open to U.S.-based print, broadcast, online and multimedia journalists.
Applicants must provide a resume, examples of previous written work, a project pitch, and be available for phone interviews if requested.
Applicants must be able to participate in four weeklong training sessions in Atlanta, (approx. 16 days of instruction; 24 days including travel, which will call for arriving in Atlanta on Sundays and departing on Fridays or Saturdays). Training weeks will be scattered throughout the year.
Applicants must submit letters from their employers indicating that they will be allowed to participate in the fellowship program and that their investigative work produced during the program will be published (more details of employer requirements below).
Freelancers must have a news organization willing to write a supportive statement and agreement to publish their work.
REQUIREMENT OF APPLICANT’S EMPLOYER:
Allow participants to continue to earn their salaries while taking part in training in Atlanta without using any accrued vacation time. There will be four weeklong training courses scattered throughout the year.
Provide support and guidance to the participants as they take part in the program and work to develop a proposed project.
Publish the project.
idabwellssociety.org/news/2025-investigative-reporting-fellowship/
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WRITERS RETREAT FOR EMERGING LGBTQ VOICES
Lambda Literary
DEADLINE: December 8, 2024 at 11:59pm EST
APPLICATION FEE: $30
INFO: The Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices is the nation’s premier LGBTQ writing residency. It is the only multi-genre writing residency devoted exclusively to emerging LGBTQ+ writers. The Retreat is an unparalleled opportunity to develop one’s craft and find community.
Since 2007, the Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices has offered sophisticated instruction in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, young adult fiction, playwriting led by the most talented writers working today. In 2022, the Writers Retreat expanded to include instruction in screenwriting and speculative fiction, and in 2025, we will introduce the newest cohort serving writers working in both and between playwriting and screenwriting.
In 2025, as we did in 2024, we are holding our Writers Retreat online. This format allows for us as an organization to continue building our resources while offering the same high-quality programming that remains accessible to folks who may not otherwise be able to attend in-person programs.
We are excited to announce that this year, we will be lengthening the typically week-long program to a 10-day virtual retreat, from Thursday, July 31-Saturday, August 9. In this new model, we will use the first two evenings on Thursday and Friday to build community and hold additional programming. We hope that this new model will build relationships and community, offer more learning opportunities, but we also aim to allow those attending the retreat from home to continue to sustain the elements of their livelihood outside of the Retreat program.
Additionally, we will be adding a brand new cohort to our Writers Retreat: the screen/play/writing cohort. This cross-genre cohort is meant for performance writers who work outside of the stage/screen binary, those who waft between genres, and those who are working in adaptations. We invite all screenwriters and playwrights in this cohort to consider how their work can move between genres, between stage and screen, while centering writing for performance. Coming back for another year after an astounding stint as Playwriting Faculty in 2024, we welcome back Roger Q. Mason to lead this inaugural cohort!
SCHEDULE:
We’ve extended the typical length of the retreat from 7 days to 10:
We will have a mix of synchronous programming and asynchronous programming, and on days when we offer all day programming, fellows can expect to have ample breaks and rest from screens.
Thursday, July 31-Friday, August 1: Programming begins at ~7:00 pm EST/ 4:00 pm PST
Saturday, August 2-Friday, August 8: All day programming
Saturday, August 9: Programming ends at ~6:00 pm EST/3:00 pm PST
APPLICATION DETAILS:
Applications to attend the 2025 Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ* Voices open on November 1, 2024 and close at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time on December 8, 2024. You may apply to more than one workshop, however, each application must be submitted separately and requires an additional fee.
We are offering a number of application fee waivers for the QTBIPOC** (Queer and Trans folks who are or identify as Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color) folks who would be attending the Retreat for the first time. Please email retreat@lambdaliterary.org to request an application fee waiver.
To Apply, Please Prepare
1. An artistic/biographical statement (max 500 words).
2. a writing sample matching the genre of the workshop you’re applying for:
.DOC, .DOCX, or .PDF format.
For prose, double spaced, 12 point font.
For Fiction, Nonfiction, Speculative Fiction, and Young Adult Fiction: 15 pages maximum. This maximum applies to cross-genre samples as well as samples in verse.
For Playwriting/Screenwriting and Play/Screen/Writing: 15 pages maximum from a full-length work, short play/script, or piece of theatre/film.
For Poetry: 8 pages maximum.
The sample you apply with does not have to be the same sample you plan to workshop at the Retreat.
3. Optional, not required for acceptance:
Any publications of your work during the past two years, including anthologies, literary journals, magazines, websites, and books.
Any other writing conferences, retreats, and workshops have you attended.
If you're applying to scholarships, a scholarship statement (max 500 words).
TUITION + SCHOLARSHIPS:
Writers Retreat tuition is currently set at $1,625. However, we are working on raising funds to lower this price for fellows. This means there is a possibility that the price of tuition will go down, but it will not go any higher than $1,625. All accepted/waitlisted applicants will be notified of the final price of tuition before accepting their fellowship.
Lambda Literary has a host of full and partial scholarships that are available for accepted applicants.
Ability to pay is in no way part of the decision-making process. We have a robust and ever-growing host of scholarships available thanks to our intensive fundraising efforts and generous donors. Lambda also supports fellows in their own fundraising efforts using our fundraising platform. Many fellows who used our peer-to-peer fundraising platform in 2024 raised their entire tuition fee.
The $30.00 application fee is processed through Submittable's online portal. If you wish to pay by cash or check please contact retreat@lambdaliterary.org.
APPLICATION STATUS NOTIFICATIONS:
Writers Retreat Faculty make the final determinations regarding accepted and waitlisted applicants. All applicants will be notified of their application status in April 2025.
lambdaliterary.org/emerging-writers-retreat/
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ANTON CHEKHOV AWARD FOR FLASH FICTION
LitMag
DEADLINE: Extended to December 8, 2024
CONTEST FEE: $16
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Entries must be short stories between 500 and 1,500 words. Please use 12pt type, preferably Times New Roman, and submit your short story as either a Word doc or a PDF. Only previously unpublished short stories are eligible. Writers may submit multiple stories, each of which requires a separate submission. Submissions through Submittable only. Notification: The contest will be judged by the editors of the magazine. The winning short stories and finalists will be announced publicly on our Web site and social media as well as by email to all contestants in May 2023.
FIRST PRIZE: $1,250 + publication in LitMag + agency review by Sarah Fuentes of UTA, Molly Glick of CAA, Erin Harris and Sonali Chanchani of Folio Literary Management, Jenny Bent of The Bent Agency, David Forrer of Inkwell Management, Monika Woods of Triangle House, Emily Forland of Brandt & Hochman, and Nat Sobel of Sobel Weber Associates
FINALISTS: Three finalists will receive $100 each. All finalists will be considered for possible agency review and publication.
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FREE RESIDENCIES FOR TEACHERS
Saltonstall
DEADLINE: December 8, 2024 at 11:59pm ET
INFO: Saltonstall is once again offering two special residencies in 2025 for local public school teachers. These 5-day, 4-night residencies are designed as an artistic retreat for teachers with a creative practice in the following disciplines:
Creative writing (any genre)
Photography / film / video
Painting / Sculpture / Visual Art
The residencies are FREE to attend. Six teachers will be selected through a lottery system for each residency.
We have accessible accommodations! Our new accessible space includes a one-bedroom suite with a roll-in shower, a private studio (for artists or writers), and a kitchen.
Residency dates are:
February 17 - 21, 2025 (winter recess)
April 14 - 18, 2025 (spring recess)
Teachers working in the following districts are eligible: Dryden, Groton, Ithaca, Lansing, Newfield, and Trumansburg.
saltonstall.org/residencies/residency-for-teachers/
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2025 Open City Editorial Fellowship
Asian American Writers Workshop
DEADLINE: December 15, 2024
INFO: The Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW) is excited to announce the Open City Editorial Fellowship, a new iteration of AAWW’s long-standing Open City Fellowship. In 2025, the program will focus on editorial and journalistic development, offering one emerging writer and editor a unique opportunity to contribute to Open City, a section of The Margins devoted to the life, senses, and politics of immigrant and Muslim communities in the New York tristate area.
The ideal fellow is passionate about telling the stories of immigrant communities in New York City and beyond. They will work directly with the Senior Editor of Open City and other members of the editorial team, gaining invaluable experience in researching, editing, and occasionally writing stories. The selected fellow will be based in New York City and will dedicate at least four hours per week to the fellowship from February 2025 to January 2026.
The fellow will be expected to occasionally meet in person at AAWW’s offices in Chelsea and will receive:
A $5,000 stipend;
Access to AAWW events, conferences, and workshops;
Use of the AAWW office and library;
Mentorship from The Margins editorial team.
FELLOWSHIP RESPONSIBILITIES:
The fellow will assist with the editorial operations of Open City by:
Collaborating with the Senior Editor on story edits;
Screening pitches and fact-checking articles;
Writing original stories for Open City;
Copyediting stories with a quick turnaround;
Researching potential stories and writers;
Meeting with the Senior Editor or AAWW staff every two weeks.
WHO SHOULD APPLY?
We are looking for individuals with a passion for Asian, Asian American, and Asian diasporic literature, politics, and history, with a particular focus on the experiences of immigrant and Muslim communities in the tristate area. The ideal candidate will have:
Strong writing and verbal communication skills;
A firm grasp of journalistic standards and practices;
Some experience in editing and fact-checking;
A collaborative approach to writing and editing;
Familiarity with The Chicago Manual of Style and copyediting (preferred);
On-the-ground knowledge of immigrant and Muslim communities in the tristate area (preferred).
HOW TO APPLY:
Interested applicants should apply through submittable, and should submit:
A cover letter;
Résumé;
A pitch for a story you would like to write for Open City;
Two writing samples of journalistic work.
This fellowship offers an exciting opportunity to develop your editorial and writing skills while amplifying stories from underrepresented communities in New York City. We look forward to reviewing your applications!
aaww.org/fellowships/open-city/
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Developmental Editing Fellowship for Emerging Writers
The Kenyon Review
DEADLINE: December 15, 2024
APPLICATION FEE: $18 (If this fee poses a hardship, please contact us at kenyonreview@kenyon.edu)
INFO: The Kenyon Review Developmental Editing Fellowship for Emerging Writers is designed to nurture and develop new voices in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The fellowship will provide support for emerging writers who demonstrate exceptional talent, promise, and commitment to their chosen craft. Participation in the program involves one-on-one mentorship by an experienced editor on the KR team over a period of four months. Fellows can expect to have monthly hour-long conversations with a Developmental Editor, who will provide feedback and suggestions on a book draft.
ELIGIBILITY:
Applicants must be twenty-one years of age or older.
This fellowship opportunity is open to any writer who is not currently enrolled in a degree-granting creative writing program.
Applicants should not have published a full-length literary book with a major publisher, university press, or other established press, or be under contract for a book. Published work in literary magazines or journals is acceptable.
Writers from communities that are traditionally underrepresented in the publishing industry are especially encouraged to apply.
APPLICATION:
Include…
a project description (max 500 words). Please note any challenges or particular areas of concern within the work.
a poetry or prose writing sample of the project. The writing sample should be 10–15 pages (double spaced for fiction and nonfiction).
a recent copy of your CV.
All fee-paying applicants are invited to claim a complimentary half-year Print plus Digital subscription toThe Kenyon Review (for domestic addresses) or a half-year digital subscription (for international addresses) through December 31, 2024.
SELECTION PROCESS:
Our Developmental Editors (members of the KR editorial team) will review the applications and select the Fellows they will work with. They will reach out to the Fellow and arrange for an initial conversation by phone or Zoom. Fellows and Developmental Editors will collaborate on a work plan, establish goals, and determine deadlines and a schedule for monthly hour-long conversations. Over the course of four months, they will meet by phone or Zoom to discuss the progress of the writing project. Winners will be announced in early 2025.
kenyonreview.org/fellowship/developmental-editing-fellowship/
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SHE WHO HAS NO MASTER(S) MENTORSHIP PROGRAM
She Who Has No Master(s)
DEADLINE: December 15, 2024 at 11:59pm PT
APPLICATION FEE: $25
INFO: She Who Has No Master(s) offers creative writing mentorships uniquely designed for and led by women and nonbinary writers of the Vietnamese and SE Asian diaspora. The centering of this perspective is important because in most educational settings the focus on subject matter and perspectives of women/nonbinary SE Asian diasporic women is marginalized, if not totally unaddressed.
In offering one-on-one mentorships guided by established writers and artists in our collective, we create a uniquely nourishing experience where aspiring writers can explore, embrace their particularities, and create more expansively. Our mentorships are conducted remotely. The next mentorships cycle will take place in 2025.
FAQs:
Who are you, and what is this?
She Who Has No Master(s), or SWHNM, is a collective of womxn and nonbinary writers of the Vietnamese diaspora who engage in collaborative, polyvocal, and hybrid-poetic works to enact a politics of connection across diasporic boundaries. Through a collaborative writing and art process, SWHNM explores multi-voiced collectivity, encounters, in-between spaces and (dis)places of the Vietnamese and Southeast Asian diaspora. SWHNM has a fluid and evolving membership.
She Who Has No Master(s) initiated a creative writing mentorship program in 2022 led by and designed for Vietnamese and SE Asian diasporic women and nonbinary writers through the Diasporic Vietnamese Artist Network (DVAN). SWHNM is now an independent collective and our own 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and this mentorship program has no affiliation with DVAN.
The centering of Vietnamese and SE Asian perspectives is important because in most educational settings the focus on subject matter and perspectives of women/nonbinary SE Asian diasporic women is marginal, if not totally unaddressed. In creating educational spaces that center those viewpoints, we create a nourishing space in which aspiring writers can see themselves, explore, and embrace their own particularities, and create more expansively. These mentorships will address both creative and professional aspects involved in the writing life. These offerings fulfill a dire contemporary need in our nation’s current environment for creative writing education.
Who are the mentors, and what do they do?
The SWHNM mentors range depending on the cycle. During the inaugural mentorship program in 2022, there were 4 mentors (all members of the SWHNM collective) partnered with 4 writers and literary artists based out of the United States, Vietnam, and Switzerland.
The mentors are writers who have benefited from belonging to supportive and inclusive writing and artist communities who wish to mentor promising writers of Vietnamese and/or SE Asian descent–folx who are at earlier stages in their writing careers than we are.
Our mentors compose poetry, fiction, nonfiction, memoir, criticism, as well as hybrid and multimedia forms (including graphic forms, among others), and are looking to pair with mentees working in these forms.
Our mentors are published authors and/or established artists who are members of or connected to SWHNM and thus experienced with the collaborative and creative ethos of our collective that also informs the spirit of our mentorships.
Past mentors include: Diana Khoi Nguyen, Hoa Nguyen, Lily Hoang, and Vi Khi Nao.
For our 2025 cycle, mentors will be: Cathy Linh Che, MyLoan Dinh, Abbigail Rosewood, Sophia Terazawa, Nhã Thuyên.
The SWHNM mentorship program in 2025 expands its concept and its community by reaching out to the writers who live inside Vietnam with writing practices in Vietnamese, with the hope to create a more open space for a plurality of Vietnamese literature.
How does the mentorship work?
The first year of mentorship took place in 2022. This year (2025) will be our second. Each mentor takes on one mentee. Mentors and mentees (fellows) will meet virtually for at least 30 minutes every month to discuss topics pertinent to each pair. These topics may range from: prompts for writing, feedback fellows’ writing, and craft elements to professional details such as submitting to publications, finding an agent, writing a book proposal, sending a manuscript out to contests/open reading periods, applying to graduate school, to name a few. Some of us, though not all, are willing to read and give feedback on fellows’ work—within certain limits, which mentors can specify. On your application you may specify what types of mentorship you are looking for. If you are selected for a mentorship, we will use the information in your application to make the best mentor match for your needs.
In addition, mentors may periodically arrange panels and events for the mentorship collective; we hope to host panels on topics helpful for fellows as a group, and will collaborate with fellows to determine these topics. We may also offer some events and panels that are open to the general public.
SWHNM is a collective and makes decisions as a group, as well as shares the labor of running both the collective and this mentorship. That said, the particulars of individual mentors’ engagement with fellows depends on their particular circumstances and on the nature of each pairing’s relationship. The only requirement of the mentorship is the monthly meetings.
Who are the Fellows, and what do they do?
Mentees should be passionate and committed to exploring creative writing, ready to generate new creative work, engage in revision processes, and be capable of working both independently as well as from writing prompts given by mentors. Mentors will work with mentees to tailor creative writing guidance that meets the mentees’ specific interests and needs.
Past fellows have been promising writers and artists who are serious and dedicated to their journey as a writer/literary artist. Just like with the mentors, the depth of individual fellows’ involvement depends on their particular circumstances. The only requirement for fellows is the monthly meeting with mentors.
There may be opportunities for further engagement with the mentorship program and SWHNM collective such as planning panels and events, as well as participating in collective readings, performances, and exhibitions. We are interested in hearing what fellows think would be useful and beneficial for the program and collective.
What are you looking for in fellows?
We’re so glad you’re reading this. We’re looking for fellows who identify as a woman or nonbinary person of Vietnamese and/or SE Asian descent, who live outside and/or inside Vietnam. There is no nationality requirement, and fellows must be at least 18 years of age. Fellows’ writing should show promise, and are relatively early in their (writing) careers.
In particular, we would especially like to award mentorships to those with limited past access to writing communities or writing guidance. We strive to equalize access so that writers can achieve their goals regardless of their background and affiliations.
Most of our mentors write predominantly in English. However, some of us are also fluent in Vietnamese and may also be willing to work across language barriers. Please indicate in your application what language (or languages) you write in and/or are interested in working in.
If you are currently enrolled in a graduate program in creative writing, you are not eligible for mentorship. You are also not eligible if you have published a book (or have one under contract) with a major U.S. press in a genre in which we mentor.
The SWHNM mentorship program is competitive; in our inaugural 2022 year, we received over 80 applications for only 4 mentorship spots.
Our number of available mentorship spots will differ each year depending on the mentors. In 2025 we will offer 5 mentorship spots.
How can I apply? Is there an application fee?
Please find detailed guidelines on our “How To Apply” page.
When you are ready to apply, submit your materials via our Application Form (this link will take you to a Google form for uploading + submitting your application materials).
If you need the Application Form in Vietnamese, click here. Nếu bạn cần nộp đơn đăng ký bằng tiếng Việt, vui lòng nhấn vào đây.
There is an application fee of $25, which helps us to cover administrative costs. You may request a fee waiver. Applicants residing in Vietnam may also receive a fee waiver.
If you have questions or issues regarding how to send us your application materials, or if you are in need of an application fee waiver, please DM us (with “Fee Waiver Request 2025” in the subject field) at: she.who.has.no.masters@gmail.com.
Is any of the work paid? Is there a financial cost for anyone involved?
Mentors are paid a modest stipend for their time, while members of the SWHNM collective organize and facilitate the mentorship program on an unpaid basis since we are a collective of writers who want to, and are able to, participate in this vibrant community.
We are committed to the idea of supporting Vietnamese and SE Asian diasporic women and nonbinary writers. This mentorship program is one that exists outside of any institutions. Some of the mentors may be affiliated with institutions such as universities but we don’t have outside funding or other institutional support for this project. It’s just us–a labor of care and love.
Who assesses applications, and how are they assessed?
The mentors for each cycle, along with volunteer members of the collective, read and assess the applications based on promise and need. From there, a smaller committee determines which few candidates might benefit the most from a SWHNM mentorship based on their current access to writing resources and commitment to craft and career, their financial need, and other factors.
There are a few writers with whom I’d especially love to be matched. Can I specify that?
No, though we welcome for you to share what you’re looking for in a mentor.
How far along should a writing sample be?
You should submit your best work, whether it’s published or not. A sampling of different pieces—representing various genres or not—is fine.
I have a question that isn’t addressed here, or something else I want to get in touch about.
You can email us at she.who.has.no.masters@gmail.com.
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Widening the Pipeline Fellowship:Year-Long Fellowship for U.S.-Based Journalists of Color
National Press Foundation
DEADLINE: December 15, 2024
INFO: U.S. journalism has an ongoing diversity crisis. There simply are not enough reporters and editors of color to inform, engage and accurately reflect our society.
To combat this, the National Press Foundation’s Widening the Pipeline Fellowship will provide trainings in Washington, D.C., as well as virtual workshops to support journalists of color staying in – and leading – the newsrooms of tomorrow.
NPF welcomes U.S.-based journalists from any medium with seven years or less of professional newsroom experience to participate in this career-defining cohort.
In Widening the Pipeline’s first two years, 45 journalists from across America received skills training, mentoring and peer support to help them navigate America’s newsrooms, where people of color comprise less than a quarter of positions. And too often, early career journalists of color leave the industry due to lack of support and mentorship–before they can build the strategies and skills that could help them make much-needed contributions to communities across the country.
Our fellows have learned from journalism veterans – including Ron Nixon, VP of News and Investigations with the Associated Press; Catalina Camia, Deputy Director at Bloomberg Law; Politico’s Senior Managing Editor Sudeep Reddy; and The Atlantic columnist and author Jemele Hill – and been paired with mentors, such as “CNN News Central” Anchor Boris Sanchez, PBS Newshour Deputy Editor Kenichi Serino and Reckon Editor R. L. Nave.
This support has helped nearly half of Widening the Pipeline fellows land new jobs or receive pay raises. All of the fellows say the program renewed their commitment to an industry that urgently needs their diverse lived experiences shaping coverage.
No one can describe the value of the training better than the fellows themselves:
This competitive fellowship is open to U.S.-based reporters and editors working in print, television, radio or online media. We greatly value diversity in all our programs and applicants from across the nation are encouraged to apply. Through its John C. and Ethel C. Eklund Scholarship Fund, the foundation will cover airfare, hotel, some ground transportation and most meals for the two in-person trainings in Washington, D.C., held in February and December 2025. A virtual training day will be held roughly every month, with the following schedule:
2025 session dates:
Jan. 13 (virtual)
Feb. 19-21 (Washington, D.C.)
March 3 (virtual)
April 7 (virtual)
May 5 (virtual)
June 2 (virtual)
Sept. 8 (virtual)
Oct. 6 (virtual)
Nov. 3 (virtual)
Dec. 8-11 (Washington, D.C).
nationalpress.org/training/apply-by-dec-15-widening-the-pipeline-fellowship-2025/
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Long-term Public Humanities Fellowships
Folger Institute
DEADLINE: December 15, 2024 by 11:59 pm ET
INFO: Folger Institute Long-term Public Humanities Fellowships, new for the 2025-26 year, are designed to support significant, full-time research and public humanities project implementation related to the histories, concepts, art, and objects of the early modern world (ca. 1400-1800) and its legacies. This fellowship is open to college and university faculty, independent scholars, artists, public scholars, writers, PhD candidates, postdocs, community leaders, cultural workers, educators and other knowledge holders. Applicants are not required to hold a terminal degree but should describe their equivalent training and industry-specific experience in their CV.
For the 2025-26 year, the Folger Institute will offer one Long-term Public Humanities Fellowship at $70,000 for a standard period of 9 months (approximately $7,777 per month).
FELLOWSHIP REQUIREMENTS:
The successful applicant will draw on the strengths of the Folger’s collections, exhibitions, and programming themes to devote 75% of their residency to research and 25% to implementing public humanities engagement for Folger audiences, in cooperation with Folger Institute staff. This can include–but is not limited to–onsite or virtual programs such as readings, talks, videos, podcasts, workshops, community activations, and performances, as well as digital humanities work hosted on non-Folger platforms such as games, interactives, and online resources. In their fellowship application, applicants must propose and detail one type of public humanities engagement they will develop and implement to take place during each of the Folger’s four program seasons:
Summer 2025: July 1 to August 31
Fall 2025: September 1 to November 30
Winter 2026: December 1 to February 28
Spring 2026: March 1 to May 30
Please note that the Folger will not acquire or archive any materials, physical or digital, resulting from the Public Humanities Fellowship for our collections at this time.
Long-term public humanities fellows can take up to 3 months of their 9-month fellowship virtually. This virtual time may be taken at any point in the fellowship and does not have to be taken concurrently. Applicants may propose any research schedule that best fits their project’s needs.
In their proposals, applicants must describe how they will utilize the onsite and virtual (if applicable) portions of their fellowship. Applicants may propose virtual fellowship time to cover any combination of the following full-time work: research with online collections, writing, editing, creative work, and studio time as they relate to the proposed project. Please note, virtual months may also be used to support research for applicants who have dependent care responsibilities.
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FINE ARTS WORK CENTER FELLOWSHIP
Fine Arts Work Center
DEADLINE: December 16, 2024
APPLICATION FEE: $65
INFO: Each year, the Work Center offers 20 seven-month residencies to a juried group of emerging visual artists, fiction writers, and poets. Each Fellow receives an apartment, a studio (for visual artists), and a monthly stipend of $1,250 plus an exit stipend of $1,000. Residencies run from October 1 through April 30. During this time, Fellows have the opportunity to pursue their work independently in a diverse and supportive community of peers.
THE RESIDENCY:
During the course of the Fellowship, each Writing Fellow is invited to give a public reading and each Visual Art Fellow is given a solo exhibition opportunity. Readings and openings are attended by current and past Fellows, local residents, visitors to Provincetown, leadership of the town’s numerous cultural institutions, and the many illustrious artists and writers who make their homes in Provincetown. Events take place in the beautifully renovated public spaces of the Work Center: the Stanley Kunitz Common Room and Hudson D. Walker Gallery.
VISITING ARTISTS + WRITERS
While in residence, Fellows also help select a series of visiting artists and writers. These visiting artists and writers meet with the Fellows for studio visits and manuscript reviews and give public readings and artist talks that draw thousands from Provincetown and beyond. Visiting guests have included presidential inaugural poet Elizabeth Alexander; Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel; winner of the National Book Award for Poetry Mark Doty; Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress Robert Pinsky; artist and MacArthur Fellowship recipient Judy Pfaff; and Katherine Porter, whose work is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, and Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
The Work Center’s founders believed that seven months was the minimum amount of time needed for artists and writers in the crucial early stages of their careers to learn to structure their lives around their creative practice. Each generation of Fellows ideally moves on from the Work Center with a firm belief in their ability to pursue a life as a practicing artist or writer.
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Call for Papers: Katrina’s America
Southern Cultures
DEADLINE: December 16, 2024
GUEST EDITOR: Andy Horowitz (University of Connecticut)
INFO: Southern Cultures, the award-winning, peer-reviewed quarterly from UNC’s Center for the Study of the American South, encourages submissions from scholars, writers, and artists for a special issue, Katrina’s America, to be published Fall 2025. We will accept submissions for this issue through December 16, 2024.
Nearly twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina sent a storm surge into the Gulf of Mexico. When the levee system surrounding metropolitan New Orleans collapsed, hundreds of people died, tens of thousands of people lost their homes, and years of suffering and struggle followed. At the time, many people understood Katrina as an unprecedented disaster, or a catastrophe that could only occur on the underprivileged margins of American wealth and power. From today’s vantage, however, Katrina no longer looks like an exception. The two decades since the flood have brought more water, fire, and pandemic, surging racist violence, widening economic inequality, and seemingly irreconcilable political conflict. The past two decades have brought, too, emboldened community organizing, ambitious visions for addressing the climate crisis, and other creative efforts to build a more humane future. In all of these domains, Katrina does not appear to be retreating into the past so much as resounding in the future. It is increasingly clear that we live, today, in Katrina’s America.
In the Fall 2025 issue, Southern Cultures explores Katrina as augur and author of the twenty-first century United States. We seek scholarly articles, personal essays, interviews, photography, and art that make sense of Katrina’s significance, and how its meaning has changed over time. We understand Katrina as an acute event that took place in the summer of 2005 in the attics of the Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans East, Chalmette, and other flooded neighborhoods. We also understand Katrina as an ongoing process that continues on the Gulf Coast, in the places displaced people went, in the halls of power in Baton Rouge and Washington, DC, and in politics and culture across the country and around the world. We are interested in submissions that map Katrina’s America at any or all of these local, national, and global scales. We especially seek submissions that are informed by the time that has passed since the flood.
Submissions can explore any topic or theme, and we welcome investigations of the region in the forms Southern Cultures publishes: scholarly articles, creative nonfiction, memoir (first-person or collective), interviews, surveys, photo and art essays, and shorter feature essays.
Topics and questions to explore might include:
“where are they now?”
accounts of contemporary New Orleans, its suburbs, the Alabama and Mississippi coasts, and other flooded places
evacuation, displacement, resettlement, and the ongoing Katrina diaspora
gentrification, and the intersection of economic and environmental change
infrastructure, and the relationships between structural inequality and the built environment
racism, poverty, and the construction of vulnerability
the legacy of Katrina among volunteers, Teach for America alumni, and others who spent time in New Orleans after the flood and then left
Katrina and charter schools, policing, public housing, public health, and other reform movements
Katrina and disaster policy, insurance policy, water infrastructure, and climate adaptation
Katrina and George W. Bush’s presidency, Barack Obama’s election, Black Lives Matter, the Confederate Monuments debate, the Green New Deal, the COVID-19 pandemic, and etc.
Katrina and the ways people experience or imagine race, class, and the climate crisis
the significance of popular culture in shaping Katrina’s meaning, and responses to Katrina in music and art
reflections on iconic images of the disaster
efforts to memorialize Katrina
Katrina and the meanings of justice and community
southerncultures.org/call-for-papers-katrinas-america/
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2024 Memoir Prize
Narratively
DEADLINE: December 19, 2024
SUBMISSION FEE: $20
INFO: Narratively is accepting entries for our 2024 Memoir Prize. We’re on the hunt for revealing and emotional first-person nonfiction narratives from unique and overlooked points of view. Entries will be judged on a rolling basis in four rounds: the first three by experienced Narratively readers and staff, and the final by our incredible and generous guest judge, critically acclaimed writer Jami Attenberg!
Jami Attenberg is the New York Times bestselling author of 10 books, including The Middlesteins, All Grown Up, the recently published A Reason to See You Again and a memoir, I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home. She is also the creator of the annual online group writing accountability project #1000wordsofsummer, which inspired the USA Today bestseller 1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round. Jami has also written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The Sunday Times, The Guardian and others. Her work has been published in 16 languages. She lives in New Orleans.
We’ll award the top three writers the following cash prizes, as well as publication on Narratively.com and inclusion in a special Narratively 2024 Memoir Prize Digital Collection:
Grand Prize: US$3,000
Finalist: US$1,000
Finalist: US$1,000
Further, Narratively editors will work with the finalists to potentially adapt their stories into larger projects in different mediums (TV, film, podcasts, etc.).
COMPETITION INFO:
Prize period opens: 9 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on October 28, 2024.
Prize period closes: 9 p.m. EDT on December 19, 2024. We will not accept entries once the prize period closes.
Final decision announced: On or around February 27, 2025. Entrants will be notified via Submittable and/or email.
Entry fee: US$20, nonrefundable and due at time of entry; free entry for paid subscribers (become one here!). If you’re already a paid subscriber, first of all, thank you for supporting indie journalism! Second of all, just email us at prizes@narratively.com to request the (paid) subscriber-only free submission link.
Eligibility: Open to folks 18 years of age or older on or before 9 a.m. EDT on October 28, 2024, and who are not employed by, related to or sharing living quarters with Narratively staff or our guest judges. This competition is open to anyone, including past and current Narratively contributors. Current and former Narratively editors are ineligible.
What should my entry look like?
As with all Narratively stories, submissions should be composed of vivid, active scenes, unique characters and an engaging narrative arc. We have a few rules to follow, but encourage maximum creativity within these guidelines. The best way to get a sense of what we’re looking for is to read the stories on the list of examples we love below.
Here are a few examples of first-person Narratively pieces we love:
Welcome to America’s Most Elite Girls Boarding School. Let the Hazing Begin.
My Bizarre Reign as New York’s King of “Virgin Russian Hair”
I Was Taught to Hate My Lesbian Neighbors. They Took Me In Anyway.
Diary of a Bachelor Who Suddenly Became a Solo Dad to a Teenage Girl
How I Wrote Myself into a Real-life Romantic Comedy — That Turned into a Survivalist Thriller
My Coming Out Story, Starring a Priest, an Animal Sacrifice and Ricky Martin
Why do we charge a fee? Your entry fee will allow us to compensate the people who are helping us effectively and fairly evaluate every single Prize submission — from our freelance readers to our Prize editors, copy editors, fact-checkers, visual editors and producers.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Ready-to-publish pieces only — no pitches accepted
Word count: 2,000 to 7,000
Nonfiction, written in the first person and in English (translations permitted)
Original and previously unpublished as a written work
Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but must notify Narratively if entry is accepted elsewhere.
Multiple submissions from a single author are permitted, but each must be submitted and paid for individually.
Adaptations from other media (podcasts, scripts, etc.) are permitted with disclosure.
Any citations should be in endnote form and listed at the end of the Submission.
Please remove your name and contact information from your Submission.
Narratively prefers common fonts such as Times New Roman and Arial, at 10-12-point size, double spaced, for ease of reading. Please do not include images or graphics.
To answer your questions:
This competition is open to anyone, including past and current Narratively contributors. (Current and former Narratively editors, however, are ineligible.)
The Grand Prize Winner and Finalists will be required to sign our standard Contributor Agreement.
These are a few of the key points in our agreement:
You retain print publication rights, should you pursue a book version of your story now or in the future.
Narratively has the right to pursue TV and film projects based on the work. These projects could be either unscripted/documentary or fictional (inspired by your story).
Revenue from any TV or film projects is shared with contributors.
We publish Narratively Out Loud, which features read-aloud audio versions of all Narratively stories, so the contract also gives us the rights to produce those.
narratively.submittable.com/submit
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Call for Submissions: ‘Crashing Out’ Issue
Post No Bills Mag
DEADLINE: December 29, 2024
INFO: Post No Bills, a literary magazine showcasing and publishing writing, art, and photography centered around Black/brown/queer folxs of NYC, seeks art, photography, essays, poems, interviews, etc. for its “Crashing Out” issue.
{THEME} Quarterlife Crisis: Navigating the messy middle—where uncertainty and transitions collide with disillusionment and self-discovery. It’s all about figuring out who we are while everything else keeps changing.
Email all work to postnobillsmag@gmail.com
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The Anthony Veasna So Scholarships IN FICTION
The Adroit Journal
DEADLINE: December 31, 2024
SUBMISSION FEE: $15
INFO: Anthony Veasna So (1992-2020) was an American writer of short stories that often drew from his upbringing as a child of Cambodian immigrants and were described by the New York Times as "crackling, kinetic and darkly comedic." His debut short story collection, entitled Afterparties, was published posthumously by HarperCollins in 2021 and was simultaneously named a New York Times Bestseller and a winner of the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Prize for Best First Book.
Anthony was not just one of the most talented new writers to grace this decade—he was also a member of the Adroit family, having served as a prose editor for four years. Anthony was as an inspiration to all of us, and to so many writers around the world. In honor of Anthony's contribution to both the Adroit Journal's staff community and the world's fiction readers, we will recognize six emerging fiction writers each year as Anthony Veasna So Scholars in Fiction.
All emerging writers who have not published full-length collections or novels are eligible (regardless of age, geographic location, or educational status), and are encouraged to submit. Writers with forthcoming debut full-length collections are eligible so long as collections won't appear earlier than April 2025.
Anthony Veasna So Scholars receive $200 and publication of one piece from their portfolio in a future issue of the Adroit Journal. Finalists will be awarded copies of Anthony's collection, Afterparties, and a list of semifinalists determined by the editors will be released with results.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Submissions may include up to three stories (max of 9,000 words total). Simultaneous submissions, previously published submissions, and submissions recognized by outside organizations are accepted, provided that a) a full catalogue of publication history for enclosed work is included in the submission (please note publication history at the top of the submission and in the cover letter) and b) at least one piece in the submission remains unpublished. Submitters should promptly add a note to their entry on Submittable if work disclosed as unpublished is accepted elsewhere. If the entire submission is published, it will be disqualified.
Writers are welcome to additionally submit enclosed work to the Adroit Prizes as well as through our general submission portal during those submission periods. We are also happy to consider revisions of work previously submitted to the Adroit Prizes, to the Veasna So opportunity, or through the general submissions portal (including work currently in progress or work that has recently received an editorial decision). Finally, please note that each writer may not send more than one entry per year for Veasna So Scholars.
As mentioned above, all emerging writers who have not published full-length collections are eligible (regardless of age, geographic location, or educational status), and Anthony Veasna So Scholars will receive $200 and publication in a future issue of the Adroit Journal.
We have set a non-refundable submission fee of $15. If you require financial assistance, you may submit a fee waiver with the Veasna So Scholars fee waiver request form. You can find both fee waiver request forms by clicking here.
Please direct any questions to editors@theadroitjournal.org.
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18th Annual Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence
Ernest J. Gaines Award
DEADLINE: December 31, 2024
INFO: The Ernest J. Gaines Award serves to enhance the visibility of emerging African-American fiction writers while also expanding the audience for this literature.
CRITERIA + SUBMISSION:
A work of fiction (novel or collection of short stories) that is published between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024. Galleys for a 2024 publication are also accepted.
The nominee must be a rising author, not yet widely recognized for their work.
Author must be an African-American U.S. citizen.
Self-published books will not be accepted. Self-published defined as publishing one's work independently and at one's own expense.
Emailed entries will not be accepted.
The winning author must be willing to attend the award ceremony in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 2024 and participate in media and educational outreach activities during that week.
TO ENTER A PUBLISHED BOOK OR GALLEY FOR REVIEW, SEND THE COMPLETED REGISTRATION FORM AND EIGHT (8) COPIES TO:
Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence
c/o Baton Rouge Area Foundation
100 North St., Suite 900
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802
Non-winning entries will be donated to an area nonprofit. Ineligible entries will not be returned.
TIMELINE:
May 1, 2024 – December, 2024 Eligible entries for the 18th Annual Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence will be accepted. See eligibility criteria and submission instructions above. All entries for the book award will receive written notification of receipt.
Spring 2025 – The winner will be selected by a national panel of judges. The judges reserve the right not to issue the award if they feel the selection pool lacks an acceptable candidate. Once the winner is selected, written notification will be sent to all eligible entries.
2025 – The 18th Annual Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence Ceremony will take place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
For additional information, please email gainesaward@braf.org
ernestjgainesaward.org/criteria
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Jesmyn Ward Prize in Fiction
Michigan Quarterly Review
DEADLINE: December 31, 2024
INFO: The Michigan Quarterly Review has established this prize for fiction in honor of Helen Zell Writers’ Program alumna Jesmyn Ward and her significant contributions to the literary arts.
AWARD: One short story submitted for this prize will be awarded $2,000 and publication in MQR. All submissions for the prize will be considered for publication.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Please submit one unpublished short story of 1,500–7,000 words. Simultaneous submissions are welcome but please withdraw your submission as soon as it is accepted elsewhere. We ask entrants not to include their names or contact information within the document they upload to Submittable, its title, or its file name. Affiliation with the judge, MQR, or the Helen Zell Writers Program may disqualify a submission; please consult the prize details on Submittable for more information about exclusions.
The 2025 judge is Ghassan Zeineddine.
Ghassan Zeineddine is the author of the story collection Dearborn and co-editor of the creative nonfiction anthology Hadha Baladuna: Arab American Narratives of Boundary and Belonging. Dearborn was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, a finalist for the CLMP Firecracker Award for Debut Fiction, shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, and longlisted for the Story Prize and the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection. The story collection was also awarded the 2023 Khayrallah Book Prize and named a 2024 Michigan Notable Book, a 2024 American Library Association Notable Book, and a Best Fiction Book of 2023 by Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, the Chicago Public Library, Powell’s, and the Writer’s Bone, and a Good Housekeeping Best Book of Fall and a Washington Post Best Book of September, among other honors. Zeineddine lives with his wife and two daughters in Ohio, where he’s an assistant professor of creative writing at Oberlin College.
sites.lsa.umich.edu/mqr/submit/
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Pages in Progress 2025: An AAWW Fiction Contest
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
DEADLINE: December 31, 2024 at 11:59pm EST
INFO: The Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW), Plympton, and Third State Books proudly present an open call/competition for fiction novels in progress.
AWARD:
Winners will receive:
One-month residency with Writing Downtown in Las Vegas, Nevada;
One-hour virtual consultation with Third State Books, a new publishing house amplifying stories from Asian America;
One-hour virtual consultation with an AAPI literary agent;
One complimentary seat to an AAWW workshop;
One full-day pass to the AAWW’s 2025 Publishing Conference.
Winners will also receive invaluable networking and mentorship through the AAWW, Plympton, and Third State communities. Please note that travel costs are not included for any of the prizes.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
All genres of fiction will be considered, including but not limited to: speculative fiction, fantasy/science-fiction, young adult, horror, mystery, thriller, and romance.
All submissions should include a one-page synopsis or overview of the work
Our ideal manuscript is a nearly-complete draft of 50,000-100,000 words – let us help you get your book over the finish line!
Please attach manuscripts in either Word .doc, .docx, or PDF format
All work must be original; translations will not be accepted
Previously published or forthcoming manuscripts will not be considered
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call for submissions: Issue 18: Radical Futurity
Seventh Wave Mag
DEADLINE: December 31, 2024
SUBMISSION FEE: $7
INFO: We are now open for submissions to Issue 18: Radical Futurity. Below, you will find everything you need to know in order to submit a competitive piece for publication. We can't wait to read your work. Any questions, reach out: submit@seventhwavemag.com.
IMPORTANT DATES. We are open for submissions until December 31, 2024. You will be notified of the status of your submission by end of February 2025.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS. You will submit three items: 1) a bio of 2-6 sentences, 2) a 250-500 word statement (addressing the four questions below), and 3) your submission as a Word Document or PDF. These are not optional.
STATEMENT + QUESTIONS. In your statement — this will be a text field in the form on the next page — please tell us in 500 words or less: 1) What are the driving forces behind your work? Tell us what your particular aesthetic or voice will bring to this issue; 2) What are recent social issues, political decisions, or cultural mishaps that sparked meaningful conversation and inspired you to create art, write stories, or otherwise communicate your thoughts to the world? 3) Tell us a little about what you hope to get out of this editorial process; and 4) How does your submission relate to our topic?
FAQs: We highly recommend you read our Submit page and our FAQ page. There is plenty of information there: why we don't read "blind," why we charge a $7 fee, why we require a cover letter/statement, the type of work we're (not) looking for, etc. You should also read this post on our Well-Crafted bulletin: 7 tips on submitting work to the Seventh Wave.
GENRE / FORM: We welcome prose and poetry, hybrid work, and visual art. For prose, a good limit is 3,000 words (though this isn't a strict cut-off). For hybrid work, a good limit is 10 pages (keep in mind how your work might appear on a digital platform). For poems, you can submit up to four poems (please let us know if they are all part of a series, etc). For art, please keep in mind that we will be publishing your work on a website. We have some visual capabilities — accordion scrollers, galleries and lightboxes, and even a flipbook, as well as audio capabilities — but we are primarily built to handle written pieces.
SUBMISSION FORMATS: For prose and poetry, you'll upload a Word Doc or PDF. For art, send whatever format you think will help our selection committee get the best understanding of your work.
FEE WAIVER: If our $7 submission fee is prohibitive, no problem. Just email your full submission to submit@seventhwavemag.com by the deadline, no questions asked. Please write "Issue 18 • [Last Name] [Genre]" in the subject line. Our submission fee helps us honor our team's time and labor in reviewing submissions.
NOTE ON EDITING STYLE: Our editorial process is intimate. We host an orientation session for all contributors once selected; you work with two editors toward publication; and you'll get to know others in your cohort. If you are just looking to get your work published, our magazine likely isn't for you. Everything we do is rooted in community, conversation, and collaboration.
MULTIPLE / SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS: Multiple submissions are not accepted. Please only submit once for each open call. We do, however, accept simultaneous submissions. Please just let us know if any of the poems/pieces you submit get picked up by another magazine/platform.
PAYMENT: We are committed to paying our contributors. While it can vary by submission, generally speaking, we offer $100 for prose, film, plays, multiple poems, and multiple pieces of artwork; for individual poems, images, and artwork, we offer $75.
seventhwavemag.submittable.com/submit
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Fiction and Poetry Contests
Third Coast
DEADLINE: December 31, 2024
ENTRY FEE: $10
INFO: Submissions to the 2024-2025 Third Coast Fiction and Poetry Contests are open. This year’s judges will be Misha Rai (Fiction) and Jamaal May (Poetry).
AWARD: Winners receive $1,000 and publication in Third Coast. All contest entries will be considered for publication in Third Coast.
GUIDELINES: Submit one previously unpublished story of up to 9,000 words or up to three previously unpublished poems at a time, in one file. All manuscripts should be typed and fiction manuscripts should be double-spaced. Please include entry title and page numbers on all manuscript pages. Because judging is blind, the author’s name and identifying information (address, email, phone number, and bio) should appear only in the “cover letter” section of the Submittable form; identifying information must not appear anywhere on the manuscript itself. Manuscripts including identifying information will be disqualified.
Simultaneous submissions are permitted, though if work is accepted elsewhere, we ask that it be withdrawn from the contest immediately. If a piece is chosen as a finalist, we ask that it be withdrawn from other publications’ consideration until our judge selects a winner. Multiple entries are permitted, but each entry must be submitted separately.
Writers associated with the judges, WMU, or Third Coast are not eligible to submit.
thirdcoastmagazine.com/contests/
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2025 Plentitudes Prizes
The Plentitudes
DEADLINE: December 31, 2024 at 11:59pm EST
SUBMISSION FEE: $20
INFO: Our 2025 Plentitudes Prizes is now open for submission!
JUDGES: Guest judges Annell Lopez, Melody Nixon, Dana Isokawa, and Celine Aenlle-Rocha will select winners in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Flash, respectively.
AWARD:
First-place winners in each genre will receive $1,000
Second-place winners will receive $300
Third-place winners receive $200
The winning entries will be published in our Spring 2025 issue.
GUIDELINES:
Multiple submissions by the same writer is permitted, though each must be submitted under a separate entry. You may retain your name on the submission but you may not submit if you are personally connected to any of the guest judges and/or the editors. Simultaneous submissions are fine, as long as you contact us if the work is accepted elsewhere.
All writers who enter will be notified by email of the judges’ decisions, which will be final. Winners will have seven days upon the receipt of email to confirm their publication agreement; otherwise, the offer is considered rescinded. Submissions must be must be an original, unpublished work, written by the submitter. Submissions also must be primarily in English, though we welcome writers to leverage their linguistic diversity.
The Plentitudes acquires First Rights for accepted works for publication. Upon acceptance of publication, The Plentitudes Journal retains the right to be the sole publisher of the works for the first year from the initial date of publication. Thereafter, contributors may republish their works, with The Plentitudes Journal credited as the initial publisher. The Plentitudes Journal retains the right to re-publish works designated for print publication in an anthology and on our social media platforms.
Marginalized voices, including BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and Disability writers, are particularly encouraged to submit.
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OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature
Bocas Lit Fest
DEADLINE: December 31, 2024
ENTRY FEE: US$45 (TT$300) per title
INFO: The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature is an annual award for literary books by Caribbean writers, first presented in 2011. Books are judged in three categories: poetry; fiction — both novels and collections of short stories; and literary nonfiction — including books of essays, biography and autobiography, history, current affairs, travel, and other genres, which demonstrate literary qualities and use literary techniques, regardless of subject matter.
There is a panel of three judges for each genre category, who determine category shortlists and winners.
The three category winners are then judged by a panel of four judges — consisting of the chairs of the category panels and the prize chair — who determine the overall winner.
The author of the book judged the overall winner will receive an award of US$10,000. The other category winners will receive US$3,000
ELIGIBILITY:
To be eligible for entry for the 2025 prize, a book must:
Have been first published in the calendar year 2024 (1 January to 31 December);
Have been written by a single author who either holds Caribbean citizenship or was born in the Caribbean (this must be verified by the publisher), regardless of current place of residence;
Have been written by an author who is living on 31 December, 2024;
Have been written and first published in English originally (i.e. translations are not eligible);
Be a new work, previously unpublished in book form (though collections including poems, stories, essays, or other short pieces that have individually appeared in print in periodicals or anthologies are eligible).
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Kevin McIlvoy Book Prize
WTAW Press
DEADLINE: December 31, 2024
ENTRY FEE: $30
INFO: We welcome submissions of full-length books of prose (novels, memoirs, narrative nonfiction, essay and story collections, and hybrid works) from new, emerging, and established voices and from writers of all backgrounds.
Manuscript Anonymity - Identifying information for the author must not be included anywhere in the manuscript, including in the file name or title field in the submission manager. Manuscripts containing identifying information in any way will be automatically disqualified, and the entry fee forfeited.
Previously Published Material - The manuscript, in its entirety, must be previously unpublished. It may contain some previously published portions, but the majority of the work should be new. Any previously published material in the manuscript must be credited in the cover letter (see cover letter guidelines below). Acknowledgements of previously published material may not be included in the manuscript file. Manuscripts containing acknowledgements will be automatically disqualified.
Originality and AI Restrictions - All material must be the author’s own, original composition and free from copyright restrictions. Submissions generated by AI tools or language models are not accepted.
Simultaneous Submissions - Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but by submitting a manuscript, the author agrees to notify WTAW immediately if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere for publication and to withdraw it from Submittable.
Multiple Submissions - Multiple submissions are accepted, provided each is accompanied by a separate entry fee. Each submission must be unique.
Submission Finality - Submissions cannot be edited once submitted. Manuscripts selected for publication will undergo an editing process with the editors.
Manuscript Formatting - Manuscripts should be submitted as a .doc or .docx file, in a 12-point standard font such as Times New Roman, double-spaced, with at least 1-inch margins, and paginated. Include a title page with the total word count and, if applicable, a table of contents.
Cover Letter Guidelines - Cover letters must be entered into the appropriate field in the submission manager. They may not be included in the manuscript file. Submission files that contain a cover letter will be automatically disqualified.
Cover letters must include the following information:
Author contact information (address, phone, email)
The work’s title, genre, and word count
A list of credits for any previously published portions
A brief synopsis of the work (short paragraph)
A brief author biography, including author website address and social media handles, and, if applicable, publishing history
An indication if the manuscript is submitted simultaneously, with acknowledgment of the requirement to withdraw it if accepted elsewhere
Where you heard about the Kevin McIlvoy Book Prize
Disqualification - Any submission that doesn’t follow the guidelines will be disqualified, and the submission fee forfeited.
Responses - WTAW responds to every submission through the submission manager at the email address provided with the submission.
Thank you for considering the Kevin McIlvoy Book Prize. We look forward to reading your work.
wtaw-press.submittable.com/submit
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Ann Friedman Weekly Fellowship
Ann Friedman
DEADLINE: January 3, 2025 by 11:59pm PST
INFO: The Ann Friedman Weekly Fellowship is an annual program for nonfiction writers who are not yet established in their careers. It includes mentorship and editing; a $5,000 stipend; regular check-ins to provide structure and accountability; and space in my newsletter where fellows can publish and promote their work. This program is funded by paying members of the Ann Friedman Weekly.
For the 2025 fellowship, I will provide support and accountability to two writers, who will each write and publish a newsletter of their own. Each fellow will come up with an editorial focus (or hone an existing one), create a workflow, and integrate feedback as they build a body of self-published work. I will, of course, welcome conversation about other writing projects and offer broader advice throughout the year. But the newsletter will be their main fellowship focus.
APPLICATION PROCESS:
Who I’m looking for: Nonfiction writers who don’t have (m)any published clips, who aren’t well-connected to editors, who don’t have a substantial social media following. I’m looking for people who are already writing and developing their skills. I invite people from populations that are underrepresented in media to apply. (I know most job listings have a line like this, but I really and truly mean it. Please apply!) For reasons related to scheduling calls and time zones, I am limiting this to writers who live in the United States.
Compensation: A stipend of $5,000. This fellowship is not a full-time job and will not provide any health insurance benefits. Think of it more like a year-long, highly personalized workshop with steady mentorship.
Commitment: We’ll do a monthly Zoom check-in, and you will have space in my newsletter at least once a month, too. Your time commitment will be variable, but I think it’s safe to say a few hours per week. I expect you to engage with your fellow fellow (lol) and with me, and to meet the deadlines we set together.
Why I’m doing this: I’m eager to share what I know about the craft and profession of writing, and I love having colleagues. For more context, read this.
How to apply: Write me a letter, no longer than one page. In it,
Tell me a little bit about who you are and the writing you’re currently doing.
Then tell me about the newsletter you’d like to publish in 2025. It could be a limited series, or an ongoing project you hope to keep up after the fellowship ends. It could be just the germ of an idea, or something you’ve been working on for awhile that needs a refresh. Be as specific as you can.
Tell me about the nonfiction writing skills you’re most eager to develop in the coming year. (Examples: Conducting great interviews, writing compelling titles/headlines, making the personal resonate more universally.) Put another way: How do you hope to improve over the course of the fellowship year?
If you have a little space left, briefly tell me about the last thing you read and loved. What was so good about it?
Title the document “[Your Name] AF WKLY 2025”
Fill out this form and upload the letter. I will only consider applications submitted through the form.
TIMELINE: Applications are due by 11:59pm PST on January 3, 2025. This deadline is strict. I will be in touch with all applicants by February 15. Fellowships begin March 3, 2025 and run through the end of the calendar year.
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Short-Term Fellowships for Writers, Artists, and Other Humanists
Newberry Library
DEADLINE: January 3, 2025
INFO: Newberry fellowships give researchers the time, space, and community required to pursue innovative and ground-breaking projects. Fellows advance scholarship in various fields, develop new interpretations, and expand our understanding of the past.
The Jan and Frank Cicero Fellowship - Offering one month of support for a person working in the visual and performing arts who wishes to advance their artistic practice through the use of the Newberry collection.
Stipend: $3,000/month
Length: 1 month
Who can apply: Artists and performers including (but not limited to) painters, sculptors, choreographers, dramaturgs, creative writers, composers, and others in artistic fields.
The Arthur and Lila Weinberg Fellowship for Independent Researchers - This fellowship is for writers, journalists, filmmakers, visual and performing artists, and other humanists who wish to use the Newberry’s collection to further their creative work. Preference is given to individuals working on projects that focus on social justice or reform.
Stipend: $3,000/month
Length: 1 month
Who can apply: Applicants must be individuals working outside of traditional academic settings.
The Historical Fiction Writing Fellowship - Offering one month of support for a person working in the area of historical fiction. We encourage applications relating to a wide range of historical fiction including novels, short stories, plays and theatrical works, or poetry.
Stipend: $3,000/month
Length: 1 month
Who can apply: Writers of historical fiction.
newberry.org/research/fellowships/short-term-fellowships
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WHAT CAN WE DO?
Asian American Arts Alliance (A4)
DEADLINE: January 7, 2024
INFO: What Can We Do? (WCWD?), presented by the Asian American Arts Alliance (A4), is a grant opportunity for artists looking to support the Asian and AAPI communities in NYC with engaging, creative projects rooted in care.
The lingering effects of the pandemics of COVID and anti-Asian and anti-Arab hate – including Islamophobia – continue to be felt today. In response, many mutual aid groups, direct service organizations, and community and business leaders have stepped in to take care of elders and other vulnerable Asian and AAPI community members across the city.
In addition, the ongoing genocide in Gaza has left Palestinian communities feeling unsafe and unsupported. AAPI artists, organizers, and care workers have come together to demand a ceasefire, raise awareness around the conflict in Gaza, and organize campaigns in support of Palestinian American artists and cultural workers who have been censored and banned from opportunities.
WCWD? gives artists a chance to find their place in the care ecosystem either by complementing existing services and offerings, or creating their own.
PROGRAM GOALS: For this program, a minimum of 15 NYC-based artists will be selected as project awardees by A4. Each artist will receive $1,500 to create and carry out ideas to engage, aid, and care for the Asian New Yorker community with a focus on Chinatown, Manhattan; Flushing, Queens; and/or social justice projects focused on the support of NYC-based Palestinian creators and their communities.
The project engagements must be completed within a four-month period (February 4–June 3, 2025).
Projects may take many forms such as performing music for seniors waiting in line at food pantries, leading workshops with youth to create ‘zines that reinforce positive aspects of AAPI culture, or organizing creative activities in support of the Palestinian community. While we prefer projects to be in-person activities, we understand that for safety reasons, projects might need to be virtual. You can review past projects here.
INFORMATION SESSION: An information session for those interested in applying will be held on Tuesday, November 19 from 12:00-1:00 pm ET via Zoom. You can RSVP for the information session here.
WHO SHOULD APPLY: Are you a NYC-based artist, community leader, or social justice organizer interested in exploring and/or developing a creative project with the aim to offer care for the Asian community in New York? Do you feel you want to do something about anti-Asian and anti-Arab hate and violence and its effects on the community, but don’t know how to get started? Your skills and talents can make a difference, and we want to hear from you.
What Can We Do? is seeking 15 participants with a range of artistic expression, social justice/social impact expertise, organizing frameworks, and lived experiences.
REQUIREMENTS:
A resident of New York City & primarily based in New York City during the program period
Must be at least 21 years of age
The project must benefit communities in Chinatown, Manhattan (District 1); Flushing, Queens (District 20); and/or social justice projects focused on the support of Palestinian creators and their communities.
All disciplines and stages of artistic exploration/developments, activism, community organizing, educational practice, and thought leadership are welcome; No prior organizing experience required
Demonstrate a willingness or an interest in community work and care for vulnerable populations
Create or develop an existing or new project that centers community building, healing, reflection, and joy, and not limited to being solely reactionary to moments of crisis or protest
Preference will be given to projects that demonstrate an intention to build an ongoing relationship and engagement with the community
Preference will be given to applicants who have not previously received the award, but anyone can apply
The event(s) or project engagement(s) must take place within the four-month period between February 4–June 3, 2025
SELECTION CRITERIA:
After an eligibility screening, the A4 Team will be evaluating and selecting the awardees based on the following criteria:
Community Impact: Will your proposed project have an impact, and show support, and care to AAPI communities? If your project is focused on the support of Palestinian creators and their communities, how does it impact the groups most affected by the issue? Do you have existing relationships or a desire to build/deepen relationships with residents of the communities on a long-term basis? Do you have an understanding of issues facing AAPI communities?
Outreach Strategy: Do you have a clear plan to conduct outreach to community members? If you plan to work with a community organization, does your outreach strategy align with the scope and contents of your project? If your project is focused on the support of Palestinian creators and their communities, does your outreach strategy align with the goals and values of the movement and focus on local needs?
Project Development and Creativity: Does your project contain a clear display of innovation, imagination, and/or creativity? Will participation in the WCWD program help you realize or shape your project?
Ability to Commit and Viability: Is your project achievable given the proposed engagement dates and four-month timeline?
We strive for a balance of geography, populations served, and disciplines. These factors will also be taken into account when the applications are evaluated.
PROGRAM STRUCTURE + TIMELINE:
As part of the program, participants will:
Carry out their event(s) or project engagement(s) anytime between February 4–June 3, 2025, providing periodical progress updates to A4
Write and submit a simple, one-page report of their work including 2 photographs, the community they served, its impact, and any next steps
Present their final project in-person or virtually at the end of the program in a public share out
Receive an honorarium of $1,500 per awardee; please note that awardees will receive the first half of the honorarium ($750) upon signing the agreement and the second half of the honorarium ($750) upon completion of the final report
The program schedule is as follows:
November 12, 2024 – Application opens
November 19, 2024 – Pre-submission Information Session via Zoom (12-1pm ET)
January 7, 2025 – Deadline for all submissions (by 11:59 pm ET)
January 21, 2025 – Awardees selected and notified
February 4–June 3, 2025 – Awardees carry out their projects
June 5, 2025 – Final reports due
June 12, 2025 (Tentative) – Public Share Out
This program is presented by the Asian American Arts Alliance (A4) and is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Special thanks to Council Members Christopher Marte and Sandra Ung. Projects focused on the support of Palestinian creators and their communities are supported by the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice.
aaartsalliance.org/opportunities/what-can-we-do
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2025 Bechtel Prize
Teachers & Writers Magazine
DEADLINE: January 10, 2025
INFO: Each year Teachers & Writers Magazine awards the Bechtel Prize and a $1,000 honorarium for an essay describing a creative writing teaching experience, project, or activity that demonstrates innovation in creative writing instruction.
The Bechtel Prize is named for Louise Seaman Bechtel, who was an editor, author, collector of children’s books, and teacher. In 1919, Bechtel became the first person to lead a juvenile book department at an American publishing house. Bechtel helped establish the field of children’s literature and was a tireless advocate for the importance of literature in children’s lives. This award honors her legacy.
We are looking for essays that describe a project or activity that got students excited about writing and fostered a vibrant and dynamic culture of creative writing in the classroom. We welcome essays about projects that carved a space for students to reflect on current events and social justice. The experience/project/activity should be one that:
Helped students identify as writers.
Opened new pathways to creative writing.
Engaged students in all parts of the writing process.
Promoted connections between reading and writing.
Supported the publication of student writing.
The essay itself should:
Share actual classroom experience, including how students engaged with the project (in other words, this should not be a planned project but one that has already taken place).
Focus on the classroom experience and what makes it innovative.
Focus on teaching creative writing (eg. poetry, fiction, memoir, playwriting).
Please do not send essays that have to do with teaching academic writing or teaching literature in general.
PRIZE: The essay selected to receive the Bechtel Prize will be published in Teachers & Writers Magazine, and the author will receive a $1,000 award.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Essays must be previously unpublished and under 2,500 words. They should include a cover page with the essay title, author’s name, e-mail address, phone number, and a brief bio (no more than 150 words).
Send submissions in Word or PDF format via Submittable.
Submissions will be judged anonymously. The author’s name and address must not appear anywhere on the essay.
Authors of the Bechtel Prize-winning essay and finalists must permit T&W to publish their essays in Teachers & Writers Magazine. T&W reserves the right to edit essays for publication.
Submissions are only accepted through Submittable.com. Please do not email submissions.
All submissions that conform to the above guidelines will be considered for general publication. Submissions that do not conform to the above guidelines will not be reviewed for the Bechtel Prize.
Selection criteria for the Bechtel Prize include the submission’s relevance and appropriateness for readers of Teachers & Writers Magazine, most of whom teach writing at the elementary, secondary, or postsecondary level. Teachers & Writers Magazine publishes work that is concise, lively, and geared toward a general audience. Prospective entrants for the Bechtel Prize are encouraged to visit the magazine to become familiar with the work of Teachers & Writers and to read past winners of the award.
Questions regarding these guidelines may be sent to editors@twc.org. Please do not send submissions by email.
teachersandwritersmagazine.org/bechtel-prize/
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2025 Early Career Artist Residency - For MN + NY artists
Anderson Center at Tower View
DEADLINE: January 14, 2025
APPLICATION FEE: $0
INFO: Anderson Center’s Early Career Artist Residency Program offers month-long residency-fellowships at Tower View to a cohort of emerging artists from Minnesota or one of the five boroughs of New York City for concentrated, uninterrupted creative time to advance their personal artistic goals and projects.
Anderson Center’s Early Career Artist Residency is an ideal fit for early-career artists in need of focused time and dedicated space in an inspiring residency work environment that empowers them take risks, embrace challenges, and utilize unconventional approaches to problem-solving.
Thanks to generous support from the Jerome Foundation, selected emerging artists receive a $625/week artist stipend, documentation support, art-making resources, lodging & studio space, a travel honorarium, groceries, and chef-prepared communal dinners.
Anderson Center is an artist community founded in 1995 on the Tower View estate, a venerable research-and-development lab for the arts rooted in an expansive natural setting in rural Red Wing, MN (approximately 1-hour outside the Twin Cities metro).
The Anderson Center’s Early Career Artist Residency is geared toward generative art making, as well as exchange across an interdisciplinary cohort. The program is well suited for vocational early-career artists in pursuit of time, space, and resources to truly commit to a project and explore new creative territories. Critiques, studio visits, and formal professional development are not offered.
The Anderson Center seeks to support emerging writers and artists with an uncompromising drive to create new work at Tower View in September 2025 that demonstrates significant potential for cultural and community impact, is technically accomplished, and engages diverse communities. The organization also believes that the environment and resources of Tower View, along with an exchange of ideas between artists working across disciplines, can serve as a catalyst for new inspiration and innovative directions for the work emerging artists create while in residence.
TO APPLY:
The application deadline for the Anderson Center's 2024 Early Career Artist Residency Program is Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at 12 p.m. Noon, Central Standard Time. Applications must be submitted on or before the deadline in order to be considered in the jury review period. There is no fee for applying to this residency program.
Jury review will take place in late January and early February. Applicants will be notified by Feb. 7 as to the status of their application. A phone interview process with finalists will take place in late February following a second round of jury review. Selected artist residents, wait-list and runners-up will be notified by March 4, 2024.
ABOUT ANDERSON CENTER: Anderson Center nurtures a vibrant artist community based at Tower View, an expansive Historic Site and natural area in Red Wing, Minnesota. Founded in 1995, the Anderson Center has renovated and restored Tower View's historic buildings to support working artists and the creative process, including developing twenty-two active studio spaces and three galleries. A renovated barn serves as a performance and event venue, the historic main residence houses artists-in-residence, and fifteen acres support a sculpture garden.
Anderson's signature Artist Residency Program, together with the Studio Artist Program, forms the core of the organization's artistic community. The Residency Program provides artists, writers, musicians, and performers of exceptional promise and demonstrated accomplishment with dedicated time and space to create, advance, or complete new work. In addition to community engagement activities through the artist residency program, the organization's additional outreach programs create connections and integrate the arts into community life through local partnerships, hosting annual arts events, and participating in other community-based initiatives.
ABOUT JEROME FOUNDATION: The Jerome Foundation, founded in 1964 by artist and philanthropist Jerome Hill (1905-1972), honors his legacy through multi-year grants to support the creation, development, and presentation of new works by early career artists. The Foundation makes grants to vocational early career artists, and those nonprofit arts organizations that serve them, in all disciplines in the state of Minnesota and the five boroughs of New York City. The Jerome Foundation is generously providing support for the Anderson Center’s Emerging Artist Residency Program.
LOCATION: Anderson Center is located on the 350-acre historic Tower View campus, built by scientist & farmer Dr. Alexander Pierce Anderson between 1915 and 1921, on the western edge of Red Wing, Minnesota, and its buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Center features a large sculpture garden, and is adjacent to the Cannon Valley Trail, a 20-mile biking and walking trail that runs from Cannon Falls to Red Wing. The Center is 45-60 minutes southeast of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Transportation is provided between the Center and the Twin Cities airport on the first and last day of residencies only. Artist Residents that choose to drive will have access to private parking on the property.
The community of Red Wing, Minn., (pop. 16,000) is nestled amidst the scenic bluffs of the upper Mississippi River.
DEFINITION OF “EARLY CAREER”: While Anderson Center’s general Artist Residency Program hosts artists with a wide range of talent and experience, its Early Career Artist Residency Program exclusively focuses on meeting the specific needs of artists who are in the early stages of their artistic development and career.
Anderson Center’s goal is to support artists early in their careers who create work that is and/or has the potential to be:
Compelling—offering distinctive vision and authentic voice;
Deeply considered, imaginative, and executed with attention to craft and with technical proficiency, providing artistic experiences that communicate unique perspective/s, and invite viewers to question, discover, explore new ideas in new ways;
Innovative and risk-taking—engaging, questioning, challenging or re-imagining conventional artistic forms.
Anderson Center defines an early career artist as someone in the early stages of their creative development with 2-10 years of generative experience, and:
have a focused direction and goals, even while still developing their artistic “voice”
have yet to be substantially celebrated within their field, the media, funding circles or the public at large
are vocational (as opposed to avocational, academic, amateur or educational) artists
Artists who have been in the field for longer than 10 years (excluding any time in a degree-granting program; as a dancer in work created by others; remounting the work of other choreographers; or time away from working as an artist due to circumstances–e.g., having children, caring for family members, long-term illness, etc.) are generally not eligible, even if they feel under-recognized. Age is not a factor in determining emerging artist status.
ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES:
The four primary eligibility guidelines for Anderson Center’s Early Career Artist Residency are:
Legal residency in the State of Minnesota or one of the five boroughs of New York City.
Not enrolled in any degree-granting program from time of application through residency period.
Self-identification as an “early career artist” with 2-10 years of generative experience in the field
An artistic practice centered in generating and creating entirely new work.
Minnesota or New York City artists - Artists must currently be legal residents of Minnesota or one of the five boroughs of New York City and have been residents for at least one year prior to the submission of an application. Artist did (or will) file US federal taxes as a resident of Minnesota or New York City. Account address in Submittable must be within MN or NYC. Selected artists will be required to provide proof of Minnesota or New York City residency before a residency is formally offered. Artists must have a US Social Security Number or US Tax ID.
No students - Students enrolled in any degree-granting program from the time of application through the residency period are not eligible to apply for an Early Career Artist Residency at the Anderson Center (this includes any and all K-12, technical school, college, graduate, postgraduate, ABD studies). There are no exceptions to this eligibility criterion. If an artist is pursuing a degree-granting program in some form, they are not eligible. Please do not contact Anderson Center staff regarding technical situations or special edge cases around student status. This program supports vocational artists, not students. No matter the specifics or details, if an artist can be considered a student of a degree-granting program in any way, they are simply not eligible.
“Early Career Artist” Status – Eligible artists self-identify as an “early career artist” and are in the early stages of their creative development with 2-10 years of generative experience. The Anderson Center’s goal is to serve a spectrum of artists typically in their 2nd to 10th year of creative practice, post-student status (if applicable). This spectrum is framed by artists with some track record of creating and presenting full work (not beginning artists), and artists who are NOT at a point in their careers where they receive consistent development and production opportunities and significant recognition, awards, and acclaim (not mid-career or established artists).
Artists who have been in the field for longer than 10 years (excluding any time in a degree-granting program; as a dancer in work created by others; remounting the work of other choreographers; or time away from working as an artist due to circumstances–e.g., having children, caring for family members, long-term illness, etc.) are generally not eligible, even if they feel under-recognized.
Age is not a determining factor. Career stage is assessed by the cumulative number of years an artist has been generating their own work. Mid-career or established artists shifting from one artistic discipline to another will not be considered early career. For example, a composer with a substantial career in music who is now moving into film will not be considered early career.
Anderson Center has defined the 2–10 year span recognizing that some artists may experience enormous success and move past early career status well before their 5th year or 10th year. The organization recognizes that the number of opportunities afforded to artists may differ significantly based on discipline, race/ethnicity, class, gender, physical ability, and geography among other factors. Consequently, some artists may be past their 10th year and still be on the spectrum of early career status due to taking time out of active artistic practice for school or other circumstances. The Anderson Center understands that the lack of an absolute or rigid definition leaves room for interpretation but embraces this flexibility out of our value around diversity and in recognition of the many variables that impact artists’ careers.
New Work – Eligible artists are generating and creating entirely new work (rather than interpreting, translating, arranging, copying, remounting pre-existing work or the work of others). Generative artists are those who conceive and create new original work (e.g., choreographers, composers, playwrights and devisers, filmmakers, writers, visual artists, etc.). This program does not support artists who solely perform or develop/produce the work of others (e.g., dancers, musicians, actors, editors, journalists, etc.).
Collaboratives - Artists that are part of an artistic collective, partnership, or collaborative are welcome to apply, but collaborative residencies are also rare. The program is extremely competitive, and space is simply limited. Each artist must also complete their own application form. Obviously, each application will repeat things and have much overlap. That is OK. In the work plan for in each application, highlight that artist's contribution / skills, while making clear the collaborative nature of the project.
Notes - Artists of all disciplines are eligible and are encouraged to apply. Applications must be submitted through the Anderson Center’s online webform via Submittable.
Please direct any questions regarding early career artist status and eligibility requirements directly to Anderson Center at Tower View staff at 651-388-2009 or info@andersoncenter.org.
APPLICATION: A completed application form includes a brief artist statement, a work plan, an early career statement, work samples, and a resume or CV. Incomplete or late applications will not be reviewed by the panel. You may begin your application, leave and return as many times as necessary to complete the form PRIOR to clicking the submit button at the bottom of the completed form. Important: do not submit your application form until you are completely finished editing as your application will be finalized at that time.
If you are a prior resident of the Anderson Center, you must wait one year from the time of your residency to apply again.
The Artist Statement, provides an opportunity for you to share, in 100 words or less, a brief statement or summary about your past and current work.
The Resume, CV, or Biographical Statement is a Word or PDF document that shows education, work experience, publications, awards, and previous residency experience. 3 pages maximum.
The Work Plan is a one page Word or PDF document that clearly and concisely describes what you are working on and what you’d like to accomplish at the Anderson Center. Successful applicants address how the timing, location, and cohort-based model of the residency would benefit their practice. Artists may also mention how specific amenities or resources at the Anderson Center (such as the surrounding natural environment, specific studio spaces or equipment) would advance their work. The statement can be single-spaced.
An Early Career Statement addresses, in 250 words or less, your status as an emerging artist or early-career artist. How would participating in this program impact or advance your practice as an early career artist? In what ways would this program meet your needs as an early career artist? Why is this residency important to this stage of your career path? How do you identify as an early career artist?
Work Samples should be of recent work and should include:
· For composers and musicians: 3 recordings
· For visual artists: At least 5 images of work (300 dpi or larger)
· For nonfiction and fiction writers: 10 pages of double-spaced prose
· For playwrights & screenwriters: 10-page excerpt (does not need to be from the beginning)
· For poets: 10 pages of poetry
· For translators: 10 pages of translation and original text
· For performance artists: 3 short video excerpts of performances (no videos longer than 5 minutes)
· For filmmakers: at least 3 short film clips (no videos longer than 5 minutes)
· For Scholars: 10 pages of work, including research abstracts and relevant diagrams
If you are an interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary artist, you may "split the difference" on the work sample guidelines above at your own discretion. For example, including 5 pages of writing and 3 images, etc.
Likewise you may also choose to simply submit a PDF or Word Doc with hyperlinks to work samples that meet the guidelines outlined above.
Regarding work samples, please put yourself in the shoes of a jury panel member. Make it easy for them to review your best work first. Yes, give the jury various ways to go deeper or experience more if they are motivated but focus first on presenting only your strongest work samples in the most compelling way possible. Please contact staff if you have questions about work samples, but reflecting on the jury and the many applications they have to review & score can serve as a helpful guide in deciding what to include, how much to share, how long it can be, and how to present it.
DURATION OF RESIDENCY: The Anderson Center’s Early Career Artist Residency Program is a 4-week residency-fellowship the month of September 2025. Selected artists must commit to arriving on September 2 and departing on September 29. September is the only month the program takes place.
PROGRAM DETAILS:
Each artist-in-residence receives:
$625/week artist stipend
Travel honorarium ($550 for New Yorkers and $150 for Minnesotans)
$450 documentation budget (services for photography, video, audio, etc.)
Evening dinners are prepared and presented by the Anderson Center chef Monday through Friday. The chef also shops for meal items for artist residents, and residents are responsible for preparing their own breakfasts and lunches, and meals over the weekends. There are also housekeepers who clean and maintain the historic facilities.
ACCOMMODATIONS: Each resident is provided room, board, and workspace for the length of the residency period in the historic Tower View residence. Visual artists are provided a 15' x 26' studio and are responsible for supplying their own materials. Other workspaces on site include a dark room, and a print studio (with a Vandercook 219 letterpress and a Charles Brand-like etching press) for printmakers with demonstrated experience. Practice space is also available for dancers, choreographers, and musicians. Composers are provided with access to a 1904 Steinway piano and a Royale grand piano.
Residents have access to the many walking trails on campus and to the Cannon Valley Trail, which goes through the Anderson Center’s property. Bicycles are also provided. Residents have responded to many different aspects of the gorgeous Tower View campus through their work, including composers sampling natural sounds and visual artists harvesting plant materials to create site-specific natural inks.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: The program is set-up to minimize distractions and other obligations so that artists have every opportunity to fully focus on their work. However, the Anderson Center was one of the first artist residency programs in the country to require that residents give back to the local community and connect with area residents & organizations through community engagement activities.
Staff work with artists to facilitate and customize at least one hour of mutually beneficial exchange with the Red Wing community that helps foster connection and greater a sense of place.
Within the last few years, Anderson Center residents have connected with schools in five area communities (ranging from elementary through college), senior centers, correctional or detention facilities, community organizations serving children and families, and community organizations serving adults. Residents have also engaged individuals from all walks of life through public workshops, events, discussions, and artful interventions -- both at the Anderson Center or in the community of Red Wing.
PROGRAM MISSION & VALUES: As an interdisciplinary arts organization, the Anderson Center embraces artists who are diverse in every way. Since its inception, the organization has intentionally worked with artists representing a wide range of disciplines, with the belief that the exchange of ideas is generative. The residency program supports artists from around the world, representing a wide range of cultures, races, sexual identities and genders. The Center strives to bring people and ideas together and operates with a spirit of welcome for all.
SELECTION TIMELINE:
January 14, 2025 (12:00 p.m. Noon CST) – application deadline
February 7, 2025 – Jury has selected Round 2 applications. All artists are notified of the status of their application.
February 25, 2025 – Jury has determined finalists. Phone interviews with finalists begin.
March 4, 2025 – Final notification to selected artists, wait-list and runners-up
SELECTION CRITERIA:
Selection criteria include (in order of importance):
Artistic excellence as demonstrated by work samples, resume and artist statement
Potential benefit and impact on career as demonstrated by work plan
Balance of artistic disciplines, identity, geography, etc within selected cohort
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY: The Anderson Center provides equal opportunity for all people to participate in and benefit from the activities of the Center, regardless of race, national origin, color, age, religion, sexual orientation, disability, in admission, access, or employment. The Anderson Center staff is willing to do what they can to accommodate residents with disabilities. Please call before applying to discuss special needs.
theandersoncenter.submittable.com/submit
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2025 Anderson center residency
Anderson Center at Tower View
DEADLINE: January 14, 2025
APPLICATION FEE: $30
INFO: Anderson Center nurtures a vibrant artist community based at Tower View, an expansive Historic Site and natural area in Red Wing, Minnesota. Founded in 1995, the Anderson Center has renovated and restored Tower View's historic buildings to support working artists and the creative process, including developing twenty-two active studio spaces and three galleries. A renovated barn serves as a performance and event venue, the historic main residence houses artists-in-residence, and fifteen acres support a sculpture garden.
Anderson's signature Artist Residency Program, together with the Studio Artist Program, forms the core of the organization's artistic community. The Residency Program provides artists, writers, musicians, and performers of exceptional promise and demonstrated accomplishment with dedicated time and space to create, advance, or complete new work. In addition to community engagement activities through the artist residency program, the organization's additional outreach programs create connections and integrate the arts into community life through local partnerships, hosting annual arts events, and participating in other community-based initiatives.
ELIGIBILITY: The Anderson Residency Program is open to early career, mid-career, and established visual artists, writers, composers, choreographers, multidisciplinary artists, musicians, performance artists, scholars, and translators from across the globe. The program is interdisciplinary and the organization welcomes applications from a wide range of creative and intellectual genres, including those that don't fit neatly into the above list.
To be considered, artists must submit an application through the Anderson Center’s online form via Submittable. Complete program details are below. Please contact the organization at 651-388-2009 or info@andersoncenter.org for any questions.
DURATION OF RESIDENCY: For the 2025 season, the Anderson Center is offering 2- or 4-week residency sessions during the months of August and October. Preference is generally given to 4-week residencies. That said, 2-weeks sessions are possible. There is a 48-hour turnover between residency sessions, no matter their duration, to allow time for housekeeping. Specific start and end dates are listed in the application form. Please plan your requested residency dates carefully. Provide as much detail as possible regarding your availability, as that information is incredibly helpful in assembling cohorts and organizing the waitlist.
September 2024 residencies are reserved for the organization’s Early Career Artist Residency.
2025 SCHEDULING & AVAILABILITY:
Each season the Anderson Center hosts a limited number of artists through its various exchanges, fellowships, and dedicated programs that reduce the number of spots available for artists submitting materials for this General Residency program opportunity. In 2025 exterior renovations to the residence limit the residency options to the months of August and October.
Availability as of September 2024:
August 2025 - Four 4-week spots (or eight 2-week spots); space for 4-6 artists depending on duration.
October 2025 - Three 4-week spots (or 6 2-week spots); space for 3 – 5 artists depending on duration.
In general, for months that incorporate 2-week sessions, no fewer than four artists–and no more than six artists would be scheduled for 2-week residencies within that month.
Due to the competitiveness of the program, the organization's goal is to be upfront and transparent about the availability for the General Residency program in 2025 in an effort to help you make a decision about whether this year is the best time to submit an application. Again, please contact us if you have any questions or need further clarification here.
LOCATIONThe Anderson Center is located on the 350-acre historic Tower View campus, built by scientist & farmer Dr. Alexander Pierce Anderson between 1915 and 1921, on the western edge of Red Wing, Minnesota, and its buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Center features a large sculpture garden, and is adjacent to the Cannon Valley Trail, a 20-mile biking and walking trail that runs from Cannon Falls to Red Wing.
The Center is 45- 60 minutes southeast of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Transportation is provided between the Center and the Twin Cities airport on the first and last day of residencies only. Artist Residents that choose to drive will have access to private parking on the property. The community of Red Wing, Minn., (pop. 16,000) is nestled amidst the scenic bluffs of the upper Mississippi River.
APPLICATION: A completed application form includes a brief artist statement, a work plan, work samples, and a resume or CV. Incomplete or late applications will not be reviewed by the panel. You may begin your application, leave and return as many times as necessary to complete the form PRIOR to clicking the submit button at the bottom of the completed form. Important: do not submit your application form until you are completely finished editing as your application will be finalized at that time. If you are a prior resident of the Anderson Center, you must wait one year from the time of your residency to apply again.
The Artist Statement, provides an opportunity for you to share, in 100 words or less, a brief statement or summary about your past and current work.
The Resume, CV, or Biographical Statement is a Word or PDF document that shows education, work experience, publications, awards, and previous residency experience. 3 pages maximum.
The Work Plan is a one-page Word or PDF document that clearly and concisely describes what you are working on and what you’d like to accomplish at the Anderson Center. Successful applicants address how the timing, location, and cohort-based model of the residency would benefit their practice. Artists may also mention how specific amenities or resources at the Anderson Center (such as the surrounding natural environment, specific studio spaces or equipment) would advance their work. The statement can be single-spaced.
Work Samples should be of recent work and should include:
For composers and musicians: 3 to 5 recordings
For visual artists: At least 5 images of work (300 dpi or larger)
For nonfiction and fiction writers: 10 pages of double-spaced prose
For playwrights & screenwriters: 10-page excerpt (does not need to be from the beginning)
For poets: 10 pages of poetry
For translators: 10 pages of translation and original text
For performance artists: 3 short video excerpts of performances (no videos longer than 5 minutes)
For filmmakers: at least 3 short film clips (no videos longer than 5 minutes)
For Scholars: 10 pages of work, including research abstracts and relevant diagrams
If you are an interdisciplinary or multi-disciplinary artist, you may "split the difference" on the work sample guidelines above at your own discretion. For example, including 5 pages of writing and 3 images, etc.
Likewise you may also choose to simply submit a PDF or Word Doc with hyperlinks to work samples that meet the guidelines outlined above.
Regarding work samples, please put yourself in the shoes of a jury panel member. Make it easy for them to review your best work first. Yes, give the jury various ways to go deeper or experience more if they are motivated but focus first on presenting only your strongest work samples in the most compelling way possible. Please contact staff if you have questions about work samples, but reflecting on the jury and the many applications they have to review & score can serve as a helpful guide in deciding what to include, how much to share, how long it can be, and how to present it.
ACCOMMODATIONS: Each resident is provided room, board, and workspace for the length of the residency period in the historic Tower View residence. Visual artists will be provided a 15' x 26' studio and are responsible for supplying their own materials. Other workspaces on-site include a dark room and a print studio for professional printmakers (with a Vandercook 219 letterpress and a Charles Brand-like etching press). Practice space is also available for dancers, choreographers, and musicians. Composers are provided with access to a 1906 Steinway piano and a Royale grand piano.
Dinners are prepared and presented by the Anderson Center chef Monday through Friday. This chef also shops for groceries for artists-in-residence. Residents are responsible for preparing their own breakfasts and lunches, and meals over the weekends. There are also housekeepers who clean and maintain the historic facilities.
Residents have access to the many walking trails on campus and to the Cannon Valley Trail, which goes through the Anderson Center’s property. Bicycles are also provided. There is a very basic home gym in the residence. Residents have responded to many different aspects of the gorgeous Tower View campus through their work, including composers sampling natural sounds and visual artists harvesting plant materials to create site-specific natural inks.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: The program is set-up to minimize distractions and other obligations so that artists have every opportunity to fully focus on their work. However, the Anderson Center was one of the first artist residency programs in the country to require that residents give back to the local community and connect with area residents & organizations through community engagement activities.
Staff work with artists to facilitate and customize at least one hour of mutually beneficial exchange with the Red Wing community that helps foster connection and greater a sense of place.
Within the last few years, Anderson Center residents have connected with schools in five area communities (ranging from elementary through college), senior centers, correctional or detention facilities, community organizations serving children and families, and community organizations serving adults. Residents have also engaged individuals from all walks of life through public workshops, events, discussions, and artful interventions -- both at the Anderson Center or in the community of Red Wing.
PROGRAM MISSION & VALUES:
"This stay is particularly suitable for artists who want to devote themselves intensively to the realization of a concept. Here you can devote yourself to artistic work undisturbed and far away from everyday worries." - Eva Möseneder, 2012 resident
Anderson Center’s goal is for connections participating artists make with one another, as well as connections made with other creatives and community members, to outlast the duration of their residency visit. The organization believes that the environment and resources of Tower View, along with an exchange of ideas across disciplines, can serve as a catalyst for new inspiration and innovative directions for the work artists create while in residence.
As an interdisciplinary arts organization, the Anderson Center embraces artists who are diverse in every way. Since its inception, the organization has intentionally worked with artists representing a wide range of disciplines, with the belief that the exchange of ideas is generative. The residency program supports artists from around the world, representing a wide range of cultures, races, sexual identities and genders. The Center strives to bring people and ideas together and operates with a spirit of welcome for all.
SELECTION TIMELINE:
January 14, 2025 (12:00 p.m. Noon CST) – application deadline
February 7, 2025 – Jury has selected Round 2 applications. All artists are notified of the status of their status.
March 5, 2025 – Final notification to selected artists, wait-list and runners-up
SELECTION CRITERIA:
Selection criteria include (in order of importance):
Artistic excellence as demonstrated by work samples, resume and artist statement
Potential benefit and impact on career as demonstrated by work plan
Balance of artistic disciplines, identity, geography, etc within selected cohort
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY: The Anderson Center provides equal opportunity for all people to participate in and benefit from the activities of the Center, regardless of race, national origin, color, age, religion, sexual orientation, disability, in admission, access, or employment. The Anderson Center staff is willing to do what they can to accommodate residents with disabilities. Please call before applying to discuss special needs.
theandersoncenter.submittable.com/submit
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Cai Emmons Fiction Award
Red Hen Press
DEADLINE: January 15, 2025
ENTRY FEE: $25
INFO: To honor the life and enduring legacy of beloved novelist Cai Emmons, who published three novels through Red Hen Press (Weather Woman, Sinking Islands, and Livid) and who passed away with dignity on January 2, 2023 after a hard-fought battle with ALS, Red Hen Press is proud to announce the Cai Emmons Fiction Award.
We are so grateful to Cai and her family for choosing to endow this award to keep Cai’s spirit and love of life-changing fiction alive.
We are looking for a fresh and original story of fiction with a minimum of 150 pages. The awarded fiction manuscript is selected through an annual submission process which is open to all authors.
AWARD DETAILS:
$5000
Book publication by Red Hen Press
Judge: E.P. Tuazon
Notes: Name on cover sheet only, with a 25,000-word minimum (approximately 150 pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12pt font). Entries will be accepted via Submittable only.
GUIDELINES:
The award is open to all writers with the following exceptions:
Authors who have had a full-length work published by Red Hen Press, or a full-length work currently under consideration by Red Hen Press;
Employees, interns, or contractors of Red Hen Press;
Relatives of employees or members of the executive board of directors;
Relatives or individuals having a personal or professional relationship with any of the final judges where they have taken any part whatsoever in shaping the manuscript, or where, for whatever reason, selecting a particular manuscript might have the appearance of impropriety.
PROCEDURES + ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS:
To be certain that every manuscript finalist receives the fairest evaluation, all manuscripts shall be submitted to the judges without any identifying material.
Bios, acknowledgments, and other identifying material shall be removed from judged manuscripts until the conclusion of the competition.
Red Hen Press is committed to maintaining the utmost integrity of our awards. Judges shall recuse themselves from considering any manuscript where they recognize the work. In the event of recusal, a manuscript score previously assigned by the managing editor of the press will be substituted.
For questions or to withdraw a submitted entry, please contact editorial@redhen.org.
redhen.org/awards/cai-emmons-fiction-award/
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Regular Reading period
Ploughshares
DEADLINE: January 15, 2025 at noon EST
INFO: Ploughshares welcomes unsolicited submissions of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction during our regular reading period. The literary journal is published four times a year: blended poetry and prose issues in the Winter and Spring, a prose issue in the Summer, and a special longform prose issue in the Fall. Our Spring and Summer issues are guest-edited by different writers of prominence.
Guest editors are invited to solicit up to half of their issues, with the other half selected from manuscripts submitted to the journal and screened for them by staff editors. This guest-editor policy, which we have used since our founding in 1971, is designed to introduce readers to different literary circles and tastes, and to offer a fuller representation of the range and diversity of contemporary letters than would be possible with a single editorship.
MANUSCRIPT GUIDELINES:
We accept up to 6,500 words of prose, and 1-5 pages of poetry.
If you are submitting to our Fall Longform issue, we accept up to 15,000 words. Please note that past Longform issue contributors may not be published again in a future Longform issue. Excerpts of longer works are welcome if self-contained, and translations are welcome if permission has been granted by the original author.
Queries to the Look2 Critical Essay series are welcome (see guidelines here).
It would be much appreciated if you kept the following in mind when submitting your work:
Typed, double-spaced pages. (Single-spacing is welcome for poetry).
Numbered pages.
If in hard copy, submit with text on one side of the page.
We do not consider:
Unsolicited book reviews and criticism.
Previously published work. If your submission is part of a forthcoming book, let us know in your cover letter and the expected publication date.
Work written by individuals currently affiliated with Ploughshares or Emerson College as a volunteer screener, intern, student, staff member, or faculty member.
We cannot accommodate revisions, changes of return address, or forgotten SASEs. We cannot be responsible for delay, loss, or damage.
COVER LETTERS:
We encourage you to include a short cover letter with your submission. It should reference:
Major publications and awards.
Any association or past correspondence with a guest or staff editor.
Past publication in Ploughshares.
CONTRIBUTOR HONORARIUM:
Payment is upon publication:
$45/printed page, $90 minimum per title, $450 maximum per author.
Two contributor copies of the issue.
A discounted rate for additional contributor copies.
A one-year subscription.
SIMULTANEOUS VS. MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS:
We do not consider multiple submissions, so please send only one manuscript at a time, either by mail or online. Do not send a second submission until you have heard about the first. Simultaneous submissions to other journals are welcome as long as they are identified as such and we are notified immediately upon acceptance elsewhere.
If you are working on submissions with an agent, or are an agent submitting work on behalf of an author, please read our note on simultaneous submissions with an agent.
SUBMIT ONLINE:
Submit via our online submission manager.
If this is your first time submitting, please fill out the submission form first, then click “Add to Cart.” You will then be prompted to create an account on our website.
There is a $3.75 service fee for online submissions (current subscribers may submit online without charge). This is not a reading fee.
Upload your submission as a Word (.doc, .docx), rich-text format (.rtf) file, or PDF. No .Pages, .txt, or Open Office Documents.
Upload only one file containing one prose piece or one to five pages of poems.
Type or paste your cover letter into the provided “Cover Letter” field.
From the drop-down genre menu, be sure to select the appropriate genre of the work you are submitting. Please select “Longform” for longform submissions, regardless of genre.
FREE ONLINE SUBMISSIONS:
Subscribe to Ploughshares and submit online for free. You may subscribe here. If you are a current subscriber, you will still be prompted to checkout, but you will not be required to enter your credit card information and will not be charged.
SUBMIT BY MAIL;
We greatly prefer digital submissions, but you may mail submissions to:
Ploughshares
Emerson College
120 Boylston St.
Boston, MA 02116-4624
Mail your manuscript in a page-size manila envelope with your full name and address written on the outside (at least an inch down from the top, to account for USPS barcodes).
Identify the genre of your manuscript on the outside of the envelope.
You must include your email address in your cover letter. All manuscript replies will be sent via email, and we cannot process a mailed submission without a corresponding email address.
If you are an incarcerated writer and do not have access to an email address, please provide the email address of a trusted individual or indicate in your cover letter that you do not have access to email.
If you would like your full manuscript to be returned, indicate this in your cover letter and ensure that you include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) with adequate postage.
We cannot return manuscripts to international addresses, even with IRCs.
There is no service charge for mail submissions.
Unsolicited work sent directly to a guest editor’s home or office will be ignored and discarded; guest editors are formally instructed not to read such work.
ACCESSING YOUR SUBMISSIONS:
You can view the status of your current submission as well as a list of your past submissions at any time by logging in to your account and clicking “My Submissions.”
NOTIFICATIONS + QUERIES:
Expect three to five months for a decision (our backlog is heaviest during the fall and spring). We receive well over a thousand manuscripts a month, so please be patient. We accept queries after five months have passed. Queries as well as withdrawal notifications should be sent via email or the mail. They should include:
Your name.
The date, genre, and title of the submission.
Whether the submission was sent by mail or online.
A SASE, if you send your query via mail.
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ROLLING SUBMISSIONS
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: TRANSLATION COLUMN
The Margins / AAWW
DEADLINE: Rolling
INFO: The Margins seeks work from writers for an ongoing monthly column on language, culture, and translation from Asia. We consider Asia as an umbrella term that encompasses all of its regions (South, Southeast, East, Central, and North Asia, and SWANA) and the many diaspora communities of Asians all over the world.
We welcome essays, hybrid works, translations, and translator’s notes that engage with Asia’s literature, cultures, subcultures, languages, and diasporas. We are also interested in works that grapple with the concept of the Transpacific, colonialism, history, and empire, especially as they relate to language and translation.
We pay all writers and translators. Please refer to our rate sheet for more details.
Examples of work we’re interested in:
Translator’s notes: Essays on the philosophy, craft, and art of translation
Translator’s diaries: Writings about the experience and choices for a particular book in translation
Essays and translations of essays on languages and multilingualism
Essays on power and empire as they relate to translation
New translations/re-translations of essays by important Asian scholars, thinkers, philosophers, and revolutionaries
Reportage on the writing, reading, publishing, and translation culture of a particular place
Photo essays about bookstores and literary salons in Asia or that feature Asian literature
Interviews with independent publishers, writers, artists, and thinkers in Asia or the Asian diaspora
Some examples of what we’re looking for:
Send pitches of up to 500 words or finished pieces from 1,000-2,500 words to Soleil David, senior editor, at translation@aaww.org. For translations into English, translator must have already obtained permission from the copyright owner.
We read submissions year round and in all languages spoken and read in Asia. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please let us know via email if your pitch/essay has been accepted elsewhere. Writers can expect a reply within three to four months.
aaww.org/submissions-translation-column/
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CALL FOR AUTHORS
Vanderbilt University Press
DEADLINE: Rolling
INFO: Vanderbilt University Press acquires books in the areas of Latin American and Hispanic studies; global and public health; human rights and civil rights; anthropology; history and postwar studies; and studies of race, class, gender, and sexuality. We also publish books with a regional focus on Tennessee and the South, including, for example, books on Nashville and country music.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Initial inquiries about potential book projects should be queried to the acquisitions department via email. We do not accept full manuscripts until requested. First, ensure that VUP publishes in the disciplinary area that your project represents.
If that is the case, please send a cover letter and book proposal that includes the following:
A short book abstract
A brief but detailed statement outlining the manuscript’s arguments, themes, and significance to the field
A table of contents that clearly summarizes the content and structure of each chapter
Assessment of the work’s fit with existing literature, comparison with published books on the topic, and discussion of the intended audiences and market for the book
Statement of the anticipated word count of the manuscript; plans for tables, figures, or other illustrations; and schedule for completion
Sample chapter (optional)
Curriculum vitae
If your manuscript is based on a dissertation, please discuss how the material and research has been developed, reframed, or otherwise revised. VUP does not publish unrevised dissertations.
If your manuscript is an edited collection, please include information about each of the contributors and note if any of the chapters are previously published.
If your manuscript is a translation, please describe why the author’s work warrants translation into English, as well as any and all information on rights to the work and the book’s history in its native language.
Keep a file or a copy of your proposal materials. We do not return proposals. Please do not call the Press to inquire about the status of your proposal or manuscript. We review all material received, and you will be contacted when a decision has been made. We aim to communicate whether a proposed project is being pursued further no more than eight weeks after the receipt of the proposal.
For more information about specific series initiatives, visit our Series page.
vanderbiltuniversitypress.com/resources/submission-guidelines-for-prospective-authors/