Shade Mountain Press
INFO: Shade Mountain Press is seeking novel manuscripts (70,000 words or more) by African American women writers. Submissions can be any topic and style (preferably literary rather than genre).
They do not publish children’s or young adult literature.
READING PERIOD: April 1 – July 1, 2016
shademountainpress.com/contact.php
Center for Community Change Action
INFO: The Center for Community Change Action seeks an Immigration Writing Fellow for their Latino and immigrant voter program. The ideal candidate is a first-time voter who has been personally affected by the country’s immigration policies (with either parents, siblings or other close relatives who are undocumented immigrants). Special consideration will be given to candidates based in Florida, Colorado or Nevada.
The writing fellow would be responsible for identifying potential stories and storytellers within the nation’s vast immigrant community and will conduct interviews and write first-person essays and opinion pieces or third-person reported narratives. The Fellow will also be trained as a spokesperson for the organization and is expected to appear in front of the media or before a public audience and speak about their personal experiences related to immigration.
DEADLINE: April 1, 2016
cccaction.org/immigration-writing-fellow/
LUCIEN STRYK ASIAN TRANSLATION PRIZE
The American Literary Translators Association
INFO: The prize recognizes the importance of Asian translation for international literature and promotes the translation of Asian works into English. Submission will be judged on the literary significance of the translation in recreating the literary artistry of the original.
To be eligible, works must be:
- Book-length translations into English of Asian poetry or source texts from Zen Buddhism
- Book-length translations from Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and Korean into English
- Published in the previous year (though re-translations or first-time translations of important older works will also be considered)
DEADLINE: April 8, 2016
literarytranslators.org/awards/lucien-stryk-prize
2016 SHORT FICTION COMPETITION
Kore Press
INFO: Judged by Edwidge Danticat, the competition is open to any female-identified individual writing in English, regardless of nationality.
SUBMISSION FEE: $20
DEADLINE: April 10, 2016
korepress.org/KorePressShortFictionAward.htm
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: IMMIGRANT WRITERS
Ninth Letter
INFO: Ninth Letter is accepting submissions of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry from immigrant writers (those who consider themselves to be 1st, 1.5, or 2nd generation immigrants in their current country of residence) for a special online edition to be published at ninthletter.com in Summer 2016. Submissions are not required to focus on the "immigrant experience" and can be on any and all topics.
DEADLINE: April 15, 2016
ninthletteronline.submittable.com/submit
INFO: The Pink Door Women’s Writing Retreat is exclusively for writers of color. It serves to promote community and dialogue for writers currently excluded from the dominant cultural narrative; it actively seeks to bring Black women, women of color, trans women and gender non-conforming writers / activists / scholars / rebels and regional voices into exchange & engagement with each other to provide a space for mentorship and exploration of ideas while building an active and informed literary community.
The retreat will be held in Rochester, New York from July 27-30, 2016.
APPLICATIONS DUE: April 15, 2016
thepinkdoorwomenswritingretreat.tumblr.com/
2016 KIMBILIO [FICTION] SUMMER RETREAT
INFO: Kimbilio [Fiction], a community of writers and scholars committed to developing, empowering and sustaining fiction writers from the African diaspora, is currently accepting applications for their summer retreat, which will be held at SMU Campus in Taos, New Mexico from July 17-23, 2016.
FEES: Tuition is covered by Kimbilio [Fiction] and there is no application fee, however, participants are responsible for their own transportation to/from the retreat as well as a fee that partially covers the costs for room and board with the amount varying by size of the chosen accommodation. Should one get accepted, a $200 deposit is due by May 15 to secure a spot at the summer retreat.
DEADLINE: April 15, 2016 (for applications)
kimbiliosubmissions.submittable.com/submit
We Need Diverse Books
INFO: We Need Diverse Books™ honors the memory of celebrated children’s book author Walter Dean Myers (1937-2014) by establishing a grant in his name. Walter Dean Myers was a lifelong advocate for diversity in youth literature, and a National Book Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His legacy can be seen in the thousands of lives he touched, including those of readers and authors alike.
Eligibility requirements include:
- Applicants must identify as diverse.
- Applicants must be unpublished as illustrators and/or authors. This includes both trade publishing and self-publishing. If the applicant has a book deal for an as yet unpublished book, the applicant is considered published for purposes of this grant. Essays, short stories, and articles do not render an applicant ineligible.
- Applicant must be working toward a career as a children’s author and/or illustrator. This includes but is not limited to: Picture Books, Early Reader Books, Chapter Books, Middle Grade Books,Young Adult, Graphic Novels, Non-Fiction, and Poetry.
AWARD: $2,000 to five winners individually.
APPLICATIONS OPEN: April 15, 2016
DEADLINE: May 15, 2016
weneeddiversebooks.org/walter-grant-submission-guidelines/
PEN PARENTIS WRITING FELLOWSHIP FOR NEW PARENTS
INFO: Pen Parentis, a nonprofit organization that provides resources to authors who are also parents, is accepting applications for its Fellowship, which will promote the creation of new work by writers with at least one child under the age of 10. All genres and styles of fiction are welcome and novel excerpts are acceptable if they can stand alone as a story.
PRIZE: $1000, presented at the Pen Parentis Literary Salon on September 13th, 2016, in conjunction with the reading of the winning work. In addition, the Fellow will be showcased for one year on their website as the “Pen Parentis Writing Fellow” and paired with an established author.
SUBMISSION FEE: $20 (and an extra $5 fee if submitted online)
DEADLINE: April 18, 2016
penparentis.org/fellowships/guidelines/
2016 NOEMI BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION
Noemi Press
INFO: Fiction writers at any stage in their career may submit a manuscript (no page limit). All manuscripts are read blind so they request that applicants strip their manuscript of all identifying material, including title pages, dedications, and acknowledgements; otherwise, the manuscript will not be considered. Contest winners will be announced in summer 2016.
ENTRY FEE: $25
PRIZE: $1,000, plus publication by Noemi Press, and 10 author’s copies.
DEADLINE: April 30, 2016
INFO: SI Leeds Literary Prize is a biennial prize for unpublished fiction by Black and Asian women resident in the UK aged 18 years and over. The prize aims to act as a loudspeaker for Black and Asian women’s voices, and a platform to discover exciting new talent, from a group largely under-represented on our bookshelves.
DEADLINE: April 30, 2016
OPEN CALL: GO HOME! - AN ASIAN AMERICAN ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY AND PROSE
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
INFO: The Asian American Writers’ Workshop seeks submissions of fiction and nonfiction for Go Home! an anthology to be published by the Feminist Press. The anthology will showcase the incredible variety of responses to the word home – physical homes, mental homes, the longing for homes, the flights from them, the homes one makes in words, in the hearts of others, and in the air.
They request contributors send no more than three pieces of prose under 500 words, or one piece of prose over 500 words in one single file.
DEADLINE: May 1, 2016
aaww.submittable.com/submit/55785
WHITING CREATIVE NONFICTION GRANT
Whiting Foundation
INFO: The Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant will be awarded to as many as three writers in the process of completing a book-length work of nonfiction for a general, not an academic, readership. Its purpose is to give grantees the additional means to do exacting research, to free up the time to bring the writing to the highest possible standard, and to encourage original and ambitious projects.
Whiting welcomes submissions for works of history, cultural or political reportage, biography, memoir, the sciences, philosophy, criticism, food or travel writing, and personal essays, among other categories. Again, the work should be intended for a general reader. Self-help titles and textbooks are not eligible.
Projects must currently be under contract with a publisher in the United States to be eligible, and the contract must have been signed at least two years before applying for the grant (i.e., by May 1, 2014). Authors must be US citizens or residents to qualify.
AWARD: $35,000
DEADLINE: May 1, 2016
whiting.submittable.com/submit/58029ee8-6d84-486b-84bc-ad400e5eb6e9
AMPLIFY(HER)
INFO: AMPLIFY(HER) is looking for art, prose, poetry, short stories, photography and/or mixed medium submissions from undocumented Asian women (including trans and gender non-conforming folks) on how they understand and navigate their intersecting identities in today's societ
AWARD: $100 honorarium (for each selected submission). Two artists selected for the cover or spread will each receive $175 honorarium.
DEADLINE: May 6, 2016
amplifyher.submittable.com/submit
2016 FARAFINA TRUST CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP
INFO: Organized by its creative director, award-winning writer Chimamanda Adichie, Farafina Trust will be holding a creative writing workshop in Lagos, Nigeria from June 21 – July 1, 2016. The Caine-Prize winning writer Binyavanga Wainaina, Aslak Sira Myhre and others will teach the workshop alongside Adichie.
The workshop will take the form of a class and participants will be assigned a wide range of reading and writing exercises. The aim of the workshop is to improve the craft of published and unpublished writers and encourage them by bringing different perspectives to the art of storytelling.
DEADLINE: May 20, 2016
farafinabooks.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/2016-farafina-trust-creative-writing-workshop/
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS – ISSUE 8 (JUNE 2016)
Masque & Spectacle
INFO: Masque & Spectacle’s June issue is a special PICTURES + WORDS ISSUE. They are seeking work that combines pictures and words (graphic stories, essays, and poems; comics; video poems and essays; & collaborations between visual artists and writers.
masqueandspectacle.com/submission-guidelines/