EMERGING WRITERS FELLOWSHIP
Grub Street
INFO: The Emerging Writer Fellowship aims to develop new, exciting voices by providing one writer per year tuition-free access to GrubStreet’s classes and Muse conference. Over the course of one year, the Emerging Writer Fellow will attend a combination of seminars and multi-week courses of their choosing, bookended by attendance at both the 2017 and the 2018 Muse and the Marketplace conference, in order to enhance their understanding of craft and the publishing industry.
The Emerging Writer Fellowship will be awarded to a person who demonstrates a passion for writing, a commitment to developing their writing abilities, and financial need. Any person 18 and older who demonstrates ability and passion for writing is eligible.
The Emerging Writer Fellowship will provide one writer access to the following:
- 4 multi-week courses
- 4 one-day (6hr) classes
- 4 three-hour seminars
- 2 three-day passes to the Muse and the Marketplace conference
The fellowship year begins at the 2017 Muse and the Marketplace conference and culminates in attendance at the 2018 Muse and the Marketplace.
The Emerging Writer Fellowship was conceived on the principle that talent and passion shouldn't come second to a student's ability to pay. The program is designed for someone with a love for writing but without the financial ability to deepen their understanding of the craft through the many classes and seminars GrubStreet offers.
This fellowship is open to anyone 18 and older with a passion for writing. The fellowship specifically aims to assist writers in need of financial assistance in reaching their writing goals. We particularly encourage people of color, ethnic minorities, those who identify as LGBTQ, people with disabilities, and other members of communities historically underrepresented by the literary community to apply.
DEADLINE: March 1, 2017
grubstreet.org/programs/emerging-writer-fellowship/
EMERGING WRITER’S CONTEST
Ploughshares
INFO: The Emerging Writer's Contest is open to writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who have yet to publish or self-publish a book.
Fiction and Nonfiction: Under 6,000 words
Poetry: 3-5 pages
AWARD: The winning story, essay, and poems from the 2017 contest will be published in the Winter 2017-18 issue of Ploughshares, and each writer will receive $2,000.
ENTRY FEE: $24, which is waived if the submitter is a current subscriber.
SUBMISSION PERIOD: March 1, 2017 at noon EST and closes May 15, 2017 at noon EST
pshares.org/submit/emerging-writers-contest/guidelines
CREATIVE WRITING FELLOWSHIP
National Endowment for the Arts
INFO: The National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowships program offers grants in prose (fiction and creative nonfiction) to published creative writers that enable recipients to set aside time for writing, research, travel, and general career advancement. Applications are reviewed through an anonymous process in which the only criteria for review are artistic excellence and artistic merit. To review the applications, the National Endowment for the Arts assembles a different advisory panel every year, each diverse with regard to geography, race and ethnicity, and artistic points of view.
Competition for fellowships is extremely rigorous. They typically receive more than 1,000 applications each year in this category and award fellowships to fewer than 5% of applicants. You should consider carefully whether your work will be competitive at the national level.
AWARD: $25,000
DEADLINE: March 8, 2017
arts.gov/grants-individuals/creative-writing-fellowships/grant-program-description
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
The Shanghai Literary Review
INFO: The Shanghai Literary Review features quality creative work from or about Asia and introduces new voices to the critical conversation on world literature.
They are interested in art and criticism about urbanism, globalism, identity, and transnationalism, though by no means should submissions be limited to those topics. Selected works will be published online and/or in print and be automatically entered into their annual end-of-year contest where cash prizes will be awarded in each genre.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
- Fiction - less than 5,000 words
- Poetry - 2 poems submission limit per person
- Non-Fiction & Essay - less than 5,000 words
- Flash Fiction or Non-Fiction - less than 500 words
- Visual Art - photography, video, photo essay, collage, painting, sketch, etc.
- Translation - translation into English of any poetry, essay or short fiction from Asia, or vice versa, along with the original text
- Book Review - pitch book review ideas to us, on fiction or non-fiction from or about Asia
SUBMISSION FEE: $0
DEADLINE: March 11, 2017
shanghailiterary.com/submissions/
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: SUMMER WORKSHOPS
VONA / Voices
INFO: Applications for the summer workshop are currently being accepted. VONA/Voices is open to all adult writers-of-color at any level of experience. There are no degree, publication or documentation requirements to apply.
The application has a series of questions about your commitment to your writing and your enthusiasm for a community of writers-of-color. These responses are weighed heavily in your application.
The application asks you to choose one workshop. They encourage you to have a second choice.
Please know that they keep the workshops to ten participants; therefore, providing a second choice of workshop increases your possibilities of attendance.
WRITING SAMPLES:
- Poetry submissions: 5 - 10 poems (not to exceed 20 pages)
- Prose Submissions: sample of one piece or combination of pieces to equal no more than 4000 words in genre
- Playwriting: up to 20 pages of script written for stage performance
- Residency: up to 4000 words in a non-fiction, novel or short fiction or 5-10 poems (not to exceed 20 pages)
FEES:
- Application: $25
- Tuition: $900
- Room & Board: (optional, but recommended) $750
- Limited number of partial tuition scholarships available
DEADLINE: March 15, 2017
vonacommunity.org/community/index.php/apply.html
SPECIAL FEATURE ON LITERATURE FROM BANNED COUNTRIES
Asymptote
INFO: Asymptote seeks unpublished literary fiction, literary nonfiction and poetry from the seven countries on Trump's banned list (i.e. from authors who identify as being from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) that have been created in response to Trump's travel ban, or can be interpreted as such.
If selected for publication, the work will run either in their Translation Tuesday showcase at The Guardian or in their April 2017 quarterly edition (or both). Submissions of original English-language work will only be considered for publication in their April 2017 edition. For works in English translation, the decision as to where the work will be placed rests entirely at the discretion of our editor-in-chief, who curates Translation Tuesdays at The Guardian and who will be assembling this Special Feature.
COMPENSATION: $200 per article.
DEADLINE: March 15, 2017
2017 SUMMER AND FALL ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM
Space Studio
INFO: The SPACE residency program provides a unique working environment for emerging and mid-career artists seeking support for their practice.
Visual artists, filmmakers, writers, collaborative groups and curators who are not currently enrolled in an academic program and live outside of Maine are eligible to apply. A civically and socially engaged arts organization, SPACE strongly encourages artists who understand themselves as being outside the privilege of hetero-normative, white, male-centered identity to apply. Preference will be given to artists whose practices engage with contemporary issues and socially relevant concepts.
During the summer and fall of 2017, five artists will be selected for residencies lasting between two to four weeks, depending on the amount of time each project necessitates. Each resident is offered housing and 24-hour access to a private studio space.
AWARD: Each artist will be awarded a $500 stipend. Other resources such as projectors, a/v equipment, hardware and tools are made available upon request. Residents are also granted free access to all SPACE programs (films, concerts, community forums etc.) during their stay.
While in residence at SPACE, visiting artists are expected to make the most of their self-directed schedule. They are required to be involved with at least one public engagement program that connects their work to the community, which can take the form of an artist talk, a performance, a reading or other comparable event.
DEADLINE: March 15, 2017 at 11:59pm
spacestudios.org/apply-residency/
SCIENCE FICTION ANTHOLOGY: AFROFUTURISM
Afrocentric Books
INFO: Afrocentric Books is taking submissions for a futurism anthology. Futurism is a broad umbrella, encompassing many elements of science fiction and fantasy. For this anthology, we are most interested in science fiction. Time travel, space travel, cultures far advanced from our own. This world, other worlds, space stations, the setting doesn’t matter.
They want adult science fiction stories in diverse settings, featuring diverse people. The “in the future all people are a uniform color of café au lait” trope does not interest them. While it is not necessary for you to describe the physical features of all your characters, we do want to know that one of your main characters is of indigenous African descent.
1,000-7,500 words, although they’ll consider pieces that fall outside those parameters on a case-by-case basis. Multiple and simultaneous submissions ok. No reprints.
COMPENSATION: If accepted, pay is 1 cent per word.
DEADLINE: March 31, 2017
mugwumppress.com/afrocentric/afrofuturism/
WINTER 2017 STORY CONTEST
Narrative Magazine
INFO: The contest is open to all fiction and nonfiction writers. They’re looking for short shorts, short stories, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, all forms of literary nonfiction, and excerpts from longer works of both fiction and nonfiction. Entries must be previously unpublished, no longer than 15,000 words, and must not have been previously chosen as a winner, finalist, or honorable mention in another contest.
AWARD:
- First Prize is $2,500
- Second Prize is $1,000
- Third Prize is $500
- Ten finalists will receive $100 each
- All entries will be considered for publication
SUBMISSION FEE: $25 (includes three months of complimentary access to Narrative Backstage).
DEADLINE: March 31, 2017, at midnight, Pacific daylight time.