THE 2019-2020 U.S.-JAPAN CREATIVE ARTISTS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
Japan-United States Friendship Commission
INFO: The Japan U.S. Friendship Commission offers leading contemporary and traditional artists from the United States the opportunity to spend three to five months in Japan through the U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Program. Artists go as seekers, as cultural visionaries, and as living liaisons to the traditional and contemporary cultural life of Japan. They also go as connectors who share knowledge and bring back knowledge. Their interaction with the Japanese public and the outlook they bring home provide exceptional opportunities to promote cultural understanding between the United States and Japan.
JUSFC and NEA will support and select up to five collaborative projects of U.S.-Japan artists representative of diverse genres and regions of both countries. The 2019-20 program is only for collaborative pairs, and not for individual artists. Alumni of the U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Program are encouraged to apply. Please refer to How to Apply for detailed instructions. This is a special, modified program in 2019-2020.
GRANT AWARD:
Each collaborative team will receive a $25,000 fellowship award and up to $2,500 for one round trip airline ticket between the United States and Japan.
The collaborative team will have one year (July 1, 2019-July 1, 2020) to complete their project. The award may be used for any expenses directly related to the project, including, but not limited to living expenses in Japan, cost of project materials etc.
The artists must complete a collaborative work incorporating the vision of the Olympic and Paralympic games to present in Tokyo during the Games in 2020.
The Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission will collaborate with public and private sector organizations in and around Tokyo to host performances and presentations of the artists’ works.
Exhibition sites will be selected depending on the specific project.
REVIEW CRITERIA & SELECTION PROCESS:
The U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Program is extremely competitive; only up to five artists will be selected for travel to Japan. In 2019-2020 applicants should anticipate a highly rigorous review of their artistry and should have compelling reasons for wanting to create a captivating piece of art, in collaboration with a Japanese colleague, for the Olympic and Paralympic games. Their work must exemplify the best in U.S. and Japanese arts. Generally, this means that only those artists who have demonstrated expertise and established professional recognition (e.g. awards, featured shows, publications, etc.) in their field either regionally or nationally or who have shown truly exceptional promise at the local level are likely to be competitive. Proficiency in the Japanese language is not required.
Applications will be judged on the following criteria:
Clear representation of themes including, diversity and inclusion – “Unity in Diversity”, sustainability, building a better tomorrow, peace and prosperity, and highlighting the unique relationship between Japan and the United States.
The artistic excellence of the applicant’s work and artistic merit of the proposed collaboration;
The extent to which working in Japan is consistent with the applicant’s artistic vision and would contribute to his or her artistry;
The applicant’s potential to contribute to increased cultural understanding and dialogue with Japanese artists and/or the Japanese public;
The availability of resources in Japan that are necessary to the artist’s proposed collaboration;
Ability to live and work in unfamiliar settings under different conditions
With the assistance of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Japan U.S. Friendship Commission will convene a panel to review applications. The panel will include previous recipients of the U.S.- Japan Creative Artists Program award, as well as other arts professionals with expertise in working with the Olympics and Japanese culture.
ELIGIBILITY:
The applicant must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States and live and work professionally in the United States.
All proposals must be collaborations between a U.S. artist (or group of artists) and a Japanese artist who is a citizen or permanent resident of Japan and living and working professionally in Japan.
The applicant and their Japanese collaborator must be a professional creative artists (contemporary or traditional) working as but not limited to: architects, choreographers, musicians, composers, creative writers, designers, media artists, playwrights, librettists, visual artists and theater artists who work with original material (including puppeteers, and performance artists).
The proposed collaborative artistic project must be a new artistic venture, or something that the collaborative team is in the process of developing, and must have a completion date of July 1, 2020.
The proposed collaborative artistic project must touch on one or more of themes including, but not limited to, diversity and inclusion – “Unity in Diversity”, sustainability, building a better tomorrow, peace and prosperity.
There are additional eligibility requirements for librettists, playwrights, and creative writers (fiction, non-fiction, and poetry) outlined below.
Librettists and playwrights must have had a full-length work professionally produced and/or published in the United States at least once in the last five years.
Creative writer applicants must meet specific publishing requirements. Self- published work will not satisfy this eligibility requirement. In the last 10 years writers must have published at least one of the following:
Twenty poems in five or more literary journals
Five different short stories or essays (of creative non-fiction) in two or more literary journals, anthologies, or publications
A book of poems of more than 48 pages
A novel or a novella
A book of creative non-fiction
Creative writer applicants may use online publications to establish up to fifty percent of their eligibility, provided that such publications have competitive selection processes and stated editorial policies.
The following may not be used to establish eligibility:
Pre-publication material, such as galleys, proofs, and advance reader’s
Work that has appeared in a publication for which you are the editor, publisher, or staff
Collaborative work
Scholarly writing including Instructional writing, Book reviews, Editorials/letters to the editor, Student publications and publications that primarily print work by persons who are affiliated with a particular academic institution, any publication by presses that: require individual writers to pay for part or all of the production costs; require writers to buy or sell copies of the publication; publish work without competitive selection or a stated editorial policy; or publish work without professional editing.
DEADLINE: March 1, 2019
jusfc.gov/creative-artists-programs/
Meeting the Motherland Series
The Lily
INFO: The Lily, a product of The Washington Post for the curious minded and for those who want to be heard, is working on a forthcoming series that explores women’s journeys of visiting their motherland, or ancestral home, for the first time. These stories will address the questions: What is it like to visit the place you come from but know so little about? Does it feel like home? Can it ever feel like home?
We are seeking stories from first- and second-generation American women who feel disconnected from their parents’ or grandparents’ home countries. (For the purpose of this series, first-generation refers to the American-born children of immigrants and second-generation refers to the American-born grandchildren of immigrants.) If you have visited your motherland(s) sometime within the last 2-3 years, only to leave with more questions than answers, we would love to hear your story.
Poetry or Fiction Fellowship
The University of Wisconsin-Madison
INFO: Applications are now open for the WICW Poetry and Fiction Fellowships, awarding stipends of at least $38,000 and generous health benefits. All applications must be received by March 1. Please read our instructions and eligibility requirements, below, before clicking here to upload your application.
To be eligible, applicants must have completed or be scheduled to complete an MFA or PhD in Creative Writing by August 15 of the fellowship year. Eligible applicants may have published or signed a contract for no more than one full-length collection or book of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction as of the March 1 deadline. Individuals who have never published a full-length collection or book remain eligible, of course. Successful applicants must commit to reside in the Madison area for the full duration of the Fellowship from mid-August to mid-May (holiday travel, weekend trips, and attendance of the AWP and/or MLA conferences are of course permitted within reason); to teach one section of undergraduate mixed-genre or single-genre creative writing each semester; to hold no other teaching, graduate study or fellowship obligations; to assist in the selection of the Brittingham and Felix Pollak Prizes in Poetry, the University of Wisconsin’s undergraduate writing prizes, and the following year’s Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing Fellowships; and in general to participate fully in the life of the Madison writing community during the fellowship period. For more details regarding the responsibilities and privileges of our fellows, please see the main fellowships page.
Applicants should prepare the following materials before applying:
A $50.00 Application Fee, paid online by credit card.
A resume or curriculum vitae, concluding with the names, phone numbers, and email addresses of two recommenders.
A writing sample consisting of either 10 pages of poetry (single-spaced and uploaded as a pdf) or up to 30 pages of fiction (double-spaced and uploaded as a pdf). Fiction applications must consist of either one short story or a novel excerpt. Your name must not appear anywhere on your manuscript, and while previously published work may be submitted, your manuscript must in no way indicate that your work has been published.
Do not include more than one genre in a single submission. You may apply in more than one of our fellowship genres, but you must upload a separate application for each, with separate application fees. If you are submitting short fiction, please do not send more than one short story. The limit is one story no matter how short that story may be. If you send more than one story, we will only read the first. If you are sending a novel excerpt you may (but need not) include a brief synopsis (one or two paragraphs) of the novel, as page one of the manuscript.
One of our three poetry fellowships, the First Wave Poetry Fellowship, is reserved for writers with a background teaching social justice and/or performance poetry (e.g. slam or spoken word), or writers with a strong personal background in slam poetry, spoken word poetry, or arts-based social justice activism. As part of the application, poetry candidates will be asked if they meet these qualifications. Applicants who do not meet these qualifications shouldn't worry: you are still very much eligible for the Ron Wallace Poetry Fellowship, and the Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fellowship.
The poetry and fiction fellows will be chosen by May 1 each year, and announced on the fellows page. If you have questions concerning these fellowships that are not answered in the FAQ below, please contact Sean Bishop, Coordinator of the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, at institutemail@english.
DEADLINE: March 1, 2019
creativewriting.wisc.edu/fellowsapply.html
IDA B. WELLS FELLOWSHIP
Type Investigations
INFO: Named after the pioneering African-American investigative reporter, the Ida B. Wells Fellowship is designed to promote diversity in journalism by helping to create a pipeline of investigative reporters who bring diverse backgrounds, experiences and interests, to their work. Winners are chosen by an annual competition.
The Ida B. Wells Fellowship provides five reporters each year with a $12,000 stipend, plus $4,000 in bonus payments, and access to a Type Investigations editor who will advise them throughout the process of producing their first substantial work of investigative reporting. The one-year fellowship also covers travel and other reporting costs associated with the project and the costs associated with attending the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in June, as well as a one-week data bootcamp through the National Institute of Computer Assisted Reporting. Each fellow will also enjoy access to research resources, legal counsel, professional mentoring, fact-checking, and assistance with story placement and publicity. The fellowship is a one-time educational opportunity and is non-renewable.
Journalists of color are strongly encouraged to apply, as are other reporters who believe their presence would contribute substantially to diversifying the field of investigative reporting. The fellowship is open to entry-level or mid-career journalists. Recent journalism school graduates, journalism students or journalism interns are eligible to apply, as are reporters in other fields seeking to pivot to investigative reporting. Applicants may be freelance journalists or journalists currently employed by a media outlet.
DEADLINE: March 1, 2019
typemediacenter.submittable.com/submit/71612/ida-b-wells-fellowship
Fiction Millay Colony Residency
INFO: The Millay Colony is an artists residency program in Upstate New York. We welcome 6-7 visual artists, writers and composers each month between April and November. We offer a number of flexible residency formats. all including a private bedroom and studio as well as all meals. We welcome artists of all ages, from all cultures and communities, and in all stages of their career. We offer ample time to work in a gorgeous atmosphere, organizing everything an artist needs for maximum productivity.
In each discipline, decisions are made by juries of artists, critics and academics. Your work is presented anonymously to the jury and is considered solely on the merit of your artist statement and work sample. Please keep these factors in mind as you prepare your application. It is very important that you do NOT include your name anywhere on your artist statement or work samples as you may be disqualified if they are within the body of work shown to the jurors. Your application will be assigned a number once it is complete & uploaded to our system. What you will need to prepare before beginning the application process:
Artist Statement: In a one page Word document, write about your work, yourself and what you’d like to accomplish at Millay Colony as clearly and concisely as possible. The jurors want to get a sense of who you are as a writer and your creative process. This will help in making final decisions. Statement can be single-spaced. Do not include biographical information in your Artist Statement, especially your name or contact info. Doing so could disqualify your application.
Work Sample: Create a Work Sample of 20 pages or less in manuscript format. Work samples can be work-in-progress or already published work; whatever you feel will make for the strongest application. It can also include several short pieces or sections of writing as long as they do not go over the 20 page limit. You are allowed one additional cover page to explain the context of the writing sample for the jury. Manuscripts must be double spaced, using an 11 or 12 pt. Font. Do not include biographical information in your Work Sample. Make certain your name is not on any of the work sample pages. Combine your Artist Statement and Work Sample into a single document. Make sure the Artist Statement is on page 1 and the Work Sample starts on Page 2. Make sure your name is not anywhere within the body of your work, including the subject box of the document.
Biographical Statement & Preferred Residency Dates: In this section you can give your biograpical info. Write up to 2 paragraphs listing relevant professional accomplishments such as awards, published works, etc. No CV's please, they will not be considered as a bio statement. Also, tell us how you heard of the Millay Colony. This is for the administrative files and will not be seen by jury members.
State the top 2-3 months within each of the deadline parameters that you would be best available for a residency.
APPLICATION FEE: $40
DEADLINE: March 1, 2019
millaycolony.submittable.com/submit/4657/fiction-residency
VOICES 2019 EDITOR APPLICATION
Asian American Journalists Association
INFO: Now in its 29th year, Voices is a student fellowship program that provides aspiring journalists with career-ready skills to succeed in the continually-evolving media landscape. At its core, the program’s mission is to help a diverse group of aspiring journalists understand how audiences engage with them, how communities view the work they produce, and how they can understand the impact their work has. By nurturing relationships between students and professional volunteers, Voices also gives students the opportunity to tap into mentors’ networks and begin their own.
We are looking for journalism professionals who are interested in mentoring our students in their news project over the course of the summer, and who are interested in growing as managers, training students, editing, and helping students network.
The program this year will consist of remote summer-long project work that begins in May and culminates in-person in Atlanta for the AAJA National Convention from Sunday, July 28 to Sunday, August 4.
As a Voices editor, you will have the opportunity to:
To guide student groups to pitch and produce a long-form story in one of five concentrations.
To learn mentorship, people management, and project management skills
To build lasting relationships not only with your students but other AAJA professionals
To attend the AAJA National Convention
The story concentrations this year will be:
Investigative reporting
Features
Audio
Short documentary
Other. (This is an open-ended category for students to pitch ideas.)
Our fellows from last year’s class have gone onto internships and jobs at news companies such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, Frontline, and more. Former Voices students and editors have become Pulitzer Prize-winners, documentarians, public relations professionals, broadcast anchors and newsroom editors. Above all, Voices is a community that lasts far beyond this one summer, a community that students will be a part of for a lifetime.
DEADLINE: March 10, 2019
aaja.submittable.com/submit/133029/voices-2019-editor-application
THE KEROUAC PROJECT
INFO: The Kerouac Project provides four residencies a year to writers of any stripe or age, living anywhere in the world. In the past we have accepted writers with no formal writing education alongside those with MFA’s and impressive résumés. You will be judged on the quality of the writing sample you submit. Each residency consists of approximately a three month stay in the cottage where Jack Kerouac wrote his novel Dharma Bums. Utilities and a food stipend of $1,000 are included. As writer-in-residence, all you are required to do is live in the Kerouac House during your residency, work on your writing project, and participate in two events—a Welcome Potluck dinner for you, and a Final Reading of your work at the Kerouac House at the end of your residency. Should you desire them, the Kerouac Project can also offer opportunities for you to participate in other readings, lead workshops, and interact in other ways with the vibrant Central Florida literary community.
Residency Slots
Fall 2019: September 1 through November 21, 2019
Winter 2019–2020: December 1, 2019, through February 20, 2020
Spring 2020: March 1 through May 22, 2020
Summer 2020: June 1 through August 21, 2020
At the time you submit your application you will be asked which residency time slot(s) you prefer or are available for. Or you can just indicate ‘any’ if you have no specific time slot preference.
The Application Process:
You will be required to select a category into which your submission fits. The categories are: Poetry, Play, Screenplay, Fiction/Short Story, and Nonfiction. Your writing sample must match the category. So, for example, if you are applying in the fiction category, your writing sample must only be a fiction sample. You cannot include some fiction and some poems you may have written. You are allowed one submission per category. This means you can submit to more than one category if you wish to do so. However, each submission is separate and you must complete the whole application process again for each submission.
We require a standard format for all prose submissions, fiction and nonfiction. The format is:
10 pages in length.
1-inch page margins.
1.5 line spacing.
Text must be in a 12-point serif font, (preferably Times New Roman as its compact structure allows you the maximum number of words per page).
Those submitting poetry, a play, or screenplay, may continue to follow the genre conventions in their submissions, though your writing sample must also be limited to 10-pages in length.
APPLICATION FEE: $35
DEADLINE: March 10, 2019
kerouacproject.org/submissions/
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: FICTION / NONFICTION
Anomaly
INFO: Anomaly is an international journal of literature and the arts. We provide a platform for works of art that challenge conventions of form and format, of voice and genre. We’re committed to actively seeking out and promoting the work of marginalized and underrepresented artists, including especially people of color, women, queer, disabled, neurodivergent, and gender nonconforming artists.
Attach one story of no more than 5000 words. Please include a short bio in the "Cover Letter" field.
Translations that foreground the work of the original author are welcome in this category. For translations that foreground the creativity of the translator, please see our Translation section.
APPLICATION FEE: $3
DEADLINE: March 15, 2019
Sorghum and Spear
The Way of Silk and Stone
INFO: The tenet, “Pray for Peace but Prepare for War.” is weaved deep into the culture of the An’Fre women. Sorghum & Spear speaks to the global diaspora, African, Latin, Asian and Indigenous. Stories that highlight or reveal a new perspective of fantasy in this rich, inclusive world are ideal. We seek works that explore love in all its forms, diversity, fate vs choice, self-discovery, and supernatural talents, and original works that portray the strength, sisterhood, and diversity of women—hallmarks of our world-building efforts. Given the unique guidelines of our world, we ask that you review Sorghum & Spear and its world-building rules carefully prior to submission.
Expected Publication: Summer 2019
Anthologist and Sorghum & Spear Creator: Dedren Snead
Editor: Sheree Renée Thomas
ORIGINAL FICTION length: 2000 to 7,500 words
Payment: 0.06 cents per word + contributor copy
Genres: Fantasy written with a shared world
DEADLINE: March 15, 2019
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Sewanee Writers’ Conference
INFO: We are now accepting applications to the 2019 Sewanee Writers’ Conference! The Conference dates are July 16-28. Faculty will give readings and provide instruction and criticism through workshops and craft lectures, as well as meet individually with participants to discuss their manuscripts. The Conference will offer five fiction workshops, four poetry workshops, a playwriting workshop, and a supplemental poetry translation workshop. An admirable lineup of visiting editors, publishers, and agents will also attend.
This year’s faculty includes fiction writers Jeffery Renard Allen, Tony Earley, Adrianne Harun, Randall Kenan, Michael Knight, Bobbie Ann Mason, Jill McCorkle, Tim O’Brien, Christine Schutt, and Steve Yarbrough; and poets B.H. Fairchild, Robert Hass, Mark Jarman, Maurice Manning, Marilyn Nelson, Mary Jo Salter, A.E. Stallings, and Sidney Wade. Naomi Iizuka and Dan O’Brien will lead the playwriting workshop. Charles Martin, A.E. Stallings, and N.S. Thompson will offer a supplemental poetry translation workshop, and Charles Martin, Alice McDermott, and Wyatt Prunty will read from their work.
The Conference is held on the campus of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Thanks to the generosity of the Walter E. Dakin Memorial Fund, supported by the estate of Tennessee Williams, contributors receive assistance covering two-thirds of the actual cost to attend. Additional funding is awarded to fellows and scholars.
APPLICATION FEE: $0
DEADLINE: March 20, 2019
sewaneewritersconference.submittable.com/submit
VOICES 2019: STUDENT FELLOWSHIP
Asian American Journalists Association
INFO: Now in its 29th year, Voices is a student fellowship program that provides aspiring journalists with career-ready skills to succeed in the continually-evolving media landscape. At its core, the program’s mission is to help a diverse group of aspiring journalists understand how audiences engage with them, how communities view the work they produce, and how they can understand the impact their work has. By nurturing relationships between students and professional volunteers, Voices also gives students the opportunity to tap into mentors’ networks and begin their own.
This program is open to undergraduate and graduate students interested in journalism. We are looking for students who are interested in spending the summer producing a long-form, in-depth news project over the course of the summer. We want students who are excellent storytellers and who are interested in new technologies and story forms. Reporters, social media strategists, designers, developers, data engineers, podcasters, broadcasters, bloggers are all welcome to apply.
The program this year will consist of remote summer-long training and project work that begins in May and culminates in-person in Atlanta for the AAJA National Convention from Sunday, July 28 to Sunday, August 4.
As a Voices fellow, students will have the opportunity to:
To create meaningful editorial work by working with student groups to pitch and produce a long-form story in one of five concentrations.
To attend 10 remote trainings throughout the summer led by some of our industry’s leaders.
To build lasting relationships not only with their editors but other AAJA professionals
To be a part of the AAJA National Convention not only as attendees, but as presenters.
To meet and interview with recruiters from major news companies
The story concentrations this year will be:
Investigative reporting
Features
Audio
Short documentary
Other: If you have another idea or concentration you are dying to pitch, here is your chance. We cannot guarantee we can support this, but we want to know what you would do if you have the resources at hand. Previous pitches included a VR storytelling project, and a news app leveraging artificial intelligence.
Our fellows from last year’s class have gone onto internships and jobs at news companies such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, Frontline, and more. Former Voices students and editors have become Pulitzer Prize-winners, documentarians, public relations professionals, broadcast anchors and newsroom editors. Above all, Voices is a community that lasts far beyond this one summer, a community that students will be a part of for a lifetime.
ELIGIBILITY
Applicants must have a strong commitment to AAJA’s mission.
Applicants must be enrolled as a part/full-time college or graduate student or recent graduate (within one year) with a serious interest in pursuing journalism as a career.
Applicants must be available during AAJA’s 2019 National Convention in Atlanta the week of July 28-August 4, 2019. There will be additional preparations during the summer.
Applicants must be 18 years of age or older.
Applicants must not be a former participant in any AAJA Voices or college student projects with similar journalism organizations.
AAJA membership is not required to apply; however, accepted students will have to sign up for student membership.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Before you begin, please make sure you gather all of the information you will need. You will not be able to submit your application without:
A letter of recommendation from a supervisor at a journalism internship, a journalism publication advisor or college professor (PDF or JPG only).
Three short essays answering the questions below
o What is one thing you are exceptionally good at, and how does it affect your journalism work at risk?
o What is one thing you need to improve, and how does it put your journalism work at risk?
o Other than diversity in hiring and coverage, what is one thing that you think our industry needs to improve or be better at?
Your best work samples/portfolio.
Your resume
MORE ABOUT VOICES
Voices is a rare opportunity for college students to develop multimedia and reporting skills in the company of industry professionals from all over the world. Just as newsrooms across the country are adjusting to smaller staffing and new technology, the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) has redesigned its student convention program to simulate the convergence newsroom of tomorrow. This innovative opportunity trains students and professionals before and during AAJA’s annual convention.
Written stories, videos, podcasts and digital content will appear on the Voices website. Learn more about Voices and past participants!
DEADLINE: March 24, 2019
aaja.org/apply_for_voices_2019
Lucille Clifton Creative Parent Writing Award
Raising Mothers
INFO: Raising Mothers is honored to host the inaugural Lucille Clifton Creative Parent Writing Award in creative nonfiction.
Every Spring an author of a work of creative nonfiction will be selected for the Lucille Clifton Creative Parent Writing Award. The winning submissions will be published in Raising Mothers and the recipient will receive $100 and be interviewed by a Senior Editor.
DEADLINE: March 31, 2019
http://www.raisingmothers.com/contests/lcwc/?fbclid=IwAR1YHOeEI2e_xb5KlGdYAlgxf_I7Ym83YnbhbIlDbM2kvFSLN3D3P0Lnt0s
JACK JONES LITERARY ARTS RETREAT 2019
INFO: Jack Jones Literary Arts is hosting its third annual writing retreat at Immaculate Heart of Mary Retreat Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico. This two-week retreat will be held October 26-November 8, 2019, and is open exclusively to women of color writers and nonbinary writers of color. Dr. Eve L. Ewing joins us as our 2019 Writer-in-Residence.
As part of the retreat experience, Jack Jones is featuring daily Skype master classes with agents, editors and acclaimed women and nonbinary people in publishing to promote networking, learning and engagement. These sessions are mandatory for retreat participants.
Housing includes individual writing suites with private bedroom, private baths, writing areas, wifi, and all meals are provided.
Professional and emerging women writers of color and nonbinary writers of color at work on book projects are eligible for residencies. Women and nonbinary people with and without MFAs are eligible, and graduate students who are currently enrolled in a degree program are eligible to apply for a fellowship.
APPLICATION FEE: $40
DEADLINE: March 31, 2019
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: RECOMMENDED READING
Electric Literature
INFO: Recommended Reading is the weekly fiction magazine of Electric Literature, with over 92,000 subscribers in just five years. Every week, the magazine publishes one story, each chosen by today’s best authors and editors.
The best way to get a sense of the kind of stories we’re looking for is to read the Recommended Reading archives, especially the stories recommended by Electric Literature, in which we showcase original fiction.
We can only consider one story by an author at any given time. We look for stories in the range of 1,500 to 10,000 words; if selected, we can offer a payment of $300. (For fiction shorter than 1,500 words, submit to the Recommended Reading Commuter!) We have a 5- to 8-month response time for stories submitted during the general open periods, and a 3-month response time guarantee for members who may submit year-round.
Recommended Reading launched in May 2012 and has since published over 300 issues, including original work by Sheila Heti, A. Igoni Barrett, A.M. Homes, Helen DeWitt, Jim Shepard, Ben Marcus, Etgar Keret, Cesear Aria, Ottessa Moshfegh, Kelly Link, and Mary Gaitskill. We also pride ourselves in championing new voices, and have been early supporters of writers such as Helen Phillips, Sharma Shields, Rebecca Schiff, Diane Cook, and Matt Sumell.
Recommended Reading is digital-only, available for free online for at least a month, and for $0.99 per issue on Kindle.
SUBMISSION PERIOD: April 1 – 7, 2019
Eliza So Fellowship
INFO: Submittable is delighted to announce its third annual Eliza So Fellowship. In 2019, Submittable will offer two month-long residencies in Missoula, Montana, affording time and solitude to writers finishing a book-length project.
The 2019 fellowships will include lodging in Missoula, along with a $500 food stipend and $400 toward travel. Fellows will stay in a private house on the Clark Fork river trail, just blocks from downtown, grocery shopping, the farmers market, parks, restaurants, coffee shops, and more.
Submittable will accept applications between January 15 and April 5, 2019, and results will be announced June 3. We’re pleased to offer two residencies (one in August and one in September), awarded in the following categories:
The Eliza So Fellowship for Immigrant Writers
The Eliza So Fellowship for Native American Writers
The final judge for the Fellowship for Immigrant Writers will be Marcelo Hernandez Castillo.
The final judge for the Fellowship for Native American Writers will be Joan Naviyuk Kane.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:
1) You have a novel, collection of stories, memoir, or other prose work (fiction, nonfiction, or hybrid) in progress (100 pages minimum) or poetry collection in progress (30 pages minimum)
2) You are either:
a US immigrant writer (documented or undocumented)
a Native American writer
3) You are available during one or both of the following periods:
August 3 – August 31, 2019
September 1 – September 29, 2019.
PARTICIPATION:
Fellows will be asked to give a public reading in Missoula and write a blog post of at least 1,000 words for Submittable during their residency.
If fellows are interested in doing a Brown Bag lunchtime presentation for staff at Submittable's Missoula headquarters during their stay—on their book project, craft, or any literary topic that interests them—we would be delighted. However, a Brown Bag presentation is not required.
ABOUT THE FELLOWSHIP:
This fellowship was named in honor of Eliza So, the mother of Submittable’s Head of People Asta So. Eliza immigrated to the US from Hong Kong in 1982, with her husband and two daughters. She worked in administrative and housekeeping jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years. At age 58, she began showing signs of dementia, and she was diagnosed with early onset of Alzheimer’s in 2012. She is one of the kindest, warmest, and most hard-working people you could meet, and we pay tribute to her life and legacy with this opportunity.
DEADLINE: April 5, 2019