RESIDENCY
Vermont Studio Center
INFO: Each month, VSC welcomes over 50 artists and writers from across the country around the world to our historic campus in northern Vermont.
All of our residencies include:
A private room in modest, shared housing
24-hour access to a private studio space in one of our 6 medium-specific studio buildings
3 communal meals per day (plus fresh fruit, coffee/tea/cold beverages, and cereal available around the clock)
Most residents stay with us for 1 month, so our sessions adhere to a 4-week calendar; however, residencies can be scheduled in 2-week increments ranging from 2 to 12 weeks if a shorter or longer stay better suits your needs.
DEADLINE: October 1, 2019
vermontstudiocenter.org/residencies
WRITERS & ARTIST RESIDENCY
Millay Colony for the Arts
INFO: Each year Millay Colony for the Arts invites up to 62 individuals (including writers, poets, playwrights, screenwriters and visual artists) for residencies through the colony's application process.
Residency sessions are held each month from April through November, usually lasting around 3 1/2 weeks, with 2 twelve-day sessions also available in June & September. 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 instead be assigned a number by the administration.
DEADLINE: October 1, 2019 (Midnight, EST). This deadline is for the following year of April, May, June & July residency sessions.
https://millaycolony.submittable.com/submit
9TH ANNUAL JEFFREY E. SMITH EDITORS’ PRIZE
The Missouri Review
INFO: Submit one piece of fiction or nonfiction up to 8,500 words or any number of poems up to 10 pages. Please double-space fiction and nonfiction entries.
Multiple submissions and simultaneous submissions are welcome, but you must pay a separate fee for each entry and withdraw the piece immediately if accepted elsewhere.
Entries must be previously unpublished.
SUBMISSION FEE: $25 – $30.
AWARDS: $5,000 Fiction | $5,000 Nonfiction | $5,000 Poetry
Winners receive publication, invitation to a reception and reading in their honor, and a cash prize.
DEADLINE: October 1, 2019
missourireview.com/contests/jeffrey-e-smith-editors-prize/
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: INSURGENT TONGUES
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
INFO: In Motherless Tongues, scholar Vicente Rafael writes of the “irreducibly insurgent element in every language that undermines attempts at mastery.” “Mastery” can point to a range of things: fluency in a language, supremacy over a person, colonial suppression of a nation. A new folio of the Transpacific Literary Project will celebrate the disobedient and porous nature of language, and interrogate authoritarian attempts (and failures) to control the complex formations of self, family, school, and nation.
Because the “afterlives of empire” can be interminably long, dismantling the languages of domination requires a multi-pronged approach. In probing the insurgent nature of language and languages of (counter)insurgency, consider the following angles as possible points of departure:
1/ Distortions of colonial, hegemonic, and authoritarian languages can work to unsettle the absoluteness of power through slang and inevitable mistranslation. How might the codification of grammar and speech be liberated from/with/in your language? As precious time capsules of the now, how does slang embody shards of otherwise untold social history? And if translation and mistranslation produce infinite meaning and ambivalence across an expansive playground of language, what games go on forever?
2/ Our lexicons are multiple, susceptible to influences all around; our bodies are sites where various languages convene and commingle. Yet this linguistic multiplicity is often situated in and facilitated by unbalanced and unequal relations of power. What would an inventory of your multiply-mothered tongues and traces include? Can you draw it?
3/ In a time of rising authoritarian leadership, of Trump, Duterte, Putin, Modi, Xi Jinping, and Subianto among others, linguistic codes mix with older vernacular variations to forge fascist creolisms. How are sexism, homophobia, and transphobia sustained by rhetorical weapons from the right? Why does the fundamentalist articulation of religion persist in shaping and framing right-wing vernaculars? How do capitalist poetics of the advertising-mass-media complex fuel the language of authoritarianism? How do we engage with the poetics of white supremacy in order to refuse xenophobia and nativism?
Send us writing, translation, and art that throws light into the dark spaces of these questions.
DEADLINE: October, 7, 2019
submittable.com/submit/145748/insurgent-tongues
The 2020 A Public Space Fellowships
Public Space
INFO: We are pleased to announce that applications will open on September 15 for the 2020 A Public Space Fellowships. The aim of these fellowships is to seek out and support writers who embrace risk in their work and their own singular vision.
Writers who have not yet contracted to publish a book are invited to apply.
Three fellowships will be awarded, which will include:
—six months of editorial support from A Public Space editors to prepare a piece for publication in the magazine;
—a $1,000 honorarium;
—the opportunity to meet with members of the publishing community, including agents, editors, and published writers;
—the opportunity to participate in a public reading and conversation in New York City with A Public Space editors and contributors.
Eligibility: Only writers who have not yet published or been contracted to write a book-length work are eligible. International applicants are encouraged to apply, but we are only able to consider submissions in English. There is no residency requirement for the Fellowships. Only one submission per person is allowed. Please do not submit a piece you have previously submitted to A Public Space, either through the Fellowship category or the General Submissions category. A Public Space reserves the right to invite submissions.
Procedure: Only electronic submissions will be considered. Applications must be submitted through the Fellowship category in Submittable. There is no application fee. Please submit the following:
— A cover letter containing a one-paragraph biographical statement; one paragraph that is a favorite of yours from a book you've read, be it recently or long ago; and a brief statement telling us why this particular passage is meaningful to you. Please also note in your cover letter if you are a resident of one of New York City's five boroughs.
— One previously unpublished prose piece. There is no word-count requirement. If selected, the piece submitted is the piece that will be published in the magazine.
—We accept simultaneous submissions, but please note that if your piece is accepted elsewhere, you will be required to withdraw your entire application; replacement pieces will not be accepted once the deadline has passed.
Note that we only accept PDF or Word files (.doc and .docx). The cover letter and manuscript should be submitted as separate files. Incomplete applications will not be considered and will be returned unread.
DEADLINE: October 15 2019. Successful applicants will be informed no later than February 15, 2020. The fellowship period will be March 1, 2020 – September 1, 2020.
https://apublicspace.org/news/detail/
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Gumbo Magazine
INFO: Gumbo Magazine is a one-of-a-kind product and movement of Gumbo Media, a Chicago-based media company and storytelling platform that for over two years has curated content, experiences, and economic opportunities to expand the narrative of Black life, creating space for hundreds of Black creatives, professionals, and community leaders.
Gumbo Magazine is a bi-annual print publication and will be disseminated all over the world. It is the physical embodiment of our vision – a tactile exploration and archive of the expansiveness of Black life.
The theme for Issue 001 will be announced in November 2019.
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR
Black and Brown communities are filled with talent. But opportunities can be hard to come by, especially when steady media narratives are driven by monoliths or entertainment and celebrity. Much in our communities remains unseen, and we’re calling on all emerging artists to help us bring it to light. In the spirit of shining a spotlight, we open our call for submissions to any and all Black creatives—of all identities, expressions, backgrounds, abilities, personalities, and communities (including global)—to submit.
Through October 15th, Gumbo will be accepting pitches, drafts, and completed content under the following sub-themes. All content must be original and previously unpublished to be considered. To maintain balance, please submit no more than 3 total pieces—if we wish to see more, we will request it.
Gumbo Media reserves the right to publicly share any and all submitted responses. Work will only be shared if selected. Creators of selected work will be notified, credited, and compensated for their contributions.
All selected works will be PAID.
** TWO NEW PROMPTS have been added, seen below following asterisks.
ESSAYS/NONFICTION
“Blackness” | An essay on the expansiveness of Black life around the world and the many (changing) definitions of “Blackness.” Answering the question, “what does it mean to be Black?” (750-1000 words max)
Black Baggage | A thoughtful essay on Black baggage. Musings on the generational weight we carry, and why we must learn to let go so that we might make room for ourselves. (750-1000 words max)
Anthology: Unspoken Communication | Assembling a series of short essays about unspoken communication from diverse perspectives. From the head nod to handshakes and dances, each micro-essay should select one form of unspoken communication and speak to its value in the Black community. Can take the form of a (true) story, a reflection, or both. (250 words max per topic)
Q&A: Colorism | Taking submissions in the form of written answers to questions around colorism. We will compile and publish our favorite answers. To submit, please fill out this form.
Anthology: Regional Black Influences on US | Fashion, food, music, business, etc.—we’ve influenced it all. Share what your region of the US is best known for, and give us its history in Black roots. (100 words max per topic)
Q&A: An Ode to Hip Hop | Are you a hip-hop head? We’re taking submissions in the form of written answers to questions on Hip Hop, its influence, and its personal impact. We will compile and publish our favorite answers. To submit, please fill out this form.
Op-Eds | We’re also accepting op-eds with musings on anything. No specific prompt. If it’s thoughtful and well-crafted, we’ll consider it. Does not have to explicitly relate to race or Black life. Just make it evergreen; avoid writing about a specific news story or passing phase. We want this content to feel relevant to readers whether they’re reading it today or in 5 years. (700-800 words max)
FICTION
**Short Story | No guidelines here. If you’re sitting on any really strong short fiction and wish to submit it, we’ll review it. We’re particularly seeking stories that engage with one or more of the themes discussed across this call for submissions, but all unpublished short stories written by Black writers are welcomed.
Black Faith | Faith traditions are changing. Particularly for Black Millennials and Gen Zers. We’re currently accepting short fiction pieces depicting compelling characters in spiritual and/or religious transition. The story can intersect with any other issues and interests you want, as long as it anchors faith. (4,000 words max)
POETRY
Anthology: Blackness As Genesis | The color “black” has been associated with all forms of darkness and evil. But we see it differently. From the depths of the oceans, the earth, the cosmos, the womb, etc., most life emerges from blackness. We would argue Black culture is also a genesis for global culture. We’re currently accepting poems that run freely with the thought of blackness as a beginning. Will compile the series of poems we feel are the strongest and work the best together. Short to mid-length poems encouraged. (1-page poem max)
Anthology: Lessons to carry forward vs. lessons to leave behind | Some traditions are sacred, others are toxic. We’re accepting poems around the lessons of Black coming of age. Which do we carry forward? Which do we leave behind? You don’t have to take a definitive stance, we’re more interested in the reflection. Each poem should center a specific thought or two. Consider this poem, by Natasha Tretheway, as a narrative example. Short to mid-length poems encouraged. (1-page poem max)
“Black People Time” | We’re seeking a poem exploring time as a social construct, and “Black people time” as something cultural and generational, deeper than a stereotype. The focus can come from any global perspective. (2-page poem max)
DEADLINE: October 15, 2019
https://gumbomedia.com/callforsubmissions
2019 WINTER WORkshops
Tin House
INFO: These weekend workshops combine the rugged beauty of the Oregon Coast with a weekend immersed in all things literary. The program consists of morning workshops with no more than six writers per class, one-on-one meetings with faculty, afternoon craft discussions, and/or generative exercises. Evenings are reserved for conversations by the fire and coastal revelry.
Hotel
The Winter Workshops are held at the Sylvia Beach Hotel. Located in the Nye Beach district of Newport, OR, the property sits on a 45-foot bluff overlooking the Pacific, with coastal panoramas that include the famed Yaquina Head Lighthouse. A true hotel for book lovers, the Sylvia Beach Hotel offers 21 literary-themed rooms. Once registered for the workshop, your room will be assigned through a lottery.
Accessibility
There is one hotel room (Jules Verne) that meets ADA requirements. The dining room is located on the bottom floor of the hotel and can be accessed with the use of an outside ramp (there are no elevators in the hotel). Workshop classrooms can be adjusted so that no stairs are required for access. Our summer workshop is able to offer more assistance and accommodation options for participants. For further questions, please contact our Assistant Workshop Director, India Downes-Le Guin (india@tinhouse.com).
Meals
Daily breakfast and one lunch and dinner are included in the program. Breakfast will be served Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, from 8:00-9:00. Dinner, a five-course meal with a menu being prepared specifically for our workshop, will take place the first evening of the workshop. Lunch will be provided on the last day of the workshop. Participants will be responsible for lunch (Saturday/Sunday) and dinner (Saturday/Sunday). Beverages, including beer and wine, will be provided throughout the weekend.
Transportation
Located two and a half hours southwest of Portland, the city of Newport is best reached by car.
Tin House will be providing a shuttle (at no extra charge) to and from the workshop. Those who sign up will need to arrange to be at our office by 12:00 pm on the Friday of their workshop. The scheduled return time will be 5:00 pm on the following Monday.
Mentorships
Once accepted and registered into the program, Workshop participants who have a completed manuscript are invited to apply for a mentorship with select faculty (for an additional fee). To be considered for this program, please fill out the mentorship application included in your acceptance packet. Tin House will then submit a query to your choice of faculty. If the mentor is available, the student is required to submit their book-length manuscript before the Workshop begins.
Applying
For short fiction/novel/nonfiction, we ask for one unpublished writing sample of 5,000 words or less.
For poetry, we ask for four unpublished poems, totaling no more than ten pages.
If you have previously been accepted into a Tin House workshop, please do not apply with the same material (different chapters/excerpts taken from a previously accepted project are fine).
If accepted, you will have the opportunity to switch your manuscript.
DEADLINE: October 16, 2019
https://tinhouse.com/winter-workshops/
Call for Submissions: Lucille Clifton Tribute
Mentor & Muse
INFO: In celebration of Lucille Clifton, Mentor & Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets wishes to compile an issue of craft-centric essays that honor Clifton’s work. We seek essays that explore Clifton’s poetic choices—her voice, diction, figurative language, allusions, music, subject, aesthetic, risks, and so on—and explore how her poetry has influenced your own poems and/or subsequent generations’ poems.
We envision—and are open to!—different approaches to the Clifton tribute. For example, one approach is to consider how one of her poems helped you better understand a specific poetic principle. Another approach is to interview someone who apprenticed with Clifton’s poetry, whose own poetic knowledge and inspiration arose from studying Clifton’s language and lines. Another approach is to consider what you learned from workshopping with Clifton, or how you introduce Clifton’s work to your own students. (Surprise us. We are excited to love—and learn from—Clifton further!)
Furthermore, we encourage potential contributors to begin where they are most compelled, with the Clifton poems that act as touchstones, poems that contributors return to again and again for inspiration, solace, and guidance. Please note that while we do not have a formal structure in mind, we seek essays that are more personal and creative than academic; essays that reveal the insights that we, as poets, gain from reading and studying Lucille Clifton; and essays that are geared toward poets who already possess an understanding of basic poetic elements, poets who wish to further their poetic knowledge.
And, because we believe that writers not only learn by reading and enjoying the work of other writers, but also through the application of what we learn, we encourage essayists to include a writing prompt that relates to their Clifton-inspired discussions and considerations.
For a better understanding of the Mentor & Muse project, please browse our featured and archived essays and interviews. Our first five issues contain essays from Jericho Brown, Patricia Clark, Laurie Clements Lambeth, Jennifer Franklin, A. Van Jordan, Claire Kageyama-Ramakrishnan, David Keplinger, Alexandra Lytton Regalado, Sandy Solomon, Adrienne Su, and others, as well as interviews with Sean Hill, Matthew Olzmann, Shara McCallum, and Sarah Rose Nordgren.
To submit to the Clifton tribute, please email the editors. As we cannot cover reprinting costs, please select poems that are within the public domain or poems that can already be accessed online. While we occasionally print longer work, we suggest essays range from 750 to 2,500 words. Please query us with your questions about subject, style, or mode (mentorandmuse.poets@gmail.com).
DEADLINE: November 1, 2019
The Barry Hannah Prize for Fiction
Yalobusha Review
INFO: We are proud to announce that our 2019 judge is Kiese Laymon, author of the novel Long Division, the essay collection How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, and Heavy: An American Memoir, winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal and named one of The New York Times best books of the year.
THEME: Food. Food is about nourishment, pleasure, lack. Food bonds us through ritual, forges our connection to the earth, divides us into workers and consumers. Food is temporary; food is life. Submit one prose piece up to 4,000 words that incorporates food into the setting, plot, characters, or themes.
PRIZE: $500
SUBMISSION FEE: $5
DEADLINE: November 1, 2019
https://yr.olemiss.edu/barry-hannah-prize/
SHEARING FELLOWSHIP
Black Mountain Institute
INFO: The Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Harter Black Mountain Institute, home to The Believer magazine, invites applications for residential fellowships for the 2020-21 academic year. Visiting fellows will join a community of creative writers and scholars in a thriving literary scene in Las Vegas and on the campus of UNLV, supported by individuals and groups that share our commitment to bringing writers and the literary imagination into the heart of public life.
Recent fellows include Hanif Abudrraqib, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Tayari Jones, Walter Kirn, Ahmed Naji, Claire Vaye Watkins, and many others.
For emerging and distinguished writers who have at least one book published by a trade or literary press, this fellowship includes:
a semester-long letter of appointment
a stipend of $20,000 paid over a four-month period
eligibility for health coverage
office space in the BMI offices on the campus of UNLV
free housing (fellows cover some utilities) in a unique and vibrant arts complex in the bustling district of downtown Las Vegas—home to The Writer’s Block, our city’s beloved independent bookstore.
Recognition in BMI’s literature, and on The Believer’s masthead, as a “Shearing Fellow.”
While there are no formal teaching requirements, this is a “working fellowship.” BMI's visiting fellows will maintain a regular in-office presence, around 10 hours a week, along with 10 hours of service to the community. In addition to the primary goal of furthering one’s own writing during their term in Las Vegas, visiting fellows are expected to engage in a substantial way with BMI’s community, in a way custom-scoped based on their skills and personal interest. Upon acceptance into the program, each fellow will craft a work plan in partnership with BMI’s program manager that is meaningful to all involved parties. Here are some examples of activities a visiting fellow could pursue:
Offer readings, craft talks, and other public presentations to the readers and writers of UNLV and Southern Nevada.
Curate an event or program, leveraging the fellows’ professional and creative networks.
Contribute original work to The Believer (i.e., a column or feature essay, or occasional work such as lists, or entries in “Notes & Apologies.”)
Provide editorial support to The Believer (edit essays, conduct an interview, consult on editorial conversations)
Assist with headlines, blurbs, and occasional Twitter campaigns; offer opinion on drafts and other editorial concerns that arise in the life of a literary institution.
Finalists will be asked to send copies of their books (Applicants must have at least one critically acclaimed book published by a trade press.)
Candidates will be selected by the staff and community members of BMI and The Believer.
DEADLINE: November 1, 2019
https://fellows.blackmountaininstitute.org/apply
FAMILY RESIDENCY
SPACE on Ryder Farm
INFO: Now in its sixth year, SPACE on Ryder Farm’s Family Residency, founded in association with The Lilly Awards Foundation (spearheaded by Julia Jordan, Marsha Norman and Pia Scala-Zankel), provides a weeklong residency on the farm for working parents and their children.
The Family Residency offers an artist-parent with structured time to create, while their child(ren) participate in nature-focused arts programming under the guidance and expertise of professional theatre educators. All family residents (parents and children) enjoy three communal farm-fresh meals daily. The residency culminates in short, informal sharings of the work accomplished by both parents and children while in residence at SPACE.
SPACE welcomes applications from artist-parents with children who will be 3 to 12 years old at the time of the residency.
If both adults in a two parent/guardian household want to apply for a residency--regardless of whether they are working on the same or distinct projects--both parents/guardians must submit separate applications. Please know that while SPACE has hosted two-parent/guardian households previously, it is possible that only one adult will be accepted. Please refrain from applying if this is a deterrent.
The Family Residency is offered during these two weeks:
July 20th-25th, 2020 (for children 6-12 years old)
August 10th-15th, 2020 (for children 3-5 years old)
If your availability and your child’s age does not correspond to the designated week, we ask that you check back for our 2021 application, which will be posted in Fall 2020. If you would like for more than one child to join you at SPACE but the children fall into two different age categories, please contact residencies@spaceonryderfarm.org to discuss your options.
Family Residencies are fully-subsidized. Residents may need to cover their travel to and from the farm. If you are traveling from New York City, a round-trip off-peak Metro North ticket from Grand Central Terminal to Brewster Terminal is $30.00. Transportation between the Brewster Terminal and farm is provided by the SPACE team. As of 2018, those selected for the Family Residency are able to apply to a travel fund to help offset their travel costs. The allocation of funds is based on a resident’s geographical location and financial circumstances.
Before applying, please review the guidelines below as well as the FAQ page. If you have questions about applying to SPACE, please contact us at residencies@spaceonryderfarm.org.
Semi-finalists will be notified by late December 2019. Finalists will be interviewed in February and March 2020. Final decisions will be made by early April 2020.
DEADLINE: November 6, 2019