2024 Winter Writers’ Retreat
Roots. Wounds. Words.
DEADLINE: September 10, 2023
APPLICATION FEE: $25
INFO: The Roots. Wounds. Words. Annual Writers’ Retreat for Storytellers of Color is a sacred space wherein BIPOC stories are celebrated, and BIPOC storytellers immersed in liberation. At the Writers’ Retreat, Storytellers receive literary arts instruction offered by award-winning BIPOC writers in the fields of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, speculative fiction, writing wellness for Us, and young adult fiction.
In January 2024, Roots. Wounds. Words. Fellows will journey to a virtual sacred space where they will workshop their literary art, perform their work, participate in BIPOC-centered healing and liberation modalities, as well as receive literary arts pedagogy from renowned BIPOC storytellers.
To attend this offering, submit an application through our online system. Prior writing experience is insignificant. Whether you’ve attended a writing workshop before or not holds no weight. All applicants are judged on the merits of their full application, which includes an artistic statement, bio and writing sample.
Our annual Retreat provides BIPOC storytellers with a transformative opportunity to push your pen, strengthen your craft, access literary art professionals, rest and restore, and build the tribe you need to support your writing goals.
RETREAT DATES: January 7 - January 13, 2024
RETREAT LOCATION: Virtual
ELIGIBILITY:
The Retreat is open to storytellers of color.
Storytellers of all levels are welcome to apply.
Storytellers must be at least 21 years old.
Storytellers currently enrolled in graduate or undergraduate programs are also welcome to apply.
APPLICATION PROCESS:
Applicants are required to select a category into which your submission fits. The categories are:
Fiction
Nonfiction
Poetry
Speculative Fiction
Writing Wellness for Us
Young Adult Fiction
Your writing sample must match the category you apply for. For example, if you are applying for the fiction workshop, you must submit a fiction writing sample. You are allowed only one submission per category. You may apply to more than one category. However, each submission is separate. You must complete separate applications and pay the submission fee for each category you submit to.
MANUSCRIPT WORK SAMPLE:
We require a standard format for all fiction, nonfiction, speculative fiction, writing wellness, and young adult fiction submissions. The format is:
The manuscript may not exceed 10 pages.
1-inch page margins.
Double spaced.
Text must be in a 12-point serif font (preferably Times New Roman).
Electronic file names must consist of the writer’s last name followed by the manuscript title. For example, Smith__A Day in the Park. Poets and those with a longer manuscript title can simply use something like Smith__manuscript for RootsWoundsWords
The manuscript must be submitted as a Word document or PDF
The applicant’s name and page number must appear on each sheet of the manuscript; for example, Smith, p.1
If you are submitting prose, you must include a brief note regarding whether the piece stands on its own as a short story or essay, or is an excerpt from a longer project.
Manuscripts excerpted from a longer project should include a one-page synopsis of the larger project placed at the back of the work sample (the synopsis can be single-spaced and does not count toward the 10-page limit).
We require a standard format for all poetry submissions. The format is:
The manuscript may not exceed 10 pages.
May include one or more poems as long as the total number of pages is within the 10-page limit.
Electronic file names must consist of the writer’s last name followed by the manuscript title. For example, Smith__A Day in the Park. Poets and those with a longer manuscript title can simply use something like Smith__manuscript for RootsWoundsWords
The manuscript must be submitted as a Word document or PDF
The applicant’s name and page number must appear on each sheet of the manuscript; for example, Smith, p.1
BRIEF BIO: Each applicant must submit a bio of no more than 250 words.
ARTIST STATEMENT: Each applicant must submit a statement describing their literary art and how it pushes liberation for BIPOC forward. Resources: How to Write a Poetry Cover Letter from The Watering Hole, “Ready, Set, Residency” by Brevity Nonfiction Blog, and Artist Statement Guidelines by Getting Your Sh*t Together Ink.
WHY RWW: Each applicant must describe what they intend to gain from and contribute while at the Writers’ Retreat.
ACCEPTANCES: RWW will work with our Faculty to notify all accepted Storytellers of their acceptance to the Writers’ Retreat by September 29, 2023.
TUITION:
The Writers' Retreat is virtual and tuition will be $1,300.00.
Payment plans as well as limited partial scholarships will be available.
DEPOSIT: The Writers’ Retreat is virtual and, as a result, a $700 deposit will be due no later than October 27, 2023. Receipt of deposit confirms your attendance.
rootswoundswords.org/2024retreat
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2024 Spring/Summer residencY
MacDowell
DEADLINE: September 10, 2023
INFO: The Fellowship application period for 2024 Spring/Summer residencies at MacDowell is now open.
There are no residency fees, and to defray expenses that accrue during an artist’s stay, MacDowell provides need-based stipends to cover rent, utilities, childcare, and lost income from taking time off from employment, as well as grants to travel to and from the residency.
MacDowell encourages artists to apply in any stage of their career, and from all backgrounds and countries, in the following disciplines: architecture, film/video arts, interdisciplinary arts, literature, music composition, theatre, and visual arts.
If your proposed project does not fall clearly within one of these artistic disciplines, you should contact the admissions department for guidance at admissions@macdowell.org.
Spring/Summer residencies will take place between March 1, 2024 and August 31, 2024.
macdowell.org/apply/apply-for-fellowship
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2024 SUMMER/FALL RESIDENCY
Hedgebrook
DEADLINE: September 11, 2023
APPLICATION FEE:
Applications submitted weeks 1-3: $45
Applications submitted week 4: $55
INFO: Hedgebrook’s Writer-in-Residence Program supports writers from all over the world for fully-funded residencies of two to four weeks (travel is not included and is the responsibility of the writer to arrange and pay for). Up to 6 writers can be in residence at a time, each housed in their own handcrafted cottage. They spend their days in solitude – writing, reading, taking walks in the woods on the property or on nearby Double Bluff beach. In the evenings, “The Gathering” is a social time for residents to connect and share over their freshly prepared meals.
Hedgebrook’s mission is to support visionary women-identified writers, 18 and older, whose stories and ideas shape our culture now and for generations to come. Writers must be women, which is inclusive of transgender women and female-identified individuals. Because gender inequity still occurs in all spaces including literary ones, it is part of our explicit mission to support and promote women’s voices. This application is not for alumnae seeking a return stay.
2023 RESIDENCY DATES: July-Oct 2024
hedgebrook.org/writers-in-residence
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2023 CONSTELLATION AWARD
CLMP
DEADLINE: September 11, 2023 at 11:59 PM ET.
INFO: Underwritten by Penguin Random House, this award is given to honor an independent literary press that is led by and/or champions the writing of people of color, including Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) individuals, for excellence in publishing. The recipient receives $10,000 and will be announced in November 2023.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:
Presses must be led by people of color, including Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and AAPI individuals and/or a have a demonstrated commitment to championing books by people of color, including Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and AAPI authors.
Presses must have a demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in their business practices.
Presses must be English-language and/or Spanish-language publishers based in the United States.
Presses must be independent publishers of literary books. (Over half the list must consist of fiction, poetry, drama, and literary prose.)
Presses must not be primarily self-publishing. (At least 50% of titles must be published by authors not on staff; presses should not charge authors a fee to publish their works/).
Presses must have a 2-year track record of publishing at least 2 titles a year.
Presses’ annual net sales must be below $1 million.
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PRINCETON ARTS FELLOWSHIP
Princeton University
DEADLINE: September 12, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
INFO: Princeton Arts Fellowships, funded in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, David E. Kelley Society of Fellows in the Arts, and the Maurice R. Greenberg Scholarship Fund, will be awarded to artists whose achievements have been recognized as demonstrating extraordinary promise in any area of artistic practice and teaching. Applicants should be early career visual artists, filmmakers, poets, novelists, playwrights, designers, directors and performance artists—this list is not meant to be exhaustive—who would find it beneficial to spend two years teaching and working in an artistically vibrant university community.
We are only accepting submissions for the Programs in Creative Writing, Theater, and Visual Arts for the 2023 Princeton Arts Fellowship application cycle.
Princeton Arts Fellows spend two consecutive academic years (September 1-July 1) at Princeton University and formal teaching is expected. The normal work assignment will be to teach one course each semester subject to approval by the Dean of the Faculty, but fellows may be asked to take on an artistic assignment in lieu of a class, such as directing a play or creating a dance with students. Although the teaching load is light, our expectation is that Fellows will be full and active members of our community, committed to frequent and engaged interactions with students during the academic year.
STIPEND: A $90,000 a year stipend is provided. Fellowships are not intended to fund work leading to an advanced degree. One need not be a U.S. citizen to apply. Holders of Ph.D. degrees from Princeton are not eligible to apply.
GUIDELINES: To apply, please submit a curriculum vitae, contact information for three references (should the search committee choose to contact references, please do not request letters or have letters sent in advance of a request from the search committee), and work samples (i.e., a writing sample, images of your work, video links to performances, etc.). Please also submit a 750-word proposal that includes how you would hope to use the two years of the fellowship to develop your work, how you would contribute to Princeton’s arts community through teaching and/or production, and how you have encouraged diversity and inclusion in your artistic practice, teaching, and/or research.
Applicants can only apply for the Princeton Arts Fellowship twice in a lifetime.
arts.princeton.edu/fellowships/princeton-arts-fellowship/
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2024 FRESH VOICES FELLOWSHIP
Epiphany
DEADLINE: September 15, 2023 at 11:00 pm
INFO: Epiphany Magazine is open for submissions for our 2024 FRESH VOICES FELLOWSHIP. This fellowship supports one emerging Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, or other writer of color who does not have a BA nor MFA in creative writing, and is currently working outside traditional literary and academic systems. Fellows have the opportunity to work with Epiphany's team in both selecting work for print and online, and in having close editorial attention given to their own work.
AWARD:
One Writer, in Prose or Poetry, Will Receive:
A $2000 stipend
Publication in a print issue of Epiphany
A one-year subscription to Epiphany
The opportunity to participate in the editorial and publication process of a small non-profit literary magazine, and to build close relationships with the editorial team during the course of a twelve-month fellowship
A Q&A to be published on Epiphany’s website
epiphanyzine.com/opportunities-for-writers
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LANI’S GARDENS ARTISTS' RESIDENCY
DEADLINE: September 15, 2023
APPLICATION FEE: $20 (Paypal: issilah@gmail.com | Venmo: @kehaulanimusic | CashApp: $LaniPark888)
FEE: $555/month
INFO: Lani’s Gardens Artists Residency’s mission is to serve BIPOC, LGBTQ+ & ally artists & their families by providing them with a transformative island residency experience and a beautiful space in nature to relax, recharge, rejuvenate and create. The residency is located on the Big Island of Hawai'i. Artists live in an off-grid, solar-powered, private & gated, close-to-nature, glamping artists' sanctuary with a round swimming pool, picnic table, fireplace, and meditation tipi and a permaculture food forest with over 100 medicinal and edible plants, berry bushes, flowers, and fruit trees.
ELIGIBILITY: Practicing artists of all backgrounds and at any stage of their career are eligible to apply for a Lani’s Gardens Artists’ Retreat residency. Artists must be at least twenty-one years old. Please note that all eligibility requirements must be met at the time of application. We invite applicants to apply in the following disciplines:
Writing (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, screenwriting, and journalism)
Visual Arts
Dance
Theater
Music Composition
Architecture
Interdisciplinary Work
DIVERSITY STATEMENT: Lani’s Gardens Artists’ Retreat actively seeks to invite diverse artists. Lani’s Gardens Artists’ Retreat does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, religion, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, veteran status, medical conditions including HIV, or sensory, physical, or mental disability.
RESIDENCY SESSIONS:
September 1st
October 2023
November 2023
December 2023
January 2024
February 2024
March 2024
APPLICATION TIMELINE & QUALIFICATIONS:
Applications will be accepted annually starting September 1st, until October 1st, at midnight Hawai'i Time. Late applications will not be accepted. Applicants will be contacted by October 1st. To apply, please contact Lani at kehaulanimusic@gmail.com and ask for an Lani’s Gardens’ Artists’ Retreat Application form. For questions, please contact kehaulanimusic@gmail.com with the subject line “Residency.” Or, give us a call at (808) 430-5459.
Applicants are judged by the same criteria across disciplines. We are looking for artistic excellence, sustained impact, and boldness of vision.
REFERENCES:
All applicants are required to submit two professional references. Please provide the name, contact information, and a very brief description of the nature of your professional relationship for each reference. Lani’s Gardens contacts references only if the application advances. References would be contacted iby either email or phone and would not submit a formal letter.
WORK SAMPLES:
VISUAL ART - Submit 5 JPEG images that best represent your work. They can be no more than three MB per image.
MUSIC COMPOSITION - Submit two or three audio samples of representative work. Each should be no more than 30MB each and should be in MP3 format or in MP4 or MOV format or by Vimeo or YouTube link.
DANCE - Submit two or three works totaling no more than fifteen minutes of video. Each work sample should be submitted in MP4 or MOV format or by Vimeo or YouTube link.
THEATER - Submit either two or three videos or PDFs. If you submit via video, they should total no more than fifteen minutes together in MP4 or MOV format or by Vimeo or YouTube link.
POETRY - Submit eight to ten short poems or excerpts of poems. The total should not exceed 15 pages and should be in PDF format.
FICTION, NONFICTION, & SCREENWRITING - Submit two to three work samples in the genre that you wish to work in during your residency. The total should not exceed 20 pages, be double-spaced, and be in PDF format.
ARCHITECTURE - Submit two to three examples of previous design-based architecture projects in the form of PDFs, video, or a combination of the two. The applicant may submit work samples including but not limited to models, drawings, and images of completed work.
INTERDISCIPLINARY WORK - Submit three to five work samples. The work samples can be in one type of media or a mixture of media including images (jpegs should be no more than three MB each), PDFs, video (MP4/MOV should be no more than 250 MB), Vimeo link, YouTube link, or audio (MP3 should be no more 30MB each).
kehaulanimusic.typeform.com/to/gBdFe4lR
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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Canthius
DEADLINE: September 15, 2023
INFO: Canthius is an intersectional feminist magazine that publishes poetry and prose by writers of marginalized gender identities, including trans, Two Spirit, non-binary, agender, cis women, genderqueer, GNC, and intersex writers. We are committed to publishing diverse perspectives and experiences and strongly encourage Indigenous women, Black women, and women of colour to submit. We also welcome submissions in Indigenous languages.
GUIDELINES: We consider unpublished work of poetry and prose (both fiction and creative non-fiction). We welcome experimental works. Please limit prose submissions to 2500 words and poetry submissions to three poems. We accept simultaneous submissions, but please let us know if another publication accepts work you've submitted to Canthius.
Along with your submission, please include a cover letter with your name, home address, email address, phone number, the date, and the name(s) of the piece(s) you're submitting. If you are comfortable disclosing your racial background and/or gender identity in your cover letter, we encourage you to do so. This information will be held in confidence and will be used solely to help us uphold our mandate to publish diverse work. For prose submissions, please include a word and page count in your cover letter. Finally, your cover letter should include a short bio that tells us a bit about yourself and lists your previous publications, if any. Please include a header on each page of your submission with your name.
We respond to all submissions by email. Our average response time is 12 to 15 weeks. Please be sure to designate Canthius as an approved sender to prevent our response from being caught in your email spam filters.
COMPENSATION: Writers accepted for publication will receive $50 for one page, $75 for two pages, $100 for three, $125 for four pages, and $150 for five pages or more, regardless of genre. Contributors will also receive a complimentary a copy of the issue and a discounted price on any further copies of the issue in which their work appears.
Please note that Submittable caps the number of submissions we can receive during each calendar month. Every first of the month, the cap is reset and the forms will open again. For this reason, we open submissions across different calendar months. Please plan accordingly if you can, and reach out to us if you have any difficulty submitting during our open submission periods.
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Anne Spencer Fellowship
Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA)
DEADLINE: September 15, 2023
APPLICATION FEE: $30 (If the application fee presents a significant barrier to application, please write to vcca@vcca.com by September 10, 2023, to request an application fee waiver)
INFO: The Anne Spencer Fellowship provides a one-month residency and $1,500 honorarium to writers, visual artists, and composers of African American descent. The VCCA residency at Mt. San Angelo includes a private bedroom with private bath, a separate individual studio, and three meals a day in a community of cross-disciplinary artists.
Anne Spencer Fellows tour the Anne Spencer House & Garden Museum and participate in one of the following in the Lynchburg community: a public presentation; a workshop at Anne Spencer partner schools; or another community-based activity in coordination with the Anne Spencer Memorial Foundation, Inc.
APPLICATION DETAILS:
Current Eligibility: Writers of African American descent
Residencies Available: May 1 – August 31, 2024
Length of Fellowship: One month
Honorarium: $1,500 upon completion of residency
Notification by: December 31, 2023
To be considered as an Anne Spencer Fellow, complete the “Application for Mt. San Angelo Residencies, VCCA in Virginia – Summer 2024,” selecting your fellowship interest in Question 2.
vcca.com/apply/fully-funded-fellowships/anne-spencer-fellowship/
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Anaphora Writing Residency
Anaphora Arts
DEADLINE: September 20, 2023
INFO: Anaphora Writing Residency is a ten-day program designed exclusively for writers of color. The residency offers workshops, readings, craft talks, and discussions with professionals from the literary and publishing industry. The goal of the program is to nurture emerging and established writers of color, to create opportunities for publication, and establish a wide network of support for writers of different backgrounds.
DATES + FEES: The upcoming residency will run on February 15 - 24, 2024, and will be held virtually. The program costs $2,400, and several partial fellowships are available every year, depending on funding availability. Applications must be submitted by the priority deadline to be eligible for fellowships. Anaphora Fellows and returning alumnx, will have the opportunity to attend the program at a discounted rate.
Applications are now open! The priority deadline is August 31, 2023 (with the final application deadline on September 15, 2023). Please note: the priority deadline has been extended to September 20th, with the final deadline on September 30th. All applications submitted by September 20th will be eligible to receive fellowships.
Applications are reviewed by an anonymous admission board of peers, which rotates every year. Notifications will be sent out starting October 1, 2023 (including notifications of fellowships). A non-refundable security deposit of $150 is required within two weeks of notification; program fees must be paid entirely prior to the beginning of the residency.
If you have any questions, please check out the residency’s FAQ page, or contact us.
WHAT TO EXPECT: The program will provide workshops in poetry and prose, craft talks, daily readings (by guests and program participants), masterclasses, generative sessions, and discussions with professionals from the industry, including literary agents, editors, and publishers.
SPEAKERS:
Chen Chen
Chen Chen is the author of two books of poetry, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency (BOA Editions, 2022) and When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA Editions, 2017), which was longlisted for the National Book Award and won the Thom Gunn Award, among other honors. His work appears in many publications, including Poetry and three editions of The Best American Poetry. He has received two Pushcart Prizes and fellowships from Kundiman, the National Endowment for the Arts, and United States Artists. He was the 2018-2022 Jacob Ziskind Poet-in-Residence at Brandeis University and currently teaches for the low-residency MFA programs at New England College and Stonecoast. He lives with his partner, Jeff Gilbert, and their pug, Mr. Rupert Giles.
Chris Abani
Chris Abani’s books of fiction include The Secret History of Las Vegas, Song For Night, The Virgin of Flames, Becoming Abigail, Graceland, and Masters of the Board. His poetry collections are Smoking the Bible, Sanctificum, There Are No Names for Red, Feed Me The Sun: Collected Long Poems, Hands Washing Water, Dog Woman, Daphne’s Lot, and Kalakuta Republic. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the PEN Beyond the Margins Award, the Hurston Wright Award, and a Lannan Literary Fellowship, among many honors. His work has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, German, Swedish, Romanian, Hebrew, Macedonian, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Dutch, Bosnian, and Serbian.
Ingrid Rojas Contreras
Ingrid Rojas Contreras was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. Her memoir, The Man Who Could Move Clouds, was a Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist. It was a a winner of a California Book Award. Her first novel Fruit of the Drunken Tree was the silver medal winner in First Fiction from the California Book Awards, and a New York Times editor's choice. Her essays and short stories have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The Cut, Zyzzyva, and elsewhere. Rojas Contreras has received numerous awards and fellowships from Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, VONA, Hedgebrook, The Camargo Foundation, and the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture. She is a Visiting Writer at Saint Mary’s College. She lives in California.
Naomi Jackson
Naomi Jackson is author of The Star Side of Bird Hill, published by Penguin Press in June 2015. The Star Side of Bird Hill was nominated for an NAACP Image Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize, the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize, and the International Dublin Literary Award. Star Side was named an Honor Book for Fiction by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. It was also selected for the American Booksellers Association’s Indies Introduce and Indies Next List programs. The book has been reviewed by The New York Times, The New Yorker, Kirkus Reviews, NPR.org and Entertainment Weekly, which called Star Side “a gem of a book.” Publishers Weekly named Jackson a Writer to Watch. Jackson studied fiction at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She traveled to South Africa on a Fulbright scholarship, where she received an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town. A graduate of Williams College, her work has appeared in literary journals and magazines in the United States and abroad, including The New York Times, Harper’s, The Washington Post, Poets & Writers, and Caribbean Beat. She is the recipient of residencies, grants, and fellowships from Bread Loaf, MacDowell Colony, Camargo Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania’s Kelly Writers House, Hedgebrook, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Freya Project. Jackson is Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Rutgers University-Newark. She was a 2021-2022 Scholar-in-Residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and served as Writer-in-Residence at Queens College. She previously taught at the University of Iowa, University of Pennsylvania, City College of New York, and Oberlin College. Jackson was born and raised in Brooklyn by West Indian parents.
Anjali Singh
Anjali Singh started her career in publishing in 1996 as a literary scout. Formerly Editorial Director at Other Press, she has also worked as an editor at Simon & Schuster, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Vintage Books. She is best known for having championed Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis after stumbling across it on a visit to Paris. She has always been drawn to the thrill of discovering new writers and among the literary novelists whose careers she helped launch are Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Samantha Hunt, Preeta Samarasan and Saleem Haddad. As an agent she represents Bridgett Davis, author of the acclaimed memoir The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers; Susan Abulhawa, bestselling author of Mornings in Jenin and Against the Loveless World; Nawaaz Ahmed, author of the debut novel Radiant Fugitives and Rachel Harper, author of The Other Mother. Her graphic novel list includes Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martinez’ Wake: The Hidden History of Women-led Slave Revolts and Gillian Goerz’ Shirley and Jamila Save Their Summer as well as forthcoming works by Deena Mohamed, Steenz, Salman Toor, Fouad Mezher and Tessa Hulls. She is on the lookout for character-driven fiction or non-fiction works that reflect an engagement with the world around us and graphic novels for all ages. She grew up between New Delhi and Alexandria, VA, graduated from Brown University and holds a diploma in French language and literature from the Sorbonne. She is a devoted New Yorker but still manages to spend a great deal of time in Rhode Island.
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2024-2025 Cullman Center Fellowship
New York Public Library
DEADLINE: September 29, 2023
INFO: The Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers offers Fellowships to people whose work will benefit directly from access to the research collections at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Renowned for the extraordinary comprehensiveness of its collections, the Library is one of the world’s preeminent resources for study in anthropology, art, geography, history, languages and literature, philosophy, politics, popular culture, psychology, religion, sociology, sports, and urban studies.
CRITERIA + TERMS: The Cullman Center’s Selection Committee awards fifteen Fellowships a year to outstanding scholars and writers—academics, independent scholars, journalists, creative writers (novelists, playwrights, poets), translators, and visual artists. Foreign nationals conversant in English are welcome to apply. Candidates for the Fellowship will need to work primarily at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building rather than at other divisions of the Library. People seeking funding for research leading directly to a degree are not eligible.
The Cullman Center looks for top-quality writing. It aims to promote dynamic communication about literature and scholarship at the very highest level—within the Center, in public forums throughout the Library, and in the Fellows’ published work.
A Cullman Center Fellow receives a stipend of up to $75,000, the use of an office with a computer, and full access to the Library’s physical and electronic resources. Fellows work at the Center for the duration of the Fellowship term, which runs from September through May. Each Fellow gives a talk over lunch on his or her current work-in-progress to the other Fellows and to a wide range of invited guests, and may be asked to take part in other programs at The New York Public Library.
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The X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize
Texas Review Press
DEADLINE: September 30, 2023
SUBMISSION FEE: $28
INFO: Established in 1998, The X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize highlights one full-length collection of poetry per year.
PRIZE: A $10,000 advance, a standard royalty contract, and 10 copies of the published book.
2023 JUDGE: Richard Blanco
GENERAL GUIDELINES:
Open to any poet writing in English. Translations are not eligible.
The X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize is not a first book prize, though we welcome first books. The Prize is open to poets at any stage of their career.
There are no formal restrictions for this prize; we welcome manuscripts of any style/form.
Poems may have been published individually in magazines or anthologies, but the collection as a whole must be unpublished.
Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. Please notify TRP immediately by withdrawing the manuscript via Submittable if the manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
Current and former students and faculty of Sam Houston State University are not eligible.
Family members and current or former students of the final judge or TRP staff are not eligible.
Current and former TRP authors are not eligible.
Submitters must be 18+ years of age.
Submissions are accepted through Submittable only.
*Writers who studied with the final judge or TRP staff for a semester-length period are not eligible. Writers who studied with the final judge or TRP staff for two-week residencies, single workshops, or other instances less than a semester in length are eligible, provided the work submitted is previously unseen by TRP staff or the final judge.
MANUSCRIPT GUIDELINES:
Manuscripts must be between 50 and 100 pages in length.
Please include a table of contents, title page, and page numbers.
Do not include an acknowledgments page.
No more than one poem per page.
Submissions are anonymous. Please remove any identifying information from the manuscript.
Submit as a .pdf, .docx, or .doc file format.
No revisions will be accepted once the manuscript is uploaded.
texasreviewpress.org/submissions/x-j-kennedy-poetry-prize
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OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS: ISSUE 5 “MOTHERHOOD”
Spoken Black Girl Magazine
DEADLINE: September 30, 2023
INFO: The Black Maternal Health Crisis is threatening the lives of Black moms and babies every day all over this country. In response to this injustice, Spoken Black Girl Magazine is dedicating our next issue to Black moms and celebrating Black Motherhood. We welcome stories from midwives, doulas, and birth workers. This issue calls for stories that represent love and joy of the mother connection, mothers that are ancestors, mothers that come disguised as a teacher or a friend, as well as the challenging moments of motherhood. We also welcome poetry, essays, and short stories, book reviews, recipes and other forms are also welcome as well as photography and visual art depicting motherhood. This will be a print only publication.
For the first time, this issue will be open to any Black-identifying writer or creative regardless of gender as long as the submission answers the prompt and serves to uplift Black women and girls.
COMPENSATION: All accepted submissions will receive $50 in compensation.
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2024 Breakout! Prize
Epiphany
DEADLINE: September 30, 2023
ENTRY FEE: $10 (includes complimentary 1-year digital subscription to Epiphany)
INFO: The Breakout! Prize brings visibility to and supports outstanding undergraduate and graduate student writers. Winners have won the PEN/Dau Prize and gone on to get agents, publish books, and discover new careers in publishing.
AWARD:
Two writers, one in prose and one in poetry, will each receive:
A $1000 cash prize
Publication in the Summer 2024 issue of Epiphany
A one-year subscription to Epiphany
ELIGIBILITY: To apply you must have been enrolled in an accredited university, at least part-time, for the academic years 2023 or 2024. The prize is open to both undergraduate students and graduate students receiving a Masters degree. PhD candidates are not eligible. Students need not be enrolled in MFA programs or creative writing programs.
SUBMISSION: Applications will be submitted by individual writers. Interested applicants must submit a creative manuscript and a “Statement of Interest,” which includes the creative manuscript title, author’s enrollment status and the name of college or university attended, and an email address and telephone number for the department head of the student’s program of study or academic advisor (if applicable). Prose manuscripts may consist of one short story, a novel excerpt, or a work of creative nonfiction not to exceed 5000 words. Poetry manuscripts may include up to five poems, formatted in accordance with standard poetry conventions using a 12-point font. The author’s name should not appear on the creative manuscript. Please number all pages of the manuscript and include the manuscript title.
JUDGING: Honorees will be selected blind on the basis of the work’s creative merit by a judging panel comprised of Manuel Muñoz, James Cagney, and the editors of Epiphany.
Poetry judge James Cagney’s second poetry collection, Martian: The Saint of Loneliness is the winner of the 2021 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. His first, Black Steel Magnolias In The Hour Of Chaos Theory won the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award in 2018. His work has appeared in Alta Magazine and Beat Not Beat Anthology co-edited by Kim Shuck. For more information, please visit JamesCagneypoet.com
Prose judge Manuel Muñoz is the author of a novel, What You See in the Dark, and the short-story collections Zigzagger and The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue, which was shortlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. He is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. He has been recognized with a Whiting Writer’s Award, three O. Henry Awards, and two selections in Best American Short Stories, and was awarded the 2023 Joyce Carol Oates Prize. His most recent collection, The Consequences, was published by Graywolf Press and in the UK by The Indigo Press in October 2022. It was a finalist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize and longlisted for the Story Prize. It will be published in Italian by Edizioni Black Coffee and in Turkish by Livera Yayinevi.
His frequently anthologized work has appeared in The New York Times, Epoch, and Glimmer Train. His most recent work has appeared in Virginia Quarterly Review, American Short Fiction, Electric Literature, ZYZZYVA, and Freeman’s.
A native of Dinuba, California, and a first-generation college student, Manuel graduated from Harvard University and received his MFA in creative writing at Cornell University. He currently lives and works in Tucson, Arizona.
epiphanymagazine.submittable.com/submit
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CALL For POETRY submissions
So To Speak
DEADLINE: September 30, 2023
SUBMISSION FEE: $4
INFO: So to Speak Journal is looking for poetry which is (implicitly or explicitly) intersectionally feminist. Being an intersectional feminist is a commitment to lifelong learning—an intellectually open acknowledgement that systems, institutions, individual people, and places do not operate the same for every person.
We want to read poetry that excites us, that challenges our understanding of form and language. We want poetry that seeks and speaks its own embodied truth. Poetry can be a medium that invites the reader into the poet’s world, and we want to see new worlds, unexplored spaces, and strange landscapes. We’re interested in poems that dive deep into the varied images, identities, and idiosyncrasies you’re exploring. Right now, we’re particularly engaged with intersectional poetry that also explores themes of film and/or ecology. Some poets we adore are Donika Kelly, Oliver Baez Bendorf, Mary Oliver, Aracelis Girmay, Natasha Trethewey, and Claudia Rankine.
FORMAL GUIDELINES:
In your submission, please upload and enter the following information:
A single doc., docx., or pdf. file with up to 5 poems. Your submission should not exceed 10 pages.
A Cover Letter that includes your name, address, phone number, email address, how you heard about So to Speak, and brief bio describing your background as a writer or artist and any applicable awards or publications.
A brief statement about intersectional feminism.
You may enter multiple submissions (ex: 2 submission packets of 10 poems), so long as you pay the submission fee each time.
Find more information on our Submission Guidelines here: http://sotospeakjournal.org/guidelines/.
Find more information on our Mission Statement here: http://sotospeakjournal.org/about-so-to-speak/.
sotospeak.submittable.com/submit
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Call for poetry submissions
Sho Poetry Journal
DEADLINE: September 30, 2023
SUBMISSION FEE: $3
INFO: Sho Poetry Journal is a small-press print journal coming out of a 20-year hibernation. We publish a diverse range of contemporary poetry and seek to champion poets at all stages of their careers, with special attention given to the work of emerging poets.
WHAT TO SUBMIT:
1. Submit up to five unpublished poems at a time. Please include page numbers and your name on every page.
2. Name your file (.doc/.docx) as follows: FirstName_LastName
3. Your cover letter should include the titles you are submitting and a third-person bio (60 words or less).
Simultaneous submissions are fine as long as you specify this in your cover letter and send us a message through Submittable if your work is accepted elsewhere.
– If your poem is 'after' another poet, please name the poem it's after, or provide any relevant details in your cover letter.
– We do not accept AI generated work.
RESPONSE TIME: Our average response time is 2 weeks. We attempt to respond to all submissions within one month or less.
PAYMENT: Shō is a print journal. Payment is one contributor’s copy. Authors also receive a discount on the purchase of extra copies.
shopoetryjournal.submittable.com/submit
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American Literary Review Awards
American Literary Review
DEADLINE: October 1, 2023
READING FEE: $15 (Multiple entries are acceptable, but each entry must be accompanied by a reading fee. Entries without a reading fee will not be read or considered.)
INFO:Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in the Spring online issue of the American Literary Review will be given for a poem, a short story, and an essay.
Please submit your work using our online Submission Manager. We do not accept submissions via post or email.
Please do not put any identifying information in the file itself; include the author’s name, title(s), address, e-mail address, phone number, and cover letter in the boxes provided by Submittable.
GENRE-SPECIFIC GUIDELINES:
Short Fiction: One work of fiction per entry ($15), limit 8,000 words per work
Creative Nonfiction: One work per entry fee ($15), limit 4,000 words per work.
Poetry: Entry fee covers up to three poems (i.e. one to three poems would require an entry fee of $15; four to six poems would be $30, and so on).
americanliteraryreview.com/contest/
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ARTISTS & WRITERS RESIDENCY
Vermont Studio Center
DEADLINE: October 1, 2023
INFO: Each month, VSC welcomes over 50 artists and writers from across the country and 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. Although we accept residents for stays for 2 weeks, we recommend a minimum stay of one month for the fullest experience.
Each 4-week session includes:
Opening Night Dinner & Reception
7 Resident Presentation (“Res Pres”) Nights
2 Open Studios Nights
Public Slide Talks / Public Readings from our Visiting Artists & Writers
Visiting Writer Craft Talks (open to writers only)
Opportunities for studio visits/manuscript critiques with Visiting Artists/Writers
Most months, numerous other spontaneous events take place--intimate readings, pop-up shows, group hikes or swims, performances, site-specific installations, movie screenings, dance parties, and bonfires, to name a few.
All events in our monthly program are optional. Our program is designed to enhance your studio practice by providing opportunities to engage with a supportive creative community; you are welcome to participate in as many or as few of these activities as you like.
FELLOWSHIPS:
Voices Rising Fellowship - For Black American women fiction writers with demonstrable financial need. This fellowship was established in honor of women writers of color such as Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, and Zora Neale Hurston, whose voices have inspired so many. This award includes a $2,000 stipend.
Susanna Colloredo Environmental Writing Fellowship - For a writer whose creative work directly engages environmental issues, awareness, and the complex challenges facing the planet.
Harpo Foundation Native American Fellowship - This award supports exceptional Native American writers. This award includes a $500 travel stipend.