Erica Verrillo's Blog, page 12

103 Calls for Submissions in July 2023 - Paying markets

Public Domain Pictures This July there are more than eight dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As always, every genre, style, and form is wanted, from short stories to poetry to essays.

I post upcoming calls for submissions shortly before the first day of every month. But as I am collecting them, I post them on my page, Calls for Submissions. You can get a jump on next month's calls for submissions by checking that page periodically throughout the month. (I only post paying markets.)

Also see Paying Markets for hundreds of paying markets arranged by form and genre.

Happy submitting!

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The Forge Literary Magazine. Genre: Fiction, flash fiction, micro-fiction. Length: Under 3,000 words preferred. Payment: $75. Deadline: They open to fee-free submissions on the first of each month and close when they reach their quota.

Podcastle. Genre: Fantasy podcast. Length: Up to 6,000 words. Payment: $0.06/word for original; $100 for reprints, $20 for flash fiction reprints. Deadline: Opens July 1, 2023.

Lupercalia. Genre: Chapbooks. Art and writing by trans and queer creators that focuses on themes of transgender and queer sex/sexuality/excess/celebration. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

Carte Blanche (Canada). Genre: Poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, translations. comics, photography. Payment: "Modest" Deadline: July 1, 2023.

Monosyllabic Queer Theory. Genre: Poem about queer theory using monosyllabic words. Payment: $300 per piece. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

The Pleasure in Pain. Genre: Queer erotic horror. Payment: $0.05 per word for short stories. Flat rate of $5 for Poetry and $15 for Flash Fiction. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

Bad Day Book - Teaching Edition. Genre: Poetry and prose. See site for theme. Payment: $40 - $75, depending on length. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

Bad Day Book - College Life Edition. Genre: Poetry and prose. See site for theme. Payment: $40 - $75, depending on length. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

Bad Day Book - Special Needs & Disabilities Edition. Genre: Poetry and prose. See site for theme. Payment: $40 - $75, depending on length. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

The Cafe Irreal. Genre: Magical realism. 2,000 words max. Payment: 1 cent/word. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

A Velvet Giant. Genre: "We are open to work that takes the shape of basically any format: words, recordings, visual art, hybrid forms, etc. We are open to translated original work." Payment: $20. Deadline: July 1, 2023. 

The Perfectly Fine Neighborhood. Genre: Horror short stories. See theme. Payment: 3 cents per word. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

Reservoir Road Literary Review. Genre: Literary short stories, lyrical creative non-fiction, photography. Payment: $5. Deadline: Opens July 1, 2023. Note: Submission window closes when their cap is reached.

Thema: The Magic of Light and Shadow. Genre: Fiction, poetry, and art on theme: The Magic of Light and Shadow. Payment:  $10-$25 for short fiction and artwork, $10 for poetry. Deadline: July 1, 2023. Accepts reprints.

Mythos. Genre: Reprint stories SPECIFICALLY concerning those who investigate Lovecraftian/Mythos and Mythos-adjacent weirdness and horror. Stories should be 4-9k words. Payment: £25/piece (c. $30). Deadline: July 1, 2023. Accepts reprints.

It Came from the Trailer Park. Genre: Horror-comedy with the same feel as The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, Shaun of the Dead, or Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

Havok. Genre: Flash fiction on theme of Legendary Locations. Payment: $50 via PayPal for each story selected for an Anthology. No payment for online publication. Deadline: July 2, 2023.

The Memoirist Quarterly. Genre: Memoirs, personal essays, poetry, and original artwork and photography. Payment: $50 per piece, $25 for art. Deadline: July 2, 2023.

Flame Tree: Learning to Be Human Short Stories. Genre: Speculative fiction. See theme. Payment: 8 cents/6 pence per word for original stories, 6 cents/4 pence for reprints. Deadline: July 2, 2023. Accepts reprints.

Flame Tree: Shadows on the Water Short Stories. Genre: Speculative fiction. See theme. Payment: 8 cents/6 pence per word for original stories, 6 cents/4 pence for reprints. Deadline: July 2, 2023. Accepts reprints.

Maine Review. Genre: Short fiction, poetry. Payment: Fiction and Nonfiction writers receive a $25 honorarium per published flash (1,000 words or fewer) and a $50 honorarium for work 1,001 words or more. Poets receive a $25 honorarium per published poem. Deadline: July 3, 2023. Opens June 27.

Wordworks. Restrictions: Open to BC and Yukon writers. Genre: Poetry, flash fiction, short story, and creative non-fiction. See theme. Payment: $125 for articles of 400–600 words and $250 for articles of 800–1,100 words, $100 for cover art and $25 for other interior illustrations, $50 for reprints. Deadline: July 3, 2023.

Bright Wall/Dark Room. Genre: Essays on film and TV on theme of Heists. "For our August issue, we want your takes on this gloriously fun (and sometimes spiritually dark) genre. Are we obsessed with heists and robberies because of their Robin Hood-y class implications—especially since the targets of these heists are often Big Money (The Italian Job, Sexy Beast, Any Number Can Win) and our underdog protagonists are anything but?" Payment: $50 per essay. Deadline: July 5, 2023.

Cosmic Horror Monthly. Genre: Cosmic Horror, Lovecraftian, Weird stories, art. Payment: 6 cents/word. 50 dollars for artwork chosen as interior content. 200 dollars for cover art. Negotiable. Deadline: July 7, 2023.

Lightspeed. Genre: Fantasy flash fiction. Payment: 8 cents per word. Deadline: July 7, 2023.

Timber Ghost Press. Genre: Novels and novellas, including cosmic horror, weird horror, sci-fi/horror, gothic, and contemporary. "We especially love Old West mixed with horror." Payment: Royalties. Deadline: July 7, 2023. Opens July 1.

Diet Milk: Gothic. Genre: Gothic fiction, poetry, and art (drawings, paintings, comics, collages). Payment: $0.01/word for fiction (minimum $40); $15/poem; $50/art piece. Deadline: July 8, 2023.

Griffith Review: Animal Magic. Genre: Nonfiction. See theme. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: July 9, 2023.

Mslexia. Restrictions: Open to women. Genre: Fiction poetry, nonfiction. Theme: Poison. Payment: £30. Deadline: July 10, 2023.

Another Name for Darkness. Genre: "Stories that dare to face the dark, looking at it with honesty and seeing what it reveals. We want the real and the supernatural, joyful and melancholic, light and dark – as long as it's sincere." Payment: €150. Deadline: July 12, 2023. Will close early if they reach their cap.

BOA Editions — Blessing the Boats Selections. Genre: Book of poetry by Women of Color. Payment: $5,000 + Publication. Deadline: July 14, 2023.

Solarpunk Magazine. Genre: Solarpunk. Payment: $0.08/word for fiction, $40/poem, and $75/essay.  Deadline: July 14, 2023.

Dose of Dread. Genre: Horror flash fiction. Length: 500 – 1,000 words. Payment: 2c/word. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

Able Muse. Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction books. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

34 Orchard. Genre: Fiction and poetry. "We like dark, intense pieces that speak to a deeper truth. We’re not genre-specific; we just like scary, disturbing, unsettling, and sad." Length: Up to 7,500 words. Payment: $50. Deadline: July 15, 2023. Opens July 1.

Sasee. Genre: First-person, non-fiction material that is for or about women. Essays, humor, satire, personal experience, and features on topics relating to women are their primary editorial focus. See theme. Payment: Varies. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

The Fantastic Other. Genre: Mainstream and surrealist short fiction, flash fiction, poetry, and art. Payment: $5. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

Nat. Brut. Genre: Short stories, poems, CNF. Payment: $30 per piece. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

Dark Blooms. Genre: Horror stories by women about girls coming of age. Length: 5000 – 10,000 words. Payment: $20 - $40. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

Sonoran Horror Anthology. Genre: Dark fiction. Payment: 1c/word. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

It Was All a Dream. Genre: Short horror, weird, dark fiction between 1500 and 3000 words (firm limit) that take your least favorite horror trope and make it work. Payment: 5c/word. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

December Tales II. Genre: Horror. "No gore, no rape, no gratuitous sex, no agendas, just your best chilling ghost story." Payment: $25. Deadline: July 15, 2023. Reprints accepted.

If There's Anyone Left. Restrictions: Open to people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, members of marginalized genders, and disabled people. Genre: Speculative fiction. Length: 1000 words max. Payment: 8 cents/word. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

The Nightmare Never Ends. Genre: Horror. "Stuck inside a dreamworld, stuck inside your head, terrors unfold. We are looking for stories that blend dreamscapes into reality, stories where nightmares come alive, where fears take shape, and we can no longer tell what’s real and what’s not." Payment: $25. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

Vautrin. Genre: Short stories on theme: “Oswald in Mexico City,” Length 2,000 - 5,000 words. Payment: $35. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

Fairy Tale Review. Genre: Modern fairy tales. Payment: $50. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

Cricket Media: ASK Magazine. Genre: Science articles for children 7–10 years old. Theme: Fancy Feet. Payment: Unspecified. Deadline: July 15, 2023. Queries only.

Electric Spec. Genre: Speculative fiction. Payment: $20 per piece. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

Hansen House. Genre: Hansen House is looking for anything with queer protagonists or by queer authors so long as the story does not fall into the “bury your gays” trope. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

Invisible City. Genre: Nonfiction up to 5,000 words. Payment: $20. Deadline: July 16, 2023.

Seaside Gothic. Genre: Seaside gothic fiction, poetry, nonfiction, or a collection of photographs or illustrations. Payment: £0.01 per word. Deadline: July 16, 2023. 

Muse Magazine. Genre: Nonfiction articles for children. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: July 17, 2023. See themes. Queries only.

Astrolabe. Genre: Fiction, creative nonfiction, and photography & art. Payment: $50. Deadline: July 21, 2023.

Flash Fiction Online. Genre: Speculative (science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and horror) and literary flash fiction. Length: 500- to 1000-words. Payment: $80. Deadline: July 21, 2023. Submit early. Closes when submission cap is reached.

The Other Stories (Audio). Genre: Horror on themes. Payment: 15 GBT. Deadline: July 22, 2023. See themes.

Dark Blooms. Genre: Horror stories by women about girls coming of age. Length: 5000 – 10,000 words. Payment: $20 - $40. Deadline: July 22, 2023. Extended deadline for trans women and women of color.

It Was All a Dream. Genre: Short horror, weird, dark fiction between 1500 and 3000 words (firm limit) that take your least favorite horror trope and make it work. Payment: 5c/word. Deadline: Extended submission window exclusively for LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and marginalized writers open July 16 - July 22, 2023.

Mudroom. Genre: Poetry, fiction, essays, and essays in translation. Payment: $15. Deadline: July 25, 2023.

Monstrous. Genre: Dark flash fiction. Payment: 6 cents per word. Deadline: July 27, 2023.

Black Ocean. Genre: Full-length poetry manuscripts. Payment: Royalties? Deadline: July 28, 2023.

Nonbinary Review: Epic Fail. Genre: Poetry, fiction, essays, and art on theme: World Tour. Payment: 1 cent per word for prose, and a flat fee of $10 for poetry. Deadline: July 29, 2023. Closes when cap is reached, so submit early.

Mythaxis. Genre: Speculative fiction. Payment: $20. Deadline: July 30, 2023.

B Cubed Press: Alternative Truths, Southern Edition: Bless Their Hearts. Genre: Stories, essays, and poems. "Bless Their Hearts will examine the South, a place where politicians and their followers compete to peg the outrage meter. Why—and how—are they turning the United States into a cauldron of bigotry and hate? This book will look at the mindset behind these and other efforts to bring back the Old South, a mythical place and time when everyone knew their place. We want stories that speak to the consequences of such a mindset and where it may be taking us as individuals and as a culture. What, if left unfettered, would these efforts make of America, the world, and the future? And more importantly, how will we fight to stop them?" Payment: $.03 a word upon publication, plus a share of the profits. Deadline: July 30, 2023.

khōréō. Restrictions: Open to writers who identify as an immigrant or member of a diaspora in the broadest definitions of the terms. "This includes, but is not limited to, first- and second-generation immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, persons who identify with one or more diaspora communities, persons who have been displaced or whose heritage has been erased due to colonialism/imperialism, transnational/transracial adoptees, and anyone whose heritage and history includes ‘here and elsewhere’. We especially encourage BIPOC creators who identify as the above to submit their work." Genre: Stories, essays, and art: fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and any genre in between or around it, as long as there’s a speculative element. Payment: 0.08/word for fiction, $100 for nonfiction, and $40-300 for art. Deadline: July 30, 2023.

FIYAH. Restrictions: Submissions are restricted to people of the African Diaspora. Genre: Speculative fiction, art, and poetry about African Diaspora. Length: Short fiction 2,000 – 7,000 words and novelettes up to 15,000 words. Theme: Belonging. Payment: $150 per story. $50 per poem. $300 per novelette. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Silver Blade. Genre: Science Fiction, Slipstream, Classic and Modern Fantasy; short fiction, flash fiction, novellas, and poetry. Payment: $15 for novellas, $3 for flash fiction, $8 for short stories, $8 for single poems and $15 for Featured Poets (by invitation only). Silver Pen will pay half of these rates for previously published works. Deadline: July 31, 2023. Reprints accepted.

Ofic. Genre: Short fiction (up to 12,000 words), nonfiction (CNF, etc.), art. "Send us your dead doves, your blorbos, your plinkos, your wretched meow meows yearning to be free; that thing you wrote that made you think, “I don’t know where this belongs”; the stuff you’d never show anyone you know IRL. Give us your shameless, self-indulgent smut; the manuscript to the video essay you dictated to your YouTube subscribers in your head; your thoughtful explorations of trauma and identity; your Pepe Silvia wall; your sci-fi, your fantasy, your romance, your realism. We want anything and everything. As long as you identify as a fan, we want to read your work." Payment: Small honorarium. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Diabolical Plots. Genre: Science fiction, fantasy and horror up to 3,500 words. Payment: 10 cents/word. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

The Temz Review. Genre: Prose (fiction and creative non-fiction) up to 10,000 words long. Payment: $20. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Brink. Genre: Hybrid, cross-genre fiction, nonfiction poetry. Payment: $25 Poem; $50 Work (less than 1500 words); $50 Art (1-3 Images); $100 Art (4+ Images); $100 Work (more than 1501 words). Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Socrates on the Beach. Genre: Longer essays and fiction at least 3000 to 10,000 words. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Artisans of the Soul: An Anthology of Teacher Appreciation. Genre: Fiction and CNF. "We are looking for pieces that specifically highlight the strength, courage, and commitment of teachers to their students. Pieces must be from the perspective of the teacher so that you can fully highlight the heart and soul of the teacher or mentor you are writing about. Genres are limited to general fiction, realism, magical realism, creative nonfiction, fantasy, and literary." Payment: $25 for short stories, $10 for flash fiction, and $5 for poems or drabbles. Deadline: July 31, 2023. Reprints accepted.

Bad Betty. Genre: Full-length poetry collections. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Written Backwards: Qualia Nous. Genre: Dark science fiction and all blended sub-genres of science fiction (horror, fantasy, etc.) Length:  3,000 – 10,000 words, or poetry (up to 100 lines). Payment: 10 cents/word. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Fifth Wheel Press: Dreamland. Restrictions: Open to queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming writers. Genre: Poetry, prose poetry, short prose (<1500 words), and other experimental writing by queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming writers. Payment: $5. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

The Cellar Door: After Tomorrow. Genre: Dark fiction. Post-apocalyptic, thriller/suspense, survival horror, creature feature, supernatural/paranormal. Word Count: 2,000 - 10,000 words. Payment: $25.00 + digital & paperback copy. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Epic Echoes. Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Crime, Adventure, Horror, and everything in between. "We love genre-blending stories and unique takes on classic tropes. Grounded, more realistic stories are also welcome." Payment: $10 - $20. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Awake. Restrictions: Submissions are restricted to Black authors. Genre: Poetry, prose, hybrid, art. Theme: Frontier. Payment: $15 - $50. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Midnight Echo. Restrictions: Open to Australians. Genre: Horror fiction, poetry, and non-fiction on horror-related subjects. Payment: AU$0.05/word for fiction. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Malahat Review. Genre: Poetry. Payment: CAD $70/page. Deadline: July 31, 2023. Submissions by Canadian writers are accepted for consideration all year.

Taco Bell Quarterly. Genre: Short stories, non-fiction, prose, essays, poetry, art, comics, flash, films, "undefinable auras, experiments, and completely ordinary shit." "We are looking for innovative ways to lower the bar. We are looking for ways to degrade ourselves with flair. We are looking for universes that could be extremely traumatizing if the writers weren’t cowards. We are looking for ways to address the nightmares more directly." Payment: $100. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

What Really Happened. Genre: Short stories, flash fiction. "Pick a famous incident, an unknown one, or make up your own and let us know what really happened! I mean, we’re not saying it was aliens, but…" Word count maximum (firm) of 7,000 words. Anything under 2,000 words will be considered flash fiction. Payment: Royalties. Flash fiction will be paid at 1/2 rate. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Planisphere Quarterly. Genre: Fiction. "I Am - theme is metamorphosis, where the main character is changing into something. Any interpretation is welcome." Payment: $25. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Rebel Satori: QueerMojo imprint. Genre: Book-length fiction and single-author collections of short fiction or poetry. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Red Cape Publishing: A - Z of Horror: T is for Tarot. Genre: Horror on theme. Payment: £10. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Variant Lit. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction Payment: $10. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Haven Speculative. Restrictions: Open to authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups. Genre: Speculative fiction and poetry. Payment: 1 cent/word for fiction and $5 - $10 for poetry. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

parABnormal. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry on the paranormal. "For us, this includes ghosts, spectres, haunts, various whisperers, and so forth. It also includes shapeshifters and creatures from various folklores." Payment: $25.00 for original stories, $7.00 for reprints.$6.00 for each poem. $20.00 for original articles, $6.00 for reprints. $7.00 for reviews and interviews. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

New Myths. Genre: Speculative fiction, flash fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Payment: 3 cents/word with a minimum payment of $30 for all submissions, fiction, flash fiction, nonfiction and poetry; $50 for book reviews; $80 for art. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

JMS Books. Genre: LGBTQ romance stories, 12,000 words minimum. See theme. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Fanatical. Genre: Sci-fi, fantasy and horror stories between 2,000 and 6,000 words. Payment: £20. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Dark Recesses Press. Genre: Horror/dark fiction pieces 500-5000 words. Payment: 5 cents/word. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

A Coup of Owls. Restrictions: Only submit if you are aged 18 or over and belong to an underrepresented or marginalised community. These include, but are not limited to: LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and disabled people. Genre: Fiction, all genres. Payment: £5 - 15. Deadline: July 31, 2023. 

Arc Poetry Magazine. Genre: Poetry. Payment: $50 per page. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

The Rumpus. Genre: Essays. "We strive to be a platform for marginalized voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere, and to lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers we love. We work to shine a light on stories that build bridges, tear down walls, and speak truth to power." Payment: $300 divided among all contributors. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Tales of Sley House. Genre: Short stories in the genres of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, noir mysteries with dark elements, and thrillers, each around 6000 words. Payment: $25. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Pseudopod. Genre: Horror Anthologies and Collections of stories that have been published by Pseudopod. Payment: USD $0.08 per word for original fiction. USD $100 per story for reprint fiction. Deadline: July 31, 2023. 

Witch Wizard Warlock. Genre: Short fiction. "Submissions must feature a witch, wizard, warlock, two of those, or even all three. Horror, humor, fantasy, science fiction, or even some entertaining, but bizarre mashup of genres that we haven’t considered." Payment: $10. Deadline: July 31, 2023. 

5 Second Rule. Genre: Short stories. Theme: Superhero, specifically in the 5 Second Rule universe. Payment: $75. Deadline: July 31, 2023. 

Gwyllion. Genre: Speculative fiction and poetry. Payment: £10 per accepted story or poem. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Flash Frog. Genre: Flash fiction ghost stories. Length: 1000 words max. Payment: $25. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Space and Time. Genre: Science fiction, fantasy, horror, steampunk, magical realism. Payment: 1 cent/word. Deadline: July 31, 2023.
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Ricochet Editions. Genre: Hybrid/Experimental work between 40 and 200 pages. "We are looking for purposeful experimentation with language and form that challenges or plays with convention." Payment: $500 and 50 copies of the perfect-bound book. Deadline: July 31, 2023. No submission fee for POC and Indigenous writers and writers facing financial hardship.

AND A FEW MORE...

The First Line. Genres: Fiction, poetry, nonfiction using the first line provided. (See site.) Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry, and $25.00 for nonfiction. Deadline: August 1, 2023.

We'Moon Lunar Calendar. Restrictions: Open to women only. Genre: Art, poetry and prose, 350 words maximum. Payment: Small honorarium; art up to $500. Deadline: August 1, 2023.


Upbeat Tales. Genre: Upbeat and/or comedic fantasy, science fiction and horror stories. Payment: 1 cent/word. Length: 100-6,000 words. Deadline: August 1, 2023.

Totally Entwined: Falsely, Madly, Deeply. Genre: Novellas, 30,000 - 50,000 words. Theme: Fake relationships. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: August 1, 2023.


Wizards in Space. Genre: Poetry, prose, art. "We’re ready to hear about the chapters of your own journeys. Which pages have you turned, and which are you now opening? We want your cliffhangers, we want your tidy knots, we want your open endings. Fresh starts and sweet farewells." Payment: $40 per original poem or per page of original art; $20 per reprinted poem or per page of reprinted art; $0.04 per word for original prose, based on final published word count; $0.02 per word for reprinted prose, based on final published word count. Deadline: August 1, 2023. Accepts reprints. 

Grimoire: Medusa—The Stone-Cold Bitches. Genre: Short stories, poems, CNF. See theme. Payment: $20. Deadline: August 1, 2023.

Monosyllabic Queer Theory. Genre: Poem about queer theory using monosyllabic words. Payment: $250 per piece. Deadline: August 1, 2023.

Occult Detective Magazine. Genre: Mystery short stories, nonfiction, art. "We love both old-style and modern, cutting edge weird fiction, and we love folk horror; we embrace unashamed arcane adventure, and we also draw gritty noir mysteries into our domain. At the heart of all these tales are the occult detectives." Payment: $0.01/word (up to $50, up to $30 for nonfiction). Deadline: August 1, 2023.

Bad Day Book - Parenting Edition. Genre: Poetry and prose. See site for theme. Payment: $40 - $75, depending on length. Deadline: August 1, 2023.

Bad Day Book - Kids (Written by kids for kids) Edition. Genre: Poetry and prose. See site for theme. Payment: $40 - $75, depending on length. Deadline: August 1, 2023.

Bad Day Book - Teenage Years (Written by teenagers for teenagers) Edition. Genre: Poetry and prose. See site for theme. Payment: $40 - $75, depending on length. Deadline: August 1, 2023.

Propertius Press. Restrictions: We are actively seeking submissions by and about persons who identify as Trans and/or Non-Binary. Genre: Full-length literary fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: August 1, 2023.

Propertius Press.  Genre: Cozy mysteries. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: August 1, 2023. May close early if cap is reached.

Terrors from the Toy Box. Genre: Horror. Payment: £20 regardless of story length plus a paperback and digital (pdf & Epub.) copy. Deadline: August 1, 2023.

L’Esprit Literary Review. Genre: Short fiction, creative non-fiction, novel extracts, drama, art, literary criticism, autotheory, and book reviews "written in the fearless, risk-adept, and revolutionary spirit of High Modernism." Payment: $10. Deadline: August 1, 2023.

Last Girls Club. Genre: Feminist horror: short stories and poems - see themes. Payment: Short Story-2,500 words or less. $0.01 USD per word/$25 USD and copy of magazine; Flash Fiction-less than a 1,000 words $0.01 USD per word/$10 USD; Poems-less than 200 words $10 upon acceptance and a PDF of the magazine. Deadline: August 1, 2023.

Madame Gray's Graveyard of Blood. Genre: Horror. "Open to all subgenres of horror, as long as the story takes place in, or is connected in some way to a cemetery. The more ghoulish, the better! The scarier, the merrier! And a bit of gallows humor is always welcome, but not required." Payment: $5. Deadline: August 1, 2023.

B Cubed Press: Alternative Leadership. Genre: Stories, poetry, and essays. "This anthology is about leadership. Leadership by the under-represented, by those too often forced to watch as those less qualified, less capable rise in a system that cannot see the value of diversity and change. We’re looking for broken barriers of all kinds. Can a man lead the National Organization of Women? Can a woman lead the NFL Players Association? Not in our current world, perhaps, but maybe in alternative worlds?" Payment: $.03 a word upon publication, plus a share of the profits. Deadline: August 1, 2023. Reprints accepted.

59 Writing Contests in July 2023 - No entry fees

Wikimedia: Sunflowers at Museum of Folk Architecture and Ethnography in Pyrohiv, Kyiv, Ukraine This July there are nearly five dozen free writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and plays. Prizes range from $100,000 to publication. None charge entry fees.

Some of these contests have age and geographical restrictions, so read the instructions carefully.

If you want to get a jump on next month's contests go to Free Contests. Most of these contests are offered annually, so even if the deadline has passed, you can prepare for next year.

Good luck! 

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PEN America’s U.S. Writers Aid Initiative. Restrictions: Applicants must be professional writers based in the United States, and be able to demonstrate that this one-time grant will be meaningful in helping address a short-term emergency situation. Prize: Grant, amount not specified. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

The AutoEthnographer Student Scholarships. Restrictions: Open to creatives anywhere in the world who identify as active students at any age or level. Works must be nominated by an instructor, professor, tutor, or other educator; the author/artist must have been an enrolled student in the 2022-2023 school year. Genre: Works of literary and artistic autoethnography. Prize: $250 and publication. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

Virago 50th Furies Short Story Competition. Restrictions: Open to people of underrepresented genders and women who are from Black, Asian, Mixed Heritage, and multiple-ethnic groups; part of the LGBTQIA+ community; neurodiverse; have a disability; self-identify as working-class individuals; or are from a working-class background. Entrants must be aged 18 or over, resident in the United Kingdom and must not have an agent at the time of entering the Competition or have had any book or short story previously published by a publisher or self-published in whole or in part in any format. Genre: Feminist short story inspired by a synonym for ‘virago.’ Prize: £1,500 prize money and the opportunity to be published in the Furies paperback and ebook. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

Dan Veach Prize for Younger Poets. Restrictions: Open to poets aged 18-23. Genre: Poetry. Prize:  $100 and publication in the Atlanta Review. Deadline: July 1, 2023.  

Local Word Poetry Prize. Restrictions: Entries are welcome from living poets anywhere in Australia 16 years or older. Genre: Poetry. Prize: $2,000 AUD top prize. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

Richard J. Margolis Award. Genre: Journalism. Prize is awarded annually to a promising new journalist or essayist whose work combines warmth, humor, wisdom and concern with social justice. Prize: $5,000 and one month of residency at Blue Mountain Center. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Sponsored by Claremont Graduate University. Restrictions: Poets must be citizens or legal resident aliens of the United States. Genre: Poetry. Book must be author's first full-length book of poetry, published between between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023. Self-published books are accepted. Prize: $10,000. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Sponsored by Claremont Graduate University. Restrictions: Poets must be citizens or legal resident aliens of the United States. Genre: Poetry. The work submitted must be a first book of poetry published between between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023. Manuscripts, CDs, and chapbooks are not accepted. Prize: $100,000. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

BCLF Short Fiction Story Contest (BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writer’s Prize and BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Award for Writers in the Caribbean). Restrictions: All entrants must be of Caribbean heritage/of Caribbean descent or writers who were born/raised and holding nationality in the Caribbean. Genre: Unpublished short fiction (3000 words max). Prize: US$1750 for each contest. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards. Genre: Poetry. "The awards contest is an annual series of awards to encourage poets to explore and illuminate positive visions of peace and the human spirit." Prize: $200. Deadline: July 1, 2023. Free entry for poets age 12 and under.

Limnisa Short Story Competition. Genre: Short story under 1,500 words on theme: A room of one's own. Prize: One-week, all-inclusive writers' retreat in Limnisa, Greece. Deadline:  July 2, 2023.

The Michael O’Pray Prize. Restrictions: Open to all early-career writers based in the UK. Genre: Nonfiction writing on innovation and experimentation in the moving image. Prize: £750 top prize. Deadline:  July 2, 2023.

4thWrite Short Story Prize. Restrictions: Open to Black, Asian, or Minority Ethnic writers aged 18+ living in the UK or Ireland. Genre: Short story, 6,000 words maximum. Prize: £1,000, a one-day publishing workshop at 4th Estate and publication of their story on the Guardian website. Deadline: July 2, 2023.

Maine Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowships. Restrictions: Open to writers who have lived in the state of Maine for at least one year. Genre: Fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction. Prize: $5,000.  Deadline: July 6, 2023.

The Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. Restrictions: Open to unpublished Australian residents aged 18 years or older. Genre: Fiction and narrative non-fiction, the first three chapters plus synopsis (max 20,000 words). Prize: $10,000 and a year’s mentorship with one of Hachette Australia’s publishers. The Guardian Australia will publish an extract of the first chapter of the winning work on its website. Deadline: July 7, 2023.

Wingate Literary Prize. Genre: Published book that explores Jewish themes. Book must be published between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023, must be published, distributed or easily available in the UK and Ireland, and must be published in English, whether originally or in translation. Prize: £4,000. Deadline: July 7, 2023.

AAAS/Subaru Book Prize. Genre: Published science book. Categories include: Children's Science Picture Book (prize to author and illustrator); Middle Grades Science Book (prize to author); Young Adult Science Book (prize to author); Hands-On Science Book (prize to author). Winning authors and illustrators will be recognized at the AAAS Annual Meeting which will be held February 15-17, 2024 in Denver, CO. Prize: $1500. Deadline: July 7, 2023.

HG Wells Short Story Competition. Genre: Short story on theme of "Motion." Length: 1,500 to 5,000 words. Prize: £1,000 and publication in the annual HG Wells Short Story Competition Anthology.  Deadline: July 10, 2023. No fee for writers under the age of 21. Those over 21 can enter for a fee.

Stony Brook Short Fiction Prize. Restrictions: Only undergraduates enrolled full time in United States and Canadian universities and colleges are eligible. "This Prize has traditionally encouraged submissions from students with an Asian background, but we urge all students to enter." Genre: Fiction of no more than 7,500 words. Prize: $1,000. Deadline: July 14, 2023.  

Blessing the Boats. Restrictions: Open to all women poets of color in the U.S., including poets who identify as cis, trans, and non-binary people who are comfortable in a space that centers on women’s experiences, regardless of citizenship and publication history. Genre: Full-length poetry manuscript. Prize: $5,000 honorarium and book publication by BOA Editions, Ltd. Deadline: July 14, 2023.  

Working Class Writers Nature Prize. Restrictions: Open to working class writers over 18 and living in the UK. The author must self-identify as working class and not have been published professionally in full-length book form. Genre: Fiction, non-fiction and poetry nature writing. Prize: £300 and a mentoring session. Deadline: July 14, 2023.

Apparition Lit. Genre: Flash fiction. See themes. Prize: $30. Deadline: July 14, 2023.

Iron Horse Prize. Genre: First book of collected prose. Prize: The author of the winning entry will receive $1000, and their collection will be published in the summer of 2024 by Texas Tech University Press. Deadline: July 15, 2023. Free submissions on July 15 only.

Kaidankai podcast. Genre: Stories with a haunted house theme. Length: 1000 - 3000 words. Prize: $25 - $100. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

Valiant Scribe Poetry Competition. Genre: Poetry. "Valiant Scribe calls for submissions that focus on war and peace, despair and hope. In a world filled with war, poverty, natural disasters, human rights violations, and other ills, we seek poetry that evokes thoughts of hope, telling us there is a light at the end of the tunnel." See theme. Prize: $500 CAD. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest. Genre: Poetry. Categories: #1 Traditional Sonnet – Shakespearean or Petrarchan; #2 Modern Sonnet. Prize: $50, 2nd Prize $30, 3rd Prize $20, three Honorable Mentions, three Special Recognitions. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

Boardman Tasker Prize. Restrictions: The prize will be awarded for a work first published or distributed in the United Kingdom between July 17, 2022 and July 15, 2023. Genre: Books with a mountain, not necessarily mountaineering, theme whether fiction, non-fiction, drama or poetry, written in the English language. Prize: £3,000.00. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

Arablit Story Prize. Genre: Short story translated from Arabic. Prize: $500. Deadline: July 15, 2023.

Stone Canoe. Restrictions: Open to people who live or have lived in Upstate New York (not New York City). Genres: Drama, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art. Prize: $500 and publication. Deadline: July 15, 2023 for fiction. (It is difficult to find this information on their website.) 
The Burlington Contemporary Art Writing Prize. Restrictions: Entrants must have published no more than six pieces of writing in print or online prior to their submission. Genre: Review of a contemporary art exhibition. Prize: £1,000. Deadline: July 17, 2023.

Donn Goodwin and Joseph Gahagen Poetry Prizes: Milwaukee Irish Fest. Genre: Poetry. Entries should have a culture/literary relation to either Ireland, Irish-America, or to Irish poetry. Prize: $100. Deadline: July 17, 2022.

Scottish Book Trust New Writers Awards. Restrictions: Scottish writers over 18 years of age. Genres: The awards are divided into three different categories.: Fiction and Narrative Non-fiction in English and Scots, Poetry in English and Scots, Children’s and Young Adult Fiction in English and Scots. Prize: £2,000 and personal development opportunities, which can include mentoring from writers and industry professionals. Training in PR, performance and presentation training, and the opportunity to showcase work to publishers and agents. Deadline: July 19, 2023. (Noon)

Undiscovered Voices. Restrictions: Current members of SCBWI who live in the UK or one of the current countries of the EU or the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. Genre: Opening of an already completed novel for children, aimed at any age from 5 years through to Young Adult. You may submit up to 4,000 words – choosing a suitable place to stop your extract. Prize: Publication. Deadline: July 20, 2023.

Black Voices in Children's Literature Writing Contest. Restrictions: The contest is open to Black authors who at the time of entry are at least 18 years of age and residing anywhere in the United States. Genre: Original children’s books for ages 0–4 (50–125 words) or for ages 4–8 (300–800 words) featuring authentic, realistic Black characters and culture and focusing on one or more of the following topics: character development, self-esteem, identity, diversity, getting along with others, engaging with family and community, or other topics related to positive childhood development. Religious and fantasy themes will not be considered. Prize: First Place: $1000. Second Place: $500 cash prize. Third Place: $250 cash prize. Deadline: July 24, 2023.

Literature Matters. Restrictions: UK residents. Genre: "Awards will be given to individual writers or other literary creators, recognising their past achievements and providing them with financial support to undertake a proposed new piece of writing or literary project. Launched as part of the RSL’s new Literature Matters programme, priority will be given to proposals which (a) will help connect with audiences or topics outside the usual reach of literature, and/or (b) will help generate public discussion about why literature matters." Award: £20,000. Deadline: July 28, 2023.

The Governor General’s Literary Awards. Restrictions: Books must have been written, translated or illustrated by Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. Genre: Best English-language and the best French-language book will be chosen in each of the seven categories of Fiction, Literary Non-fiction, Poetry, Drama, Children’s Literature (text), Children’s Literature (illustrated books) and Translation (from French to English). Prize: $25,000. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Mustapha Matura Award. Restrictions: The competition is open to any playwright of Caribbean or African descent, resident in the UK. Entrants must be 25 years or under at the time of submission. Genre: Stage play in English. Television, radio plays and film scripts will not be considered. Prize: £3,000 top prize. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

The Prescription Prizes in Creative Writing. Genre: Prose (including scripts), poetry and hybrid writing. "In 2023 the RCPSG is launching its new ‘the prescription’ competition for creative writing around its historic collection of medical items representing Glasgow’s health care history. You can access our online collections here and you should include the name of the item that inspired you and its catalogue number in your competition entry." Prize: £100 top prize. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Platt Family Scholarship Prize Essay Contest. Restrictions: Open to students who are FULL TIME, undergraduate students in an AMERICAN COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY during the Spring 2023 semester. Genre: Essay on topic: ““2023 is the 160th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Does Abraham Lincoln deserve the title of ‘The Great Emancipator’? Why or why not?” Prize: 1st Prize $1500 | 2nd Prize $750 | 3rd Prize $500. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

SLF Diverse Writers and Diverse Worlds Grants. Restrictions: Open to writers from underrepresented and underprivileged groups, such as writers of color, women, queer writers, disabled writers, working-class writers, etc. -- those whose marginalized identities may present additional obstacles in the writing / publishing process. Genres: Book-length works (novels, collections of short stories) of speculative fiction. Prize: $500. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award. Restrictions: Open to young poets age 11 - 17. Genre: Poetry. Prize: Publication. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Landfall Essay Competition. Restrictions: Open to New Zealand writers. Genre: Essay about New Zealand. Prize: The winner will receive $3000 and a year’s subscription to Landfall. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Polar Expressions Publications Short Story and Poetry Competition. Restrictions: Open to Canadians only. Genre: Short story, poetry. Prize: $500. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Tilted House: 1BR / 3BATH Poetry Chapbook Contest. Genre: Poetry chapbook, 16 - 35 pages of  "experimental, puckish, political, funny, playful, polemical, and/or uncomfortable. In a word: anti-poetry. While there is no theme, per se, we are hungry for work that twists the arm of poetry’s status quo. We like meta poetics, satire, work that is aware of itself and what’s in the air. Maybe you “don’t know what you’re doing” or feel like your work is “unpublishable.” Send it to us! Give us your freaky. Give us your fun." Prize: $200.  Deadline: July 31, 2023. READING FEE: $0–$20, sliding scale.

Crossing the Tees Book Festival. Genre: Short stories, 3000 words max. Prize: Cash prize. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Singapore Unbound. Restrictions: Open to undergraduates. Genre: Critical essays on topics in Singapore literature. Prize: $250. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

The Washburn Chapbook Prize. Restrictions: Open to women or non-binary writers. Genre: Chapbook exactly 10 poems long. Prize: $200 and publication of their micro chapbook online at Harbor Review. Deadline: July 31, 2023. Fees are waived for BIPOC identifying writers only.

Biopage. Genre: "Inspiring, uplifting, and heartwarming stories." Prizes: Up to $300. Deadline: July 31, 2023. Registration required.

The 1729 Book Prize in Poetry. Genre: Book-length poetry. Prize: $1000 and publication. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Arvon Award. Restrictions: Open to writers living in the North of England at the time of entering and planning to remain here for at least another 12 months. Genre: Full-length work of fiction, poetry or narrative non-fiction work in progress. Prize: Arvon course. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

TLC Free Reads. Restrictions: Open to writers living in the North of England at the time of entering and planning to remain here for at least another 12 months. Genre: Full-length work of fiction or narrative non-fiction work in progress. Prize: In-depth editorial report on their work in progress, Deadline: July 31, 2023.

NorthBound Book Award. Restrictions: Open to writers living in the North of England at the time of entering and planning to remain here for at least another 12 months. Genre: Completed full-length work of fiction or narrative non-fiction. Prize: advance against royalties of £5000, publication with Saraband and access to the Northern Writers’ Awards Network. Royalties will be paid on Saraband’s standard terms. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Surging Tide. Genre: Poetry, prose. Prize: The winner of each category will be awarded $100 and each runner-up will also be awarded $25. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Pride Award for Emerging LGBTQIA+ Crime Writers. Genre: An unpublished work of crime fiction, aimed at readers from children’s chapter books through adults. This may be a short story or first chapter(s) of a manuscript in-progress of 2,500 to 5,000 words. Prize: $2,000. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Lune Spark Young Writers' Short Story Contest. Restrictions: Open to writers 10-13 years old, and 13-16 years old. (Two categories.) Genre: Short story. Prize: $500 for first place; $250, 2nd place; $100, 3rd place. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

#GWstorieseverywhere. Genre: Micro fiction or essay on theme of Mirage. Your story must be no longer than 25 words, with a max of 280 characters, including spaces and the hashtag. Prize: Free Gotham class. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South Essay Contest. Restrictions: Open to women (including trans and nonbinary women) age 18+.  Genre: Nonfiction essay, 1200 words max, on repair, release, or renewal. Each of us writes amid torn hearts, fractured communities, and broken systems. When do we repair? What do we release? How do we renew? We invite essays that explore, complicate, and/or write against this theme. Prize: $300. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

What’s Your Story? Restrictions: Open to Victorian residents. (Australia) Genre: Poetry, short stories, CNF. Prize: $500. Deadline: July 31, 2023.

Substack runs a monthly short story competition. Their mission is to "revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful." Genre: Short story. Length: 6000- 10,000 words. Prize: $100 plus 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Deadline: July 31, 2023. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute.

40 Fabulous Writing Conferences and Workshops in July 2023

Wallowa Lake, Oregon: Raw Pixel This July there are more than three dozen writing conferences and workshops. Some conferences and workshops will be held online, but many will be in-person or hybrid as pandemic restrictions ease. Virtual events still offer everything a writer might want: intensive workshops, pitch sessions with agents, to how to market yourself and your books, discussions - there is something for everyone.

For a full list of conferences held throughout the year see Writing Conferences. Quite a few offer scholarships, so apply early. Popular conferences also tend to close early. 

I've included conferences that have early application dates on my list. So, if you have missed a conference that is ideal for you, put the application deadline on your calendar for next year. (Many conferences are annual events.)

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Idyllwild Arts Summer Program for Children & Teens. July 2 - 29, 2023: Idyllwild, California. The 2023 Summer Program will offer workshops for all ages and abilities on our picturesque mountain campus. The tradition of gathering an impassioned community of artists during the summer months in Idyllwild dates back over seven decades and has served generations of musicians, painters, writers and performers in a variety of disciplines including dance and theatre. Join us in discovering the magic of an Idyllwild Arts summer, and explore your creativity in an inspiring setting with an enthusiastic community of students, faculty and staff. Residential options exist for adults and students aged 10 and up.

Orion Nonfiction Workshop with Moeko Fujii. July 5 - August 9, 2023. The course: Stranger Natures. "How do we see nature? When does the environment come to life—or into something stranger—in films and in nonfiction? In this workshop, we will learn how to write alongside visual media that makes us re-think our notion of “nature.” We will proceed from the infinitesimally small to the impossibly large, from looking carefully at still frames to analyzing grand narratives about the climate. In this class, we will watch slowly and with detailed attention, also looking at films that may not, at first glance, seem to be “about” the environment. We will experiment together, considering what techniques of film can be integrated into our own writing. The reading list will include essays from writers such as Susan Sontag, Rob Nixon, Anna Tsing, Annie Dillard, and Mel Chen. Each class will be separated into two parts. For the first section, we will discuss the reading/watching assignment. The second half of the class will be devoted to critiquing student work. Additionally, you will complete a small (300-500 words) writing assignment every week, in which you will respond to a prompt. Students will be asked to write a short essay inspired by the readings and viewings." Apply by May 15.

Sleuthfest. July 6 - 9, 2023: Boca Raton, FL. Sponsored by the Florida Chapter of Mystery Writers of America a conference for writers and fans. Features writing workshops, social events, and pitch sessions, including:
* Agent Appointments to pitch your finished work
* Critiques of your 10 page manuscript submission
* Forensic track with current forensic techniques & hands-on workshops
* Social events to mingle with agents, editors and your favorite authors
* Auction to purchase critiques of your work by bestselling authors
* Sessions on the craft of writing
* Sessions on marketing and promoting your work
* Practice your Pitch sessions with experienced authors

North Carolina Writing Day Workshop. July 7 - 8, 2023. Online. This is a special two-day “How to Get Published” writing workshop on July 7-8, 2023. In other words, it’s two days full of classes and advice designed to give you the best instruction concerning how to get your writing & books published. We’ll discuss your publishing opportunities today, how to write queries & pitches, how to market yourself and your books, what makes an agent/editor stop reading your manuscript, and more. No matter what you’re writing — fiction or nonfiction — the day’s classes will help point you in the right direction. Writers of all genres are welcome. And even though this is the “Carolina” Writing Workshop, make no mistake — writers from everywhere are welcome to attend virtually.

Summer Camp In Fiction: Explore, Play, And Inspire. July 7 - 11, 2023: Boyds Mills, PA. "Our summer camp is a time to find the kind of encouragement for your writing that only a generous mentor can provide. To find inspiration and support. To be with a community that understands the long process of creating. To work 1:1 and fine-tune your words and pitches while you have some fun." 

Tin House Summer Workshop. July 8 - 16, 2023: Portland, Oregon. The 20th annual Tin House Summer Workshop will be held from July 8 to July 16 at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. The program features workshops in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction (limited to 8 to 10 members per class), as well as one-on-one meetings with faculty and industry guests, craft lectures, author conversations, generative exercises, readings, and karaoke. Participating writers include poets Megan Fernandes, Solmaz Sharif, and Jake Skeets; fiction writers Dantiel W. Moniz, Deesha Philyaw, and Matthew Salesses; and nonfiction writers Jaquira Díaz, Melissa Febos, and Meredith Talusan. Tuition is $1,500; the fee for meals and lodging in the Reed College dormitories is $700. Scholarships, payment plans, and application fee waivers are available. Using only the online application system, writers submitted a writing sample of up to four poems totaling no more than eight pages or up to 4,000 words of prose with a $25 application fee from January 9 to January 29. Closed.

ASLE Biennial Conference. July 9 - 12, 2023: Portland, OR. "ASLE seeks to inspire and promote intellectual work in the environmental humanities and arts. Our vision is an inclusive community whose members are committed to environmental research, education, literature, art and service, environmental justice, and ecological sustainability."

Young Writers Workshop. July 9 - 29, 2023: Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Restrictions: For students completing grades 9, 10, 11. Three 90-minute workshop sessions daily, including imaginative writing activities and discussion of readings. Weekly individual meetings with workshop instructor. Focus is on using various forms of creative writing to develop language and thinking skills. 

Victorian Chautauqua Writers Workshop. July 10 - 14, 2023: Mountain Lake Park, Maryland. The Victorian Chautauqua 2023 Writers’ Workshop series will include four courses that include adult and children's literature. Children can register for one of two creative writing workshops for grades 3-5 and grades 6-8. The week-long workshops offer diverse instruction for creative writing disciplines by experienced and notable instructors. At the end of the week, each workshop participant will have an opportunity to be part of a public showcase of their work.

Summer Fishtrap Gathering of Writers. July 10 - 16, 2023: Wallowa Lake, Oregon. Take a weeklong writing workshop in your favorite genre: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, memoir, or short story. Each workshop is limited to no more than 13 participants, giving you the opportunity to build connections with a world-class instructor and your fellow writers. Throughout the week, we’ll bring the best of Summer Fishtrap to you through craft talks, discussions, open mics, readings, and a special 35th Anniversary Celebration.

Community of Writers Workshop in Fiction. July 10 - 17, 2023: Olympic Valley, California. These workshops assist serious writers by exploring the art and craft as well as the business of writing. The week offers daily morning workshops, craft lectures, panel discussions on editing and publishing, staff readings, as well as brief individual conferences. The morning workshops are led by staff writer-teachers, editors, or agents. There are separate morning workshops for Fiction and Narrative Nonfiction/ Memoir. In addition to their workshop manuscript, participants may have a second manuscript read by a staff member who meets with them in an individual conference. During the week, a portion of our workshops is devoted exclusively to nonfiction. Memoir, narrative nonfiction, and essays are invited. Literary criticism and scholarly work will not be considered. Nonfiction applicants can use the same general form for submission. Application deadline March 5.

The Summer Writers Institute. July 10 - 30, 2023: St. Louis, Missouri. The Washington University Summer Writers Institute is an intensive, two-week program featuring workshops in fiction, micro fiction, modern humor, personal narrative, playwriting, and poetry, as well as reading and individual conferences with instructors. Adult writers of all levels of experience work together with published authors and exceptional teachers in a supportive, non-competitive format that allows for personalized attention and constructive feedback.  

Summer Camp in Illustration: Intensive Artistic Inspiration. July 12 - 15, 2023: Boyds Mills, PA. "In-person 4-Day/3-Night Workshop and Retreat Get away for four days at our Summer Camp in Illustration for inspiration, guidance, support, community, fun, creativity, and growth."

Southampton Writers Conference. July 12 - 16, 2023: Long Island, NY. The conference features workshops in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and publishing, as well as readings, lectures, and a master class series. Creative writing workshops are the heart and soul of the summer experience, meeting four afternoons or mornings throughout the session. Enrollment is limited to 13 lucky writers who have applied with writing samples. Those accepted have the privilege of sharing their work in an intimate, rigorous and friendly setting. 

Saskatchewan Festival of Words. July 13 - 15, 2023: Moose Jaw, Canada. Workshops for all ages, reading sessions, concerts, film, panel discussions, interviews, music, theatre, a slam poetry competition as well as workshops and author readings.

Imaginarium. July 14 - 16, 2023: Louisville KY. A three day annual event held in Louisville, Kentucky centered entirely around creative writing, including the worlds of books, movies, gaming, music, and comics/graphic novels. Imaginarium Convention features extensive programming content, with panels and workshops presented by over 150 professional guests covering everything from the craft of writing to various genres, industry-specific topics, publishing, and social media/publicity. The convention features a film festival with a full array of awards, a masquerade/costume contest, live music, gaming, an expo open to the general public, an awards banquet, a series of literary awards called the Imadjinns, and many more activities, creating a welcoming, inclusive atmosphere that is content-rich and ideal for networking, promotion and personal development. 

Colrain Classic. June 16 - 19, 2023. "The Colrain Manuscript Classic is a highly focused, 3-day conference designed for poets with manuscripts in progress. The Classic features in-depth pre-conference work and candid, realistic evaluation and feedback from nationally-known poets, editors and publishers. In preparation, participants work at home on pre-conference assignments and then, in the workshop, review, arrange, and winnow their work based on the pre-conference work. In addition to the manuscript preparation workshop, manuscript workshop and editorial sessions, there will be an editorial Q&A, and an after-conference strategy session." On Zoom.

Summer Camp in Nonfiction: Explore, Engage, and Inspire. July 16 - 20, 2023: Boyds Mills, PA. "In-person 5-Day/4-Night Workshop and Retreat Get away for five days at our Summer Camp in Nonfiction for inspiration, guidance, mentorship, community, fun, creativity, and growth."

Port Townsend Writers’ Conference. July 16 - 22, 2023: Port Townsend, Washington. workshops in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, as well as craft lectures, readings, open mics, and time to write. "The Port Townsend Writers’ Conference has been since 1974 at the wild heart of the thriving Pacific Northwest literary scene. With a focus on community and rigorous attention to craft, the Conference offers morning workshops, afternoon workshops, residencies, guided freewrites, and a vibrant readings and lectures series presented by vital, contemporary writers." 

Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshops. July 16 - 29, 2023: Gambier, Ohio. At Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshops, talented high school students from around the world join a dynamic and supportive literary community to stretch their talents, discover new strengths, and challenge themselves in the company of peers who are also passionate about writing. In person.

Writer’s Digest Conference. July 17 - 20, 2023: New York City. Annual Writer's Digest Conference featuring: Pitch Slam, with more than fifty agents and editors in attendance, educational tracks devoted to publishing and self-publishing, platform and promotion, and the craft of writing,  speakers and instructors. 

Sewanee Writers’ Conference. July 18 -  30, 2023: Sewanee, TN. 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, and a playwriting workshop supported by two professional actors. In addition, a substantial number of literary agents will attend.

Midwest Writers Workshop. July 19 - 22, 2023: Muncie, Indiana. July 20 -22, 2023 Virtual. Craft and business sessions, agent pitches, manuscript evaluations. MWW includes quality instruction by a faculty of authors, agents, editors, and specialists. Will be held online and in person.

Romance Writers of America. July 19 - 22, 2023: Anaheim, California. Opening Session Speaker: Mel Walker. Workshop leaders: Jen Graybeal, Peggy Jaeger, Thien-Kim Lam, Mia P. Manansala, and many more.

The Cambridge Writers’ Workshop Summer Writing Retreat. July 19 - 25, 2023: Paris, France. The retreat offers participating writers of all genres and levels to work alongside award-winning authors and editors. Participating writers will hone their craft and expand their writing skills, while working on new or existing projects. Tuition is $3,875, which includes lodging in central Paris, creative writing workshops and writing seminars with our supportive and award-winning faculty of writers and editors, and daily breakfast. Register by June 1, 2023.

Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Retreat. July 20 - 23, 2023, Colorado Springs, CO. An intensive 3-day writing retreat. Sold out.

North Carolina Writers' Network Squire Summer Writing Residency. July 20 - 23, 2023: Davidson, North Carolina. This workshop will explore how to write about places and spaces, while remaining mindful of the interconnections between the natural and cultural, the built and non-built, the human and animal. We will investigate how notions of home and belonging are created and maintained as well as how they can be disrupted by alterations to the cultural traditions and physical environments that surround us and inform our sense of place. During the workshop, we will read and write about the places that have made us who we are today. We will also consider our responsibilities to those places and how to preserve them both in reality and on the page.

IWWG Summer Writers Conference: Writing for Equity and Inclusion. July 20 - 24, 2023: Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA. The conferene will feature over 70 workshops, critiques, open mics, performances, and awards.


Northwestern University Summer Writers’ Conference. July 21 - 22, 2023: Chicago, Illinois. "This year’s schedule offers presentations for writers of all genres and backgrounds. Learn how to write your life in 750 words or less, structure your chapbook, and infuse your writing with revolution. Hear from award-winning authors on how to generate dramatically rich scenes, evoke memories through metaphors, and layer your writing with suspense. Get some pro tips for interviewing and advice on how and when to submit to literary journals, agents, and contests." Will be held online.

Cascade Three-day Critique Workshop. July 21 – 23, 2023: Bremerton, WA. "Our Three-Day Critique Workshop is an opportunity for you to submit the first 4000 words of your novel, short story, or whatever project you are working on, for critique in a group of up to 8 peers led by an industry professional. This is a great way to polish up those first pages and first chapter. Submissions are due six weeks before the event via our Discord Channel. Registrants will receive login information a few weeks before submissions are due. There will also be one-hour workshops and panel presentations on craft, querying, the publishing industry, and more. Optional casual gatherings provide opportunities to get to know other writers as well as authors, editors, and agents." Proof of vaccination required.

Confluence-SFF. July 21 - 23, 2023: Pittsburgh, PA. Located at the birthplace of the Ohio River, Confluence is Pittsburgh’s longest-running literary conference with a strong focus on science fiction, fantasy and horror. Award-winning authors, editors, artists and song-writers gather for three full days.

The Greater Los Angeles Writers Conference, July 21-23 Virtual; July 28-30 In-Person, Los Angeles, CA. West Coast Writers Conferences presents a full weekend of panels, workshops and presentations by educators, noted speakers, and industry professionals focused on the craft and business of writing.

Mystery Writers Conference.  July 21 - 23, 2023: Corte Madera, CA. In this conference, mystery writers learn the clues to a successful writing career. Editors, agents, and publishers tell participants what they need to know to get published. Authors offer classes on setting, dialogue, suspense, point of view, and openings. They tell how to write about private eyes, amateur sleuths, and police protagonists, and how to create thrillers and historical mysteries. Panels of detectives, forensic experts, police, and other crime-fighting professionals provide information that allows crime fiction writers to put realism in their work. 

Grub Street Muse and the Marketplace Conference. July 27 -  30, 2023, Boston, Massachusetts. The Muse and the Marketplace is a three-day literary conference designed to give aspiring writers a better understanding about the craft of writing fiction and non-fiction, to prepare them for the changing world of publishing and promotion, and to create opportunities for meaningful networking. On all three days, prominent and nationally-recognized established and emerging authors lead sessions on the craft of writing—the "muse" side of things—while editors, literary agents, publicists and other industry professionals lead sessions on the business side—the "marketplace." Will be held virtually.

Taylor's Professional Writers Conference. July 28 - 29, 2023: Upland, Indiana. Advanced and Teen Tracks starting July 27, 2023. 35 seminars covering General & First-timers, Fiction, Nonfiction, Platform & Marketing and Specialty Writing. 

Steamboat Springs Writers Conference. July 28 - 29, 2023: Steamboat Springs, CO. Two instructors, seminar-type workshops for all levels, beginning to professional. Topics change each year. Limited enrollment. 

The Creativity Workshop in New York. July 28 - 31, 2023: New York, New York. "The Creativity Workshops take away the fear of writing and open the way to new ideas. They are especially helpful for writers in fiction, poetry, memoir, theatre and film to get over writing blocks. In our Creativity Workshop Retreats you will generate both new work and ideas for the work you are in the midst of creating. We use many different techniques to help you find your way through the novel, essay, poem, memoir, or script you are writing or hope to write. In The Creativity Workshop you will be doing free writing, writing from guided visualizations, collaborative writing, journaling and memoir work and even some rudimentary drawing, collage and photography."

Catamaran Writing Conference: Poetry. July 30 - August 3, 2023: Pebble Beach, CA. The workshop meets four mornings and each participant will receive focused feedback from the group on their poems. You'll be invited to submit a writing sample for group feedback. Optional participant readings will be held. During registration you will be invited to indicate your poetry workshop instructor preference. 

Napa Valley Writers’ Conference. July 30 - August 4, 2023: Napa, California. The conference features workshops in poetry, fiction, and translation, as well as craft talks and evening readings. The faculty includes poets Jane Hirshfield and Major Jackson, fiction writers Lan Samantha Chang and ZZ Packer, and translator Forrest Gander. The cost of the conference is $1,100, which includes tuition, daily breakfast and lunch, two dinners, and wine tastings. Closed.

Frost Place Poetry Seminar. July 30 - August 4, 2023. The Seminar schedule features a daily presentation/discussion exploring aspects of craft and technique, an afternoon workshop of participants’ poems or individual, virtual meetings with faculty, and an evening reading, some by faculty poets and others featuring participants. The application deadline is July 1, 2023. Will be held online.

8 New Agents Seeking Literary Fiction, Picture Books, Kidlit, Graphic Novels, Romance, SFF, and more

Alice Caprio ​Here are eight new literary agents actively seeking clients. New agents are a boon to writers. They are actively building their lists, and will go the extra mile for their clients.

All of these agents work for established agencies with good track records. They are looking for all genres.

Always check the agency website and agent bio before submitting. Agents can switch agencies or close their lists, and submission requirements can change. 
​
NOTE: Don't submit to several agents at the same agency simultaneously. If one rejects you, you may then submit to another. (Some small agencies share. Be alert to a notice that "a no from one is a no from all.")

You can find a full list of agents actively seeking new clients here: Agents Seeking Clients. 
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Ms. Alice Caprio of Felicity Bryan Literary Agency (UK)

I am passionate about showcasing diverse and underrepresented voices and I value books that do not shy away from representing the complexities of growing up. I am looking for books with fresh and exciting concepts, whose voices can cross borders and speak out about important topics in an accessible and authentic manner. More generally, I’m looking for captivating storytelling, engrossing world building and atmospheric real-world settings­; writing that feels escapist in some way but remains grounded in real-life concerns.

What she is seeking: I am actively building a list that spans middle grade and YA fiction across all genres, commercial adult fiction, and romance and fantasy for all ages. I am on the hunt for stories that are smart, commercial and bold, with a clear international appeal.

How to submit: Read submission requirements HERE.
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Lauren Albury of Holloway Literary

After graduating Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor’s in English from The College at Southeastern, Lauren interned with FinePrint Literary Agency in New York City. Prior to becoming a literary agent, She lives in Raleigh, NC.

What she is seeking: Literary fiction, Historical fiction, Book club/Women’s, Upmarket fiction, Caribbean stories and voices, Southern settings, Romantic themes, Rich immersive settings like Where the Crawdads Sing and lyrical prose like All the Light We Cannot See.

How to submit: Read full submission guidelines HERE.
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Ms. Saribel Pages of Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency

Spanish Harlem born and bred, Saribel graduated from Kalamazoo College with a B.S in Anthropology, an embarrassingly long to be read list, and a passion for children’s literature. This passion led her to positions at Penguin Random House and W.W. Norton, where she learned about the different sides of the publishing industry. Now at Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency, she is excited to work with a team so dedicated to uplifting marginalized voices. When not reading, you can find her playing various tabletop roleplaying games or explaining roller derby to her friends.

What she is seeking:  I am only seeking to represent picture books and graphic novels. I’m interested in contemporary, adventure, fantasy, speculative, horror, and mysteries. In cases where accommodation is needed, you can instead email me your query and first 20 scripted pages (both pasted into the email) to saribel@galltzacker.com, and include QUERY in the title of the email.

How to submit: Use her query manager here. In cases where accommodation is needed, you can instead email me your query and first 20 scripted pages (both pasted into the email) to saribel@galltzacker.com, and include QUERY in the title of the email.
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Mr. Eric Showers of Howard Morhaim Literary Agency

Eric Showers is an agent at HMLA representing adult speculative fiction and nonfiction.

What he is seeking: He’s most drawn, in speculative fiction, to narratives that explore hierarchies of power, novel world-building in secondary world fantasy, and protagonists with unique voices. THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT by Seth Dickinson, THE UNSPOKEN NAME by A. K. Larkwood, and GIDEON THE NINTH by Tamsyn Muir are books that have hit some of these notes most recently. He’s also looking for stories on the cozier side of speculative fiction, along the lines of Becky Chambers’s THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL ANGRY PLANET or Travis Baldree’s LEGENDS AND LATTES. In nonfiction, he’s most interested in history and philosophy.

How to submit: To query Eric, please email your query letter and the first three chapters of your novel or your full non-fiction book proposal to eric@morhaimliterary.com. Email attachments are acceptable.

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Ms. Kelly Bergh of Lucinda Literary

Kelly holds a master’s degree in publishing from Drexel University and splits her time between Philadelphia and Seattle. After beginning her career as an editor in academic publishing and briefly serving as a children’s librarian, Kelly joined Lucinda Literary to begin building a list in adult practical nonfiction.

What she is seeking: Adult practical nonfiction in the categories of health and wellness, spirituality, and popular science. She selectively takes on children’s and gift books/decks in the same areas. A certified yoga teacher, Kelly is drawn to representing authors who seek to educate and empower those curious about what it means to live in alignment with their values. She is looking for PhDs and journalists who want to share their research with a general audience, as well as established thought leaders and influencers seeking a new medium through which to connect with their existing audiences.

How to submit: Use her querymanager here. 

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Clara Foster of Aevitas Creative Management (UK)

Prior to joining Aevitas, Clara was an agency assistant for the Blair Partnership.

What she is seeking: In fiction, I am looking for stories in the upmarket/book-club sweet spot where literary and genre-fiction meet (think CIRCE and LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY), intensely emotional literary women (think LUSTER by Raven Leilani or THE GUEST by Emma Cline), and just about anything written with beautiful prose, a high-stakes plot, and/or a folkloric, legendary, or mythical grounding (think SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN by Shelley Parker-Chan, A MARVELLOUS LIGHT by Freya Markse, or NINTH HOUSE by Leigh Bardugo. I love a romance in any genre—fantasy, historical, mystery, or a combination of all three—and will, no matter how dark a book gets in the middle, always gravitate towards a happy ending.

In the YA/Crossover space: much like my taste in adult fiction, I want to see clever world-building, emotional (and flawed) characters, and preferably a romantic sub-plot—or main plot. Here however I would like to find writing from authors who push the boundaries even further: new twists on old tropes, high concepts (an idea you can pitch in a sentence), and perspectives we rarely get to see. My enduring favourites from my teenage years are THE HUNGER GAMES and A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, and I would love to help publish books that stick just as steadfastly with a new generation of readers.

In Non-fiction, I would like to find highly practical guides aimed squarely at women with the intention of filling crucial gaps in our collective knowledge. Books I thinks have done this successfully include GIRLS WHO INVEST by Simran Kaur and HOW TO WORK WITHOUT LOSING YOUR MIND by Cate Sevilla.

How to submit: Use her querymanager here. 

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Gabriella Melendez of Great Dog Literary

Gabriella currently lives in the DMV area and received her Bachelors degree from the University of Maryland. She was previously a prose editor for UMD’s literary journal, STYLUS, as well as an editor for their academic journal. Gabriella is also a graduate of the Denver Publishing Institute, where she focused her efforts on learning about the different divisions of publishing and ways to promote diversity. She began interning at Great Dog in January 2022 before transitioning full time to the Great Dog Team.

What she is seeking: "Young adult fiction and adult fiction." Gabriella is working towards her goal of promoting diversity and underrepresented voices in fiction with specific interest in stories by Latinx/Hispanic authors. Her taste gravitates towards commercial or upmarket fiction and she is interested in stories that present real issues in a digestible format for a wide range of readers.

How to submit: Use her querymanager here. 

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Ms. Kelly Karczewski of United Talent Agency

Kelly Karczewski majored in English at Amherst College before getting her start in publishing at (now-defunct) Foundry Literary + Media. She moved to UTA in January 2023 and is now building her own list of varied fiction and nonfiction.

Whast she is seeking: On the fiction side, Kelly is generally drawn towards books that will translate well to the screen—contemporary stories that draw you in with a strong commercial hook, and keep you reading with sharp, surprising writing. She has a soft spot for elevated romantic comedies, thrillers, stories set on the East coast, and books with a touch of lifestyle envy. Anything Nancy Meyers might adapt…

For nonfiction, she reads solely to learn something new–and while there is little she isn’t curious about, she’s most interested in exploring topics with bite, especially those that speak to a larger moment in our culture. She’s always eager to read more about sexuality, art history, sports, conspiracy theories, cults, dating & relationships, and feminist history.

How to submit: Email queries only. Please send the first 10 pages of your manuscript, along with your query letter, to kelly.karczewski@unitedtalent.com with “Query for Kelly Karczewski: TITLE” as your subject heading. She’ll be in touch within 4-6 weeks if she is interested in representing your work. Due to the volume of submissions, she is unable to reply to every query.

87 Calls for Submissions in June 2023 - Paying markets

Public Domain This June there are more than seven dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As always, every genre, style, and form is wanted, from short stories to poetry to essays.

I post upcoming calls for submissions shortly before the first day of every month. But as I am collecting them, I post them on my page, Calls for Submissions. You can get a jump on next month's calls for submissions by checking that page periodically throughout the month. (I only post paying markets.)

Also see Paying Markets for hundreds of paying markets arranged by form and genre.
Happy submitting!

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Rebel Satori: Bijou Series. Genre: Short form fiction, novels, and novelettes. Themes may include LGBTQIA+ fiction and queer speculative fiction/fantasy. Manuscripts should be 25-30K words in length. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

Vastarien. Genre: Horror. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art. Payment: 5 cents/word for prose; $50 for poetry and art. Deadline: Opens June 1. Submissions close when they reach their cap of 300.

Extra Teeth. Genre: Short fiction and nonfiction between 800 and 4,000 words. "We look for short stories that stick with you, lingering in the memory long after reading, and essays that explore specific interests or issues from a new perspective. We offer a space for writers to be strange, bold and experimental, and to express their unique style however they see fit." Payment: £100. Deadline: Opens June 1, 2023.

Eternal Haunted Summer. Genre: Poetry, short fiction. Theme: Genesis. Payment: $5. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

The Offing: Translation. Genre: Translated work in any genre. Payment: $25–$100. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

Old Moon. Genre: Weird fiction and sword-and-sorcery. Payment: 8 cents per word. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

sin cesar: Climate. Restrictions: They prioritize work by Black and Brown artists. “We do not accept work that sustains the traditional white literary Western canon that has continuously ignored and poised itself as an authority over the voices of the oppressed. We do not give a voice to stories from the perspectives of cisgender, heterosexual, white, upper-class males that continue this tradition. We also do not give a voice to feminist works that only consider white female perspectives.” Genre: Fiction (including flash fiction), nonfiction (memoir essays, critical essays, book reviews, & interviews), and poetry on the Climate theme. “We look for subversive and bold voices; thought-provoking pieces that seek to illuminate a truth for the reader.” Payment: $25-75 for poetry, $100 for prose. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

llustrated Worlds Genre: Fantasy, dark fantasy and horror. Payment: fiction will pay one copy of the printed magazine and 1 cent per word. Poetry will pay one copy of the printed magazine and $10. Cover art will receive one copy of the magazine and $50. Inside art will receive one copy of the printed magazine and $10 - $20 depending on the size of the printed version. Deadline: Opens June 1, 2023.

Olit. Restrictions: Strong preference for Orlando based writers/submissions about Orlando and surrounding areas. Genre: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Hybrid, Artwork, Photography. "Send us all kinds of stuff. We love the artfully weird." Payment: $10. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

Massachusetts Review. Genre: Personal essays, stories, interviews, and poems about womanhood as it relates to modern times. Payment: $200. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

Parabola. Genre: Original essays and translations, poetry, reviews. See themes. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: June 1, 2023. 

Third Flatiron. Genre: SF, fantasy, space opera, hopepunk. Theme: Rhapsody of the Spheres. Payment: 8 cents per word. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

Dead Letters. Genre: Short horror stories in the epistolary format—meaning, stories written as letters, journal entries, transcripts of radio broadcasts, newspaper clippings, text messages, etc. Furthermore, each story should include some mention of how its manuscript was “discovered.” A letter found in a historian’s archive, for example. Or emails saved as part of a missing persons investigation. Or an audio file recovered from a dead podcaster’s PC. Length: 2,500 – 7,000 words. Payment: $0.01 per word. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

Gemma Files. Genre: Horror short stories based on the themes set out in Gemma Files’ classic work, Experimental Film. Payment: $50 per piece. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

The New Lesbian Pulp. Genre: Short stories, scripts. Length: 3,000 - 10,000 words. "The landscape of relationships, queer embodiment, and womanhood has shifted past our cultural focus. We the editors want stories that pull the lens back to where we are now: what is the reality of the contemporary dyke?" Payment: $300 to $1,000 per contributor. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

Tales from the Moonlit Path. Genre: Dark, eerie speculative fiction and poetry. Payment: $10 for fiction. Deadline: June 2, 2023.

Fairy Tale Magazine. Genre: Fairy tales and poetry on theme: Love. Payment: $50. Deadline: June 2, 2023.

Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores. Genre: Speculative stories. Payment: 8 cents/word for original work. 2 cents/word for reprints. Deadline: June 2, 2023. Opens June 1.

Space Cat Press. Genre: Poetry, flash fiction, short stories and creative non-fiction inspired by the theme ‘Into the Forest’. "We welcome submissions from a variety of genres. Whatever the theme inspires YOU to write – be it traditional science fiction, memoirs, poetry, (mild) otherworldly horror, fairy tales, or something else entirely – we want to read it." Payment: flat rate fee for each piece - £5 for poetry/flash fiction and £10 for short stories. Deadline: June 2, 2023. (Extended)

Havok. Genre: Flash fiction on theme of Legendary People. Payment: $50 via PayPal for each story selected for an Anthology. No payment for online publication. Deadline: June 4, 2023.

Mizna. Restrictions: Contributors do not need to identify as of Arab/SWANA descent, provided their work is of relevance to or in dialogue with the social realities of the SWANA/Arab region or community. Genre: Poetry, stories, creative essays, flash fiction, comics. Theme: Cinema. "We are seeking works which explore the relationship between moving image–making and writing and what the two practices can offer one another." Payment: $200. Deadline: June 4, 2023.

The Margins. Restrictions: Open to Asian American and diasporic poets. Genre: Poetry. Payment: $50 to $90 (USD) for original and translated poetry; the fee varies based on the number and length of poems. Deadline: June 5, 2023. Accepts reprints.

Mslexia. Restrictions: Open to women. Genre: Fiction poetry, nonfiction. Theme: Poison. Payment: £30. Deadline: June 5, 2023.

The Victorian Writer. Genre: Poems and articles. Payment: Poems ($70), and articles of 600 words ($100) and 1200 words ($200) in the print edition with particular interest in the craft of writing and the writing life. Deadline: June 6, 2023. Note: Pitches only. See themes.

Tasavvur. Genre: South Asian speculative fiction. Payment: 2.5 cents per word, up to a maximum of 5,000 words. Deadline: June 6, 2023.

Lightspeed. Genre: Science fiction flash fiction Payment: 8 cents per word. Deadline: June 7, 2023.

Words and Sports. Genre: Baseball/football/basketball/hockey/soccer stories & comics & poems & collages & cnf & hybrid & other genres we're not even thinking about, but we'd really love to see stuff in any way related to non-major sports! Payment: $50. Deadline: June 7, 2023.

Stone’s Throw. Genre: Noir stories on theme: Freedom. Length: Between 1,000 and 2,000 words. Payment: $25. Deadline: June 7, 2023. This is a monthly call.

Bright Wall/Dark Room. Genre: Essays on film and TV on theme of Vacation. "For our July issue, we’re looking at Vacations on film—the good, the bad, and the furiously funny." Payment: $100 per essay. Deadline: June 7, 2023.

Samjoko Magazine. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, play, screenplay. Payment: $20. Deadline: June 10, 2023.

Antithesis. Genre: Poetry, research articles, art, and short fiction, creative nonfiction, and personal essays up to 3,500 words on the theme of Cosmos. Payment: $50 AUD. Deadline: June 11, 2023.

Solarpunk Magazine. Genre: Solarpunk. Payment: $0.08/word for fiction, $40/poem, and $75/essay.  Deadline: June 14, 2023.

Cast of Wonders. Genre: YA Speculative fiction. Podcast. Theme: Banned Books Week. Payment: $.08/word for original fiction up to 6,000 words. For reprints, a $100 flat rate for Short Fiction, and a $20 flat rate for Flash Fiction. Deadline: June 14, 2023.

Neon. Genre: Speculative fiction on theme of Childhood. "Neon is a magazine of slipstream fiction, poetry, and artwork. We publish creative work that is fantastic or surreal, and which crosses the boundaries between science-fiction, horror and literary fiction." Payment: Minimum of £10. Deadline: June 15, 2023.

Bull City Press. Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction Chapbooks. Payment: Royalties (?) Deadline: June 15, 2023

Baffling. Genre: Speculative flash fiction. Length: Under 1200 words. Payment: 8 cents/word. Deadline: June 15, 2023. See themes.

Eye to the Telescope. Genre: Speculative poetry. Payment: $0.04/word, up to $25. Deadline: June 15, 2023. See theme.

Muse Magazine. Genre: Nonfiction articles for children. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: June 15, 2023. See themes. Queries only.

Eastover Press: Rural Writers of Color. Restrictions: Open to BIPOC writers who live in or hail from rural or semi-rural locales in the U.S. and whose short stories feature characters living or working in rural or semi-rural spaces. Genre: Short stories. Payment: $100-$300. Deadline: June 15, 2023.

A Public Space. Genre: Fiction, essays, poetry, as well as graphic and hybrid work. Payment: Honorarium. Deadline: June 15, 2023.

Augur Magazine. Restrictions: Open to creators who are Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, Disabled, and/or Trans, who are also Canadian citizens/permanent residents and/or who are living within the settler-defined borders of the land colonially known as Canada. Genre: Fantasy. "Give us your most gorgeous fairy tale retellings, your most earnest and subversive fables. Introduce us to your beloved mythical creatures; your trans mages and gay knights; your deeply immersive worlds and dreamworlds and underworlds." Payment: $0.11 cents (CAD) per word for short fiction (1000+ words), and a flat fee of $110.00 per flash fiction piece (1000 words and under). Deadline: June 15, 2023.

Grain Magazine. Genre: Fiction, literary nonfiction, and poetry. Payment: CAD50/page up to CAD250 for writing, up to CAD500 for art. Deadline: June 15, 2023.

The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts. Genre: Fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, mixed media, visual arts, "and even kitchen sinks, if they are compressed in some way.” Payment: $50. Deadline: June 15, 2023.

Propertius Press.  Genre: Nonfiction. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 15, 2023. May close early if cap is reached.

Propagule. Genre: Short stories that are intrepid with regard to experimentation and oddity; the strange, the surreal, the atypical, the unexpected. Payment: $20 (max). Deadline: June 15, 2023.

Transit Books. Genre: Translations (fiction & nonfiction) and nonfiction proposals for their Undelivered Lectures series. They are not considering English-language fiction. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 15, 2023.

Saltbush. Genre: Poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction of up to 3,000 words on the theme of ‘Fracture.’ Shorter works are also welcome, as are works that challenge genre boundaries. Payment: AUD$150 per piece of fiction and non-fiction and AUD$100 per poem or piece of flash fiction. Deadline: June 16, 2023.

The Offing: Insight. Genre: Creative nonfiction (usually personal essay) that centers one’s personal experience against the backdrop of art, literature, and culture. Insight essays generally fuse together two topics that don’t typically belong together, weaving—and investigating—what is perceived versus what is true. Payment: $25–$100. Deadline: June 16, 2023.

Luna Press. Genre: Speculative fiction novels and collections. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 18, 2023.

Witch House. Genre: Cosmic horror. Payment: $10. Deadline: June 18, 2023.

The Other Stories (Audio). Genre: Horror on themes. Payment: 15 GBT. Deadline: June 24, 2023. See themes.

Anthesis. Genre: Creative writing (short fiction, creative non-fiction, personal essays) up to 3,000 words; Scholarly research articles up to 7,500 words; Poetry up to 100 lines; Artwork (paintings, drawings, photography, digital art, comic art, graphic narratives, etc.) Payment: AU$50. Deadline: June 25, 2023. See theme.

Off Topic Publishing: Poetry Box. Genre: Poetry. Payment $40 CAD. Deadline: June 25, 2023.

Afreada. Restrictions: Open to African writers. Genre: Short fiction, personal essays. Payment: £25. Deadline: June 29, 2023.

Mud Season Review. Genre: Poetry, Fiction, CNF, Art. Payment: $50. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Freeze Frame Fiction. Genre: Flash fiction. "Any genre, no content restrictions. We want your science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, drama, literary works, satire, bizarre fiction, or anything else you can come up with or mix together. The more original, the better. The weirder, the better.” Payment: $10. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Green Writers Press. Genres: Poetry, fiction, short story collections, environmental essay collections, middle-grade and YA/teen fiction, artwork, and photography. Green Writers Press is an independent, Vermont-based publishing company, is dedicated to spreading environmental awareness and social justice by publishing authors who promulgate messages of hope and renewal through place-based writing and environmental activism. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 30th, 2023.

Harbor Editions: Hybrid Chapbook Reading Period. Genre: Hybrid chapbook. Chapbooks should be around 20-50 pages. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 30, 2023. No fee for BIPOC writers.

Dracula Beyond Stoker. Genre: Fiction based on Stoker’s characters. See theme. Payment: 5 cents/word. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Sinister Smile Press: If I Die Before I Wake – Tales of Death and Destruction. Genre: Horror. Length: Between 4,000 and 10,000 words. See theme. Payment: $30 - $50 depending on length. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Written in the Wind – Fantastic Tales on the Power of Names. Genre: Fantasy short stories will explore names and the power they hold over us. Length: 2000-4000 words (+/- 250 words) Payment: $20. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Poet Lore. Genre: Poetry translations. Payment: $50. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Greater Than His Nature. Genre: Short stories based on the theme of “mad science.” Cackling Victorian scientists, giant atomic monsters, and Cronenbergian body horror are all fair game. I’m even open to the right piece of nonfiction for this one. I’m especially interested to include stories from disabled and chronically ill writers. You don’t need to self-identify if you don’t want to or give me any information you don’t feel comfortable with; just know that, if you’ve got some medical trauma you need to work through with monsters and mayhem, I’m here for you." Payment: $5. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Open All Night. Genre: Horror and fantasy (and all and any assorted sub- and cross-genres) based around the theme of “open all night.” "While not strictly necessary, I’ll definitely be looking for retail and service industry-based stories. Give me graveyard shifts, overnight inventories gone bad, and haunted diners, shit so sordid and spooky that even the most seasoned of waitresses can’t handle what’s happening." Payment: $5. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Meerkat Press. Genre: Full-length speculative fiction, novellas and novels. Darker themes. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

New Orleans Review. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Payment: $300 for prose, $100 for poetry. Deadline: June 30, 2023. In celebration of Pride, there are no submission fees for LGBTQIA2+ writers in June. We are especially interested in trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming voices.

Unicorn Press. Genre: Poetry collections. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Midnight & Indigo. Restrictions: Open to black women. Genre: Fiction, personal essays. Payment: $50 for essays, and $50-$75 for fiction. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Bamboo Ridge. Genre: All works by and about Hawaii's people. Payment: $50. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Chestnut Review. Genre: Poetry, flash fiction, short fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, visual media (art/photography). Payment: $120. Deadline: June 30, 2023. No fee for BIPOC writers.

Haven Speculative. Genre: Speculative fiction and poetry. Payment: 1 cent/word for fiction and $5 - $10 for poetry. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

They Hunt By Night. Genre: Horror stories set in the real world, before 1950. "Vampires and werewolves. Ghouls and gargoyles. History is filled with legends of those who walk among us, living seemingly innocent lives by day, only to transform into fearsome creatures as the daylight fades and the shadows deepen." Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Eerie River. Genre: Horror inspired by Tarot: 1500 - 7000 firm. Payment: ¢1 per word CAD. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Small Harbor Publishing. Genre: Hybrid chapbooks. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 30, 2023. Submission fee waived for BIPOC writers only.

JMS Books. Genre: LGBTQ romance stories, 12,000 words minimum. See theme. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Allegory. Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror. Payment: $15. Deadline: June 30th, 2023.

Dancing Star Press. Genre: Speculative fiction novellas. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 30, 2023.


The Hudson Review. Genre: Fiction, poetry, essays, book reviews; criticism of literature, art, theatre, dance, film, and music; and articles on contemporary cultural developments. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: June 30th, 2023. (Poetry only)

Dragon Soul Press: To Hunt and to Hold. Genre: "All stories featuring vampires. Any era, setting, genre is acceptable. Outer space is also an option." Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 30th, 2023.

Dragon Soul Press: Beautiful Darkness2. Genre: " In a world where so many dark things go bump in the night, terror awaits around every corner as these authors take horror stories to the next level." Payment: Royalties. Deadline: June 30th, 2023.

B Cubed Press: Alternative Truths, Southern Edition: Bless Their Hearts. Genre: Stories, essays, and poems. "Bless Their Hearts will examine the South, a place where politicians and their followers compete to peg the outrage meter. Why—and how—are they turning the United States into a cauldron of bigotry and hate? This book will look at the mindset behind these and other efforts to bring back the Old South, a mythical place and time when everyone knew their place. We want stories that speak to the consequences of such a mindset and where it may be taking us as individuals and as a culture. What, if left unfettered, would these efforts make of America, the world, and the future? And more importantly, how will we fight to stop them?" Payment: $.03 a word upon publication, plus a share of the profits. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Lightspeed. Restrictions: Open to BIPOC writers only. Genre: Fantasy flash fiction. Payment: 8 cents per word. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

A Coven of Witches. Genre: Short stories and poems with witches, or a witch, as the main theme of the piece. Payment: £10. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Happy Hellidays. Genre: Horror. "We want your stories of of holidays (any holiday at all!) filled with terror and dread, blood and guts, ghosts, and demons most foul." Payment: $5. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Nightlight (Podcast). Restrictions: At least one of your birth parents must be Black. Genre: Horror. Flash fiction (750-1,500 words) Payment: 5 cents per word. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Space Brides. Genre: Speculative fiction about mail-order brides or husbands. "Looking to settle off world? We have husbands and wives searching for you." No erotica. Payment: $15. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Nonprofit Quarterly. Genre: Climate fiction. "Inspired by Janelle Monáe, Octavia E. Butler, and Ursula K. Le Guin, we’re looking for short climate fiction stories that spark imaginative visions of the future. Particularly, we want to see writing that is largely speculative in nature but scientifically grounded." Payment: Up to $500 per piece. Deadline: June 30, 2023.


And a few more...

Lupercalia. Genre: Chapbooks. Art and writing by trans and queer creators that focuses on themes of transgender and queer sex/sexuality/excess/celebration. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

A Velvet Giant. Genre: "We are open to work that takes the shape of basically any format: words, recordings, visual art, hybrid forms, etc. We are open to translated original work." Payment: $20. Deadline: July 1, 2023. 

The Cafe Irreal. Genre: Magical realism. 2,000 words max. Payment: 1 cent/word. Deadline: July 1, 2023.


The Perfectly Fine Neighborhood. Genre: Horror short stories. See theme. Payment: 3 cents per word. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

Reservoir Road Literary Review. Genre: Literary short stories, lyrical creative non-fiction, photography. Payment: $5. Deadline: Opens July 1, 2023. Note: Submission window closes when their cap is reached.

Thema: The Magic of Light and Shadow. Genre: Fiction, poetry, and art on theme: The Magic of Light and Shadow. Payment:  $10-$25 for short fiction and artwork, $10 for poetry. Deadline: July 1, 2023. Accepts reprints.

It Came from the Trailer Park. Genre: Horror-comedy with the same feel as The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, Shaun of the Dead, or Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: July 1, 2023.

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71 Writing Contests in June 2023 — No entry fees

Pxfuel This June there are more than five dozen free writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and plays. Prizes range from $100,000 to publication. None charge entry fees.Some of these contests have age and geographical restrictions, so read the instructions carefully.

If you want to get a jump on next month's contests go to Free Contests. Most of these contests are offered annually, so even if the deadline has passed, you can prepare for next year.

Good luck! 

__________________


Pride Award for Emerging LGBTQIA+ Crime Writers. Genre: An unpublished work of crime fiction, aimed at readers from children’s chapter books through adults. This may be a short story or first chapter(s) of a manuscript in-progress of 2,500 to 5,000 words. Prize: $2,000. Deadline: Opens June 1, 2023.

The PEN Grant for the English Translation of Italian Literature. Genre: Translation. Work-in-progress of a book-length translation of an Italian work of literary fiction or nonfiction into English. Prize: $5,000 grant. Deadline: June 1, 2023. 

Stone Canoe: Poetry in Flight. Restrictions: Participants must be residents of any of the 12-county region served by the Syracuse Hancock International Airport: Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga, Tompkins, Jefferson, Tioga, Oneida, Lewis, Madison, Cortland, Chemung, Broome. Poems by people who are not current residents of one of these counties will not be considered. Genre: Poem on the theme of Aviation and Travel. Prize: One winning poem will receive a pair of round-trip plane tickets good for travel in the 48 contiguous states or Canada, courtesy of Delta Air Lines, up to a $1200 value. Youth Prize: Gift basket from Barnes and Noble with a value of $500, as well as one-year of enrollment to the Young Authors Academy at the YMCA's Downtown Writers Center in Syracuse. Deadline: June 1, 2023. 

The Africa Institute: Global Africa Translation Fellowship. Restrictions: Open to Translators in the Global South. Genre: translations of works from the African continent and its diaspora, into English or Arabic. This is a non-residential fellowship. Projects may be retranslations of old, classic texts, previously untranslated works, poetry, prose, or critical theory collections. The project may be a work-in-progress, or a new project feasible for completion within the timeframe of the grant. Prize: $1,000-$5,000. Deadline: June 1, 2023. 

Abrams Amplify Award. Restrictions: Entrants must be un-agented writers who are at least 18 years. old at the time of entry, are legal residents of the fifty (50) United States or the District of Columbia, and have not previously had any children’s fiction or children’s nonfiction published. "We encourage the work of creators who self-identify as Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Latinx, Middle Eastern, or Native American/Indigenous." Genre: Picture book. Prizes: One (1) winner will receive $5,000, editorial notes, and a one-on-one video conference meeting with an ABRAMS editor to discuss the Submission. Two (2) winners will receive $2,500 and editorial notes on the Submission from an ABRAMS editor. Two (2) winners will receive $1,000 and editorial notes on the Submission from an ABRAMS editor. All winners will have an opportunity for their full Submission to be reviewed by the ABRAMS Books editorial team for a possible offer of publication. Deadline: June 1, 2023. 

Forum Prize. Genre: Essay on the subject of: ‘Courageous Art(s)’ "We are looking for bold, visionary and persuasive essays that use academic research to pursue innovative questions. The topic may be addressed from the perspective of any of the literatures (including literary linguistics, translation and comparative literature approaches) normally covered by the journal: Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish." Prize: £500 and publication. Deadline: June 1, 2023. 

The OFIC Press Prize. Genre: Novels and novellas that don't really fit in a traditional publishing category. Prize: The prize for a novel is $1000 and a novella $250. Novels will be published as standalone books and novellas will be compiled into an anthology. Deadline: June 1, 2023. 

Cromwell Article Prize. Restrictions: Open to early career scholars. Genre: Articles published in the field of American legal history. Prize: $2,500. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

The PEN/Heim Translation Fund. Genre: Book-length works of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and drama in translation. Prize: $2000 - $4000. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

PEN/Phyllis Naylor Grant for Children’s and Young Adult Novelists. Restrictions: Candidates must have published one or more novels for children or young adults that have been warmly received by literary critics, but have not generated sufficient income to support the author. Genre: Book-length children's or young-adult fiction. Prize: $5000. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

The PEN/Jean Stein Grant for Literary Oral History. Genre: Literary work of nonfiction that uses oral history to illuminate an event, individual, place, or movement. Prize: $15,000 each. (Two prizes) Deadline: June 1, 2023.

Dan Veach Prize for Younger Poets. Restrictions: Open to poets aged 18-23. Genre: Poetry. Prize:  $100 and publication in the Atlanta Review. Deadline: June 1, 2023.  

Fraser Institute Student Essay Contest. Restrictions: Canadian high school, college, and graduate students. Genre: Short essay on "What would our Essential Scholars say about the world today?" Prize: CAD$1,500 in each age category. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards. Genre: Haiku. Prize: First Place - $200, and a miniature crystal turtle; Second Place - $100; Third Place - $50. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

Bard Fiction Prize. Restrictions: Open to a writer who is an American citizen aged 39 years or younger at the time of application. Genre: Published fiction book. Prize: $30,000 and a one-semester appointment as writer-in-residence at Bard College. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

Molly Keane Creative Writing Award. Restrictions: Open to Irish residents. Genre: Unpublished short story, maximum 2,000 words. Prize: €250 plus a course at the Molly Keane Writers Retreat. Deadline: June 2, 2023

On The Premises. "For this mini-contest, tell, show, or evoke a complete story between 25 and 50 words long in which the same thing, place, or incident is seen from two very different points of view.." Prize: $35 for first place, $25 for second, $15 for third. Deadline: June 2, 2023.

Furious Fiction. Genre: Flash fiction based on their prompt. Length: 500 words max. Prize: $500AUD. Deadline: June 4, 2022.


Icelandic Festival of Manitoba Poetry & Short Stories Contest. Genre: Poetry and short stories. Length; 1200 words max. Prize: $50 - $125. "You do not need to be of Icelandic descent to submit an entry however material reflecting Icelandic culture and interests will be given preference." Deadline: June 5, 2023.

Defenestration. Genre: Short story including an incident of defenestration – the art or –ism of throwing people out of windows. It need not be literal. "This can be a sudden, immediate, even violent shift, change, or seismical event between the beginning and the end.” Prize: $75, two runner-up prizes of $30 each. Deadline: June 7, 2023.

Wyoming Creative Writing Fellowship. Restrictions: Open to Wyoming writers who are U.S. citizens or have legal resident status. Genre: Fiction, Poetry, CNF. Prize: $3,000 and an honorarium/travel stipend. One fellowship will be awarded in each category of Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, and Fiction, for a total of three fellowships. Applications are juried by noted authors, literary agents, or writing professionals from outside the state. Jurors may award honorable mentions. Recipients of the Creative Writing fellowships will share their work at one of Wyoming's literary conferences. Deadline: June 9, 2023.

Institute for Youth in Policy International Essay Writing Contest. Restrictions: Any student, in any country, who is enrolled in an accredited high school or college/university at the time of submitting their essay is eligible to participate. Genre: Essay. "Countless countries around the world suffer from a plethora of issues – economic hardship, social turmoil, political polarization, pandemic recovery, unreliable leadership, corrupt governance, warfare and conflict, the list goes on. If you were elected the leader of your country, what would you do to address the issues your country faces in order to build a more prosperous society?" Prize: $250 and publication. Deadline: June 9, 2023.

Ocean Awareness Youth Contest. Restrictions: Open to students in grades 6 - 12. Genre: Art, poetry, prose, film. "Use humor, positivity, irony, or other unconventional approaches that are not typically used in environmental communication to address the climate crisis. Think outside the tackle-box, beyond clichés, to create something that makes the topic of climate change and our oceans more approachable and accessible." Prizes: $100 - $1,500. Deadline: June 13, 2023.

Grist: Imagine 2200. Genre: Short stories. "What we’re seeking: short stories that envision the next 180 years of equitable climate progress. Our mission is to make the story of a better world so irresistible, you want it right now." Prize: First, second, and third-prize winners will be awarded $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000 respectively, and nine additional finalists will each receive a $300 honorarium. Deadline: June 13, 2023.

Apparition Lit. Genre: Flash fiction. See themes. Prize: $30. Deadline: June 14, 2023.

The Orchards Poetry Journal: Grantchester Award. Genre: Poetry. Prize: First place is $50.00.
Second place is $30.00. Deadline: June 15, 2023. 

QTBIPOC 2021 Poetry Manuscript Contest. Restrictions: Open to QTBIPOC-identified feminist innovative writers/poets. Genre: Poetry collection. Prize: The prize winner will receive publication along with a $1,000.00 cash award to help aid in book promotion, travel, event attendance, etc. Deadline: June 15, 2023.

International Wizard of Oz Club Annual Contests. Genre: Short Fiction, Art & Academic Nonfiction Research Papers. All work must be related to the world of Oz. Prize: $100 in each genre. 2nd Prize $50 in each genre. Deadline: June 15, 2023.

Sapiens Plurum. Genre: Short stories that personalize the consequences of climate change. Theme: “Inventing Beautiful Futures.” Prize: 1ST PRIZE: $1000; 2ND PRIZE: $500; 3RD PRIZE: $300. Deadline: June 15, 2023.

Little, Brown Emerging Artist Award. Genre: High-quality picture books that resonate with readers of diverse backgrounds and experience. Diversity includes literal or metaphorical inclusion of characters of underrepresented ethnicity, religious background, gender identity, class, mental or physical disability, or any other nondominant populations. Prize: American Express® gift cards totaling $1,500, round trip travel to New York City, and the honor of a one-day mentorship with a Little, Brown Books for Young Readers’ professional children’s book design and editorial team. Submission will be reviewed for publication. Deadline: June 15, 2023.

Goi Peace Foundation International Essay Contest for Young People. Restrictions: Open to people 25 years of age or less. Genre: Essay (max 700 words). Theme: “What is Life?” Prize: 1st US$840, 2nd US$420. Deadline: June 15, 2023.

Norton Writer's Prize. Sponsored by W.W. Norton & Company. "The Norton Writer’s Prize will be awarded annually for an outstanding essay written by an undergraduate. Literacy narratives, literary and other textual analyses, reports, profiles, evaluations, arguments, memoirs, proposals, mixed-genre pieces, and more: any excellent writing done for an undergraduate writing class will be considered."  Genres: Creative Nonfiction, Scholarly Essay. Prize: $1,500. Two runner-up prizes of $1,000. Deadline: June 15, 2023.

53-Word Story Contest. Genre: Flash fiction of exactly 53 words based on monthly theme. Prize: Publication and a free book. Deadline: June 15, 2023. (Note: This is a monthly contest)

Towson University Prize for Literature. Restrictions: Open to Maryland writers. Genre: Book-length manuscript of fiction, poetry, drama or imaginative non-fiction. The work must have been published within the three years prior to the year of nomination or must be scheduled for publication within the year in which nominated. Self-published works will not be considered. Prize: $1,000. Deadline: June 15, 2023. See nomination form HERE.


Baltimore Science Fiction Society Amateur Writing Contest. Restrictions: Open to Maryland residents or students at a MD 2- or 4-year college, and not a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America or published in a professional science fiction/fantasy magazine Genre: Science fiction short stories. Prize: 1st place is $250; 2nd place is $100; 3rd place is $50. Deadline: June 15, 2023.

Scotiabank Giller Prize. Restrictions: Open to books published in Canada in English. Must  be nominated by publisher. Genre: Fiction. Full-length novel or collection of short stories published in English, either originally, or in translation. Prize: $100,000 to the winner and $10,000 to each of the finalists. Deadline: Books published between May 1, 2023, and June 30, 2023 must be received on or before June 16, 2023.

Renard Press Poetry Contest. Genre: Poetry on theme: Kinship. "Kinship is a poetry anthology that seeks to provide a platform for marginalised voices, and to celebrate the great diversity and rich variation in the identities of people from around the world and from a huge cross-section of walks of life." Prize: 1st prize: £200. Deadline: June 17, 2023.

Solid Essay Contest. Restrictions: Open to high school students. Genre: Essay (See site for topics.) Minimum number of words is 600 and maximum is 800. Prize: Scholarship of $1000. Deadline: June 19, 2023.

Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship for Editorial Writing. Genre: Editorial writing. The Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship was established to enable a mid-career editorial writer or columnist to have time away from daily responsibilities for study and research. Freelancers may also apply. Fellowship: $75,000.  Deadline: June 19, 2023.

Write the World Competitions. Restrictions: Young writers ages 13-19.5. Genre: Songwriting. Prize: Best Entry: $100; Runner up: $50. Deadline: June 20, 2023. (Note: This is a monthly contest)

Young Scots Writer of the Year Award. Restrictions: You must be aged 11–18 to enter as an individual. Genre: Stories, poems, spoken word pieces, comics, videos or other pieces of writing. "We want to see it all, as long as it's in Scots and under 2500 words or up to ten minutes." Prize: £100 book token. Deadline: June 21, 2023. 

A Midsummer Tale Narrative Writing Contest. Genre: Non-genre fiction and creative nonfiction. Theme: Best Friends Forever…? Length: 1,000 words minimum; 5,000 words maximum. Prize: $35 - $50 Amazon gift card. Deadline: June 21, 2023.

Great Lakes Colleges (GLCA) New Writers Award. Restrictions: Open to Americans and Canadians.  Genre: Poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. In each category, the submitted work must be an author’s first published volume. Prize: $500. Deadline: June 25, 2023.

Writers' Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers. Restrictions: Open to Canadian LGBTQ+ writers. Genre: Debut book. Prize: $10,000. Deadline: June 28, 2023 for books published between May 3, 2023 and September 30, 2023.

Emmy Awards - Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award. Restrictions: Non-US citizens under the age of 30 only. Prize: $2,500, a trip to New York City, and an invitation to the International Emmy® Awards Gala in November. Deadline: June 28, 2023.

Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction. Restrictions: Books must be English-language, first-edition trade books published by a Canadian press, written by Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. Titles must be published between May 3, 2023 and September 30, 2023. Genre: Literary nonfiction including, among other forms, works of personal or journalistic essays, memoirs, commentary, criticism both social and political, history, and biography. Prize: Winner: $60,000; Finalists: $5,000. Deadline: June 28, 2023.

Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. Restrictions: Titles must be published in Canada and written by Canadians. No self-published works. Genre: Novel or short story collection. Prize: $60,000 will be awarded to the novel or short story collection published between May 3, 2023 and September 30, 2023. Deadline: June 28, 2023.

Storyhouse. Genre: Nonfiction. Stories must be true, not semi-fictional accounts. 1000 - 10,000 words in length. Stories must be suitable for children. Prize: $200. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Washington State Book Awards. Restrictions: Open to Washington State writers. Genre: Published book, fiction, nonfiction, poetry: adults or children. Prize: Recognition (?) Deadline: June 30, 2023 (for books published Jan. 1-May 31, 2023).

Faber Children’s: Faber and Andlyn BAME (FAB) Prize. Restrictions: Open to undiscovered BAME writers and illustrators; entrants must be of black, Asian or minority ethnic background, and UK- or Ireland-based. Genre: Text or artwork for children. Prize: £1,500 and £500 each for a writer and an illustrator. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Love Books Competition. Restrictions: Open to everyone but you need a UK bank account to receive your prize money if you win. Genre: Nonfiction, poetry, CNF. "We want you to tell us why you love your favourite book, poem or play. Your response should be in the form of a piece of text of up to 750 words. Entrants should explain what they love about their chosen read, highlighting key areas of interest, and why they think others should try it." Prize: Winner for each age group receives £300; the runner-up in each age group receives £100. Age groups: 13-15 years, 16-19 years, 20+ years. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Boroondara Literary Awards. Restrictions: Open to Australians. Genre: Prose and poetry. Prize: More than $5,000 in prize money across various age groups in the Young Writers’ category; more than $3,500 in prize money in the Open Short Story category. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

The Drabble Harvest Contest. Genre: Drabble on theme of "Space Station Duty-Free." A "drabble" is defined as a short story containing exactly precisely no more and no fewer than 100 words. It has a title, which can be from 1 to 15 words-- but no more than 15. Prize: $5. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Last Stanza Poetry Journal. Genre: Poetry. Prize: A single $100 award will be given for an outstanding poem. Deadline: June 30, 2023. See theme.

SA Writer’s College Short Story Award. Restrictions: Open to unpublished writers in South Africa. Genre: Short stories. Theme: Words Have Consequences. Prizes: 1st – R 10 000; 2nd – R 5 000; 3rd – R 2 000. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Storyhouse: Preservation Foundation Essay Contest for Unpublished Writers. Restrictions: The contest is open to writers whose creative writing has never produced revenues of over $500 in any single year. First prize winners of previous contests, while ineligible for prizes in regular contests, can compete in this one.  Genre: Nonfiction. Prize: First prize is $100. Runners-up will receive $50. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

McLaughlin-Esstman-Stearns First Novel Prize is awarded to the author of the best first novel published in the previous calendar year. Restrictions: Only American authors publishing in English are eligible. Non-eligible books include short story collections, flash fiction, memoirs, biographies and books published solely in electronic format. Prize: $1000. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Digital Privacy Scholarship. Restrictions: You must be a high school freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior or a current or entering college or graduate school student of any level. Home schooled students are also eligible. There is no age limit. You must also be a U.S. citizen or legal resident. Genre: 500- to 1,000-word essay about digital privacy. Prize: $1000 scholarship. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

The Lindisfarne Crime Prize. Restrictions: Residents of the North East of England, or whose work celebrates the North East of England. Genre: Crime short story of up to 10,000 words. Prize: £2500.  Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Drue Heinz Literature Prize. Restrictions: The award is open to writers who have published a book-length collection of fiction or a minimum of three short stories or novellas in commercial magazines or literary journals of national distribution. Online and self-publication does not count toward this requirement. Genre: A manuscript of short stories; two or more novellas (a novella may comprise a maximum of 130 double-spaced typed pages); or a combination of one or more novellas and short stories. Novellas are only accepted as part of a larger collection. Prize: $15,000 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press under its standard contract. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, Griffin Poetry Prize. Restrictions: One prize goes to a living Canadian poet or translator, the other to a living poet or translator from any country, which may include Canada. Genre: Poetry. Books must have been published in English during the calendar year preceding the year of the award. Prize: Prizes are awarded annually in two categories – International and Canadian. Each prize is worth C$65,000. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Shady Grove Literary. Genre: Any style, genre, tone of flash fiction. Length: 300 words max. Prize: $100. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Sargeson Prize for Secondary Schools. Restrictions: Open to students enrolled at a New Zealand secondary school and aged between 16 and 18 years. Genre: Short story, Length: 5,000 words max. Prize: First Prize: $10000; Second Prize: $1000; Third Prize: $500. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Sargeson Prize. Restrictions: Open to New Zealanders. Genre: Short stories. Length: 5,000 words max. Prize: First Prize: $10000; Second Prize: $1000; Third Prize: $500. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Eden Mills Teen Poetry Contest. Restrictions: Open to Canadian teens. Genre: Poetry. Prize: Two $50 prizes, 2 $25 prizes. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest. Restrictions: Contest is open only to those who have not professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium. Professional publication is deemed to be payment and at least 5,000 copies (or 5,000 hits for online publication). Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi or Horror. 17,000 words max. Prize: $1,000 1st Prize awarded each quarter; one of those winners also receives the $5,000 annual "Golden Pen Award" grand prize. 2nd Prize $750, 3rd Prize $500. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Contest. Restrictions: The competition is open to all citizens and residents of the Commonwealth aged 18 and under. Genre: Essay. The theme of the contest is "Community in the Commonwealth." Prize: Past prizes have included certificates, resources for winner's school, visits to Cambridge University, a trip to London and a week of activities, work experience at international organisations, and having your entry featured in worldwide media. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Hubert Butler Essay Prize. Restrictions: Open to European Union citizens aged 18+. Genre: Essay on theme ‘How far can we trust science?’ 3,000 words max. Prize: First prize of €1,500 and two second prizes of €500. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Utah Division of Arts and Museums Original Writing Competition. Restrictions: Utah writers. Genres: Poetry and prose. Prize: $1,000 top prizes for book-length manuscripts of novels, creative nonfiction & history, collection of poetry or short stories, and juvenile book; $300 top prizes for individual poems, short stories, and personal essays. 2nd Prize $500 for the book-length categories, $150 for poetry. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Briefly Write. Genre: Poetry up to 10 lines. Prize: 1st – £40 / 2nd – £20 / 3rd (x3) – £10. Deadline: June 30, 2023.

Substack runs a monthly short story competition. Their mission is to "revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful." Genre: Short story. Length: 6000- 10,000 words. Prize: $100 plus 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Deadline: June 30, 2023. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute.

67 Writing Conferences and Workshops in June 2023

Squam Lake by Chuck Taylor This June there are more than five dozen writing conferences and workshops. Some conferences and workshops will be held online, but many will be in-person or hybrid as pandemic restrictions ease. Virtual events still offer everything a writer might want: intensive workshops, pitch sessions with agents, to how to market yourself and your books, discussions - there is something for everyone.

For a full list of conferences held throughout the year see Writing Conferences. Quite a few offer scholarships, so apply early. Popular conferences also tend to close early. 

I've included conferences that have early application dates on my list. So, if you have missed one that is ideal for you, put the application deadline on your calendar for next year. (Many conferences are annual events.)

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Application for the Whole Novel Workshop: An In-Person Retreat for Novelists. Apply by June 1. August 17 - 22, 2023: Boyds Mills, PA. OVERVIEW: In-person 6-Day/5-Night Workshop and Retreat with a Full Novel Critique Included This intensive Whole Novel Workshop offers writers the rare opportunity to have the entire draft (up to 80,000 words*) of a novel read by faculty, with detailed written feedback and two private consultations provided. Attention in an intimate setting makes this program one that guarantees significant progress in preparation for submission. This Whole Novel Workshop is specifically designed for writers of novels for children and teens. 

Tennessee Writing Day Workshop. June 2 -3, 2023. Online. This “How to Get Published” writing event is a wonderful opportunity to get intense instruction over the course of one day, pitch a literary agent or editor (optional), get your questions answered, and more. Note that there are limited online “seats” at the event (200 total). Will be conducted online.

Writing The Rainbow: An Online Intensive For Picture BookStorytellers. June 2 -5, 2023: Honesdale, PA. This workshop is designed to bring LGBTQIA+ creators and allies together to craft picture books with clear LGBTQIA+ themes. You will learn to create books that celebrate joy, respect, and appreciation for children in today’s world, showing beauty and strength in our rainbow of experiences. Will be conducted online.

Sundress Academy: Summer Poetry Writing Retreat. June 2nd-4th, 2023: Firefly Farms, Knoxville, TN. The three-day, two-night camping retreat will be held at SAFTA’s own Firefly Farms in Knoxville, Tennessee.  All SAFTA retreats focus on generative poetry writing, and this year’s poetry retreat will also include the following break-out sessions: “The Cascade and the Overflow: The Use and Uselessness of Punctuating Your Poetry” and “Singing the Body Electric: Writing our Embodied Experiences.” A weekend pass includes one-on-one and group instruction, writing supplies, food, drinks, and all on-site amenities for $250. Tents, sleeping bags, and other camping equipment are available to rent for $25.  Payment plans are available if you reserve by March 31, 2023.

Wyoming Writers Conference. June 2 - 4, 2023: Cheyenne, WY. The conference features workshops in craft, marketing, and productivity for poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers, as well as publisher pitch sessions, roundtable critiques, and open mics. Participating writers include fiction writer Nina McConigley. Poet Matt Mason will give the keynote address. Participating publishing professionals include publisher Bernadette Soehner (5 Prince Publishing) and director of literary development Angie Hodapp (Nelson Literary Agency). The cost of the conference is $235 until May 15 and $275 thereafter. Single-day registration is available for $150. Lodging is available through the Historic Plains Hotel. 

Bread Loaf Environmental Writers' Conference. June 2 - 8, 2023: Ripton, VT. The Bread Loaf Orion Environmental Writers' Conference is a week-long writers’ conference designed to hone the skills of people interested in producing literary writing about the environment and the natural world. The conference is co-sponsored by the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Orion magazine, and Middlebury College’s Environmental Studies Program. Application Deadline: March 1, 2023.

Bread Loaf Translators' Conference. June 2 - 8, 2023: Ripton, VT. The Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference includes workshops in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, as well as lectures, craft classes, meetings with editors and agents, and readings by faculty and guests. 

IWWG Summer Writers Conference. June 2 - 22, 2023: Virtual. The 2023 Virtual Conference includes an opening panel on spiritual memoir, 9 workshops, an IWWG anthology launch from our work with women writers in Afghanistan, and a closing open mic. Will be held online.

Yale Writers' Conference. June 3 - 10, 2023, on campus, June 11 - 17, virtual: New Haven, CT. The Yale Writers’ Workshop brings together the experience and expertise of leading teachers, authors, editors, agents and publishers in a series of panels and workshops, for the benefit of writers the world over. We are offering three sessions (one on campus and two remote) that will enhance the writing skills of any serious writer. Our faculty provides unique, tailored, and transformative experiences to all participants. Will be conducted online and in person. Application deadline: April 3, 2023. 

An Intersectional Lens: Awareness + Action For Representation In Kids’ Books, Libraries & Classrooms. June 4 - 7, 2023: Boyds Mills, PA.  Professional & Personal Development for Educators, Librarians, Storytellers, & Publishing Professionals. Build the skills you need to analyze children’s books for meaningful representation, reader engagement, visual literacy, and more.

Lit Camp. June 4 - 9, 2023: Bell Valley Retreat Center and the Boonville Hotel in Mendocino County, California. The conference features workshops, panels, and craft talks for fiction writers and creative nonfiction writers. The faculty includes writers Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Janis Cooke Newman, Susan Straight and Daniel Torday. The cost of the conference, including lodging and meals, ranges from $995 to $2,395, depending on lodging. Registration is limited to 25 participants. Application Deadline: March 18, 2023.

Interlochen Writer’s Retreat. June 4 - 9, 2023: Interlochen, Michigan. Nestled deep in the woods between two lakes, Interlochen College of Creative Arts' five-day Writers Retreat is a true writer's dream. Spend your days writing new material, attending presentations by award-winning faculty, and enjoying lakeside lunches and evening readings while making friends and connections in the literary world. Select your concentration from four unique courses, each grounded in different craft concepts  with an emphasis on generating new work—appealing to both advanced and beginning writers alike. 

Fine Arts Work Center Summer Workshops (poetry, fiction, art, and creative nonfiction). June 4 - August 19, 2023: Provincetown, Massachusetts. The faculty includes poets Oliver Baez Bendorf, Tina Chang, Chen Chen, Vievee Francis, Kimiko Hahn, Marie Howe, Jessica Jacobs, Gail Mazur, Eileen Myles, Porsha Olayiwola, Matthew Olzmann, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, and Monica Youn; fiction writers Alexander Chee, Andrea Lawlor, Celeste Lecesne, Carmen Maria Machado, Victoria Redel, and Alexandra Teague; and nonfiction writers Garrard Conley, Melissa Febos, Nick Flynn, Paul Lisicky, Seema Reza, Sarah Schulman, Deborah Taffa, and Joan Wickersham. Tuition is $800 for one workshop/week. Housing is available at nearby guesthouses and inns; limited campus housing is available on a first-come, first-served basis for $1,000 for six nights. See individual workshops for dates.

VCFA Novel Retreat. June 5 - 11, 2023: Montpelier, Vermont. "Whether you seek the reflective solitude of a retreat or writing time combined with consultations, group discussions, and more, the VCFA Novel Retreat enables you to craft an experience best suited to your individual needs. No matter what stage your project is at—beginning, drafting, middle, or final edit—the retreat is designed to accommodate all aspects of the writing process. Retreat participants gain the added benefit of working with our renowned faculty. Our 2023 faculty includes Connie May Fowler, Adam McOmber, Laura Warrell, and literary agent Jeff Kleinman, founding partner at Folio Literary Management in New York City. While participants and faculty write each morning, afternoons and evenings offer a variety of optional sessions, including craft and process discussions, generative writing classes, manuscript clinics, and agent advice."

The Writers Hotel. June 5 - 11, 2023: Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Following the pre-conference Team Reading process, writers meet in Maine for the TWH immersive, intense program. Writers workshop their writing in intimate Major Workshops with some of the industry’s top authors, and they attend generative Craft Lab workshops. We are keeping the price the same, at $3500. This is a semi-hybrid event; our Agent Pitching Sessions and Agent Pitching Practice Session for prose writers will take place virtually on Zoom on June 29th, 2024, following the in-person conference. All other events will be held on-site at the Inn.

Odyssey Writing Workshop. June 5 and August 14, 2023. (6 weeks and 12 weeks) Since its inception in 1996, Odyssey has become one of the most highly respected workshops for writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Will be held online.  Deadline March 15. 

From Pencil Or Paint To Pixel: A Two-Night Mini ForBeginning Illustrators. June 6 - 8, 2023: Honesdale, PA. Beginning illustrators can join children’s book author/illustrator Courtney Pippin-Mathur to talk about approaches to using different media (traditional and/or digital) in your illustrations, and special guest Aram Kim for ten tips about submitting work to an art director (tradition and/or digital).  This program is a great fit if you’re looking for a short course of two, 75-minute sessions offering limited interaction with the community, but loads of information. Will be conducted online.

In-Company: A Retreat For Experienced Authors AndIllustrators. June 7 - 11, 2023: Boyds Mills, PA. Join us in company to share, grow, and cultivate creativity when you’ve been working in the industry for a long time. Talk with your peers about your career, challenges, deadlines, and upcoming projects. Offer your wishes for pushing boundaries of your work, and the industry! 22 participants max. 

The Loft's Wordplay Conference. July 8, 2023, Minneapolis MN. "The Loft’s Wordplay aims to be Minnesota's largest celebration of readers, writers, and great books. Imagine a weekend full of famous authors and celebrated books; a weekend of readings, conversations, workshops, kids’ activities, demonstrations, and one-of-a-kind happenings with outdoor stages, cooking stages, book signings, quiet reading corners, boisterous parties, food trucks, beer tents, and books, books, books." 

Clarksville Writers Conference. June 8 - 9, 2023: Clarksville, TN. Two days of writing workshops and presentations, a keynote banquet with the authors, and manuscript consultations.

Historical Novel Society North American Conference. June 8 - 10, 2023: San Antonio, TX. The biennial Historical Novel Society (HNS) North America Conference will be held from June 8 to June 10 at the Marriott Rivercenter hotel in San Antonio, Texas, as well as online. The conference features presentations, panels, pitch sessions with agents and editors, query critiques, a Readers Festival, and social events for historical fiction writers. The theme for this year’s conference is “The Working Writer.” Participating writers include fiction writers James Scott Bell, Jamie Ford, Libbie Grant, and Lisa Wingate. Participating publishing professionals include editors Amy Durant (Sapere Books), Amelia Hester (Dragonblade Publishing), and Verena Rose and Harriette Sackler (Level Best Books); and agents Danielle Egan-Miller (Browne & Miller Literary Associates), Cate Hart (Harvey Klinger), Shannon Hassan (Marsal Lyon Literary Agency), Viola Hayden (Curtis Brown), Imogen Pelham (Marjacq), Marcy Posner (Folio Literary Management), Rayhané Sanders (Massie & McQuilkin), Mitchell Waters (Brandt & Hochman), and Paige Wheeler (Creative Media Agency). The cost to attend the conference in person is $639 ($589 for HNS members), or $350 for students, not including lodging. The cost to stay at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter is $195 a night. The cost for virtual participants is $299. Registration is rolling through May 15 for in-person participants, and June 4 for virtual participants. The cost of master classes ranges from $50 to $75. The cost of pitch sessions and query critiques is $25 per session. Hybrid event.

New York Pitch Conference. June 8 - 11, 2023: NY, NY. The New York Pitch Conference and writers workshop is held four times a year and features publishing house editors from major houses such as Penguin, Random House, St. Martins, Harper Collins, Tor and Del Rey, Kensington Books and many more who are looking for new novels in a variety of genres, as well as narrative non-fiction. The event focuses on the art of the novel pitch as the best method not only for communicating your work, but for having you and your work taken seriously by industry professionals.

Squam Writes Retreat. June 8 - 11, 2023: Squam Lake, New Hampshire. The Squam Writes Retreat is a small group retreat for experienced fiction writers. We focus on craft with an eye toward publication. We offer opportunities for feedback and plenty of time to write, make new friends, and recharge creative batteries in a beautiful New Hampshire lakeside setting. Every participant receives a one-on-one critique with an agent or editor. 

The 2023 Writers' Police Academy. June 8 – 11, 2023: Raleigh, NC. "MurderCon is a rare opportunity for writers to participate in hands-on “for law enforcement eyes only” training, using modern testing and evidence collection tools and equipment, in workshops taught by some of the world’s leading homicide investigation experts. This incredibly detailed, cutting-edge instruction has never before been available to writers, anywhere."

Indiana University Writers’ Conference. June 8 - 11, 2023, Indiana University in Bloomington. The conference features workshops in poetry and fiction, as well as craft classes, readings, and panels for poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers. The cost of the conference is $375, or $800 with a workshop. Lodging and meals are not included; lodging is available in campus dormitories and in the campus hotel. The registration fee is $25; general registration is first come, first served. To attend a workshop, submit 8 to 10 pages of poetry or 15 to 25 pages of prose; admissions are made on a rolling basis. 

Sundress Academy: Trans/Nonbinary Writing Retreat. June 9th-10th, 2023: Via Zoom. All SAFTA retreats focus on generative writing, and this year’s retreat will also include the following craft talk sessions: “Queering the Lens: Trans Ekphrastic” and “The Poetics of Addiction: Imagery, Symbolism, and Juxtaposition in Writing Alcoholism.” The event will be open to trans and nonbinary writers of all backgrounds and experience levels and provide an opportunity to work with many talented authors and poets from around the country, including workshop leaders jason b. crawford and Remi Recchia and keynote speaker Ina Cariño. Cost $75.

West Chester University Poetry Conference. June 9 - 11, 2023: West Chester, PA. The conference offers poetry workshops and features a keynote speaker, critical seminars, panel discussions, faculty readings, and an opportunity for participants to have conferences with workshop leaders and resident poets.

Mountain Heritage Literary Festival. June 9 - 11, 2023: Cumberland Gap, TN. "Every year writers gather at the ancient and beloved Cumberland Gap to celebrate writing, music, and Appalachian heritage. Events include workshops, panels, readings, concerts, lectures, open mic, and more." 

West Virginia Writers Conference. June 9 - 11, 2023: Ripley, West Virginia. Author readings, contests and sharing your love of writing with others. 

The Creativity Workshop in New York. June 9 - 12, 2023: New York, New York. "The Creativity Workshops take away the fear of writing and open the way to new ideas. They are especially helpful for writers in fiction, poetry, memoir, theatre and film to get over writing blocks. In our Creativity Workshop Retreats you will generate both new work and ideas for the work you are in the midst of creating. We use many different techniques to help you find your way through the novel, essay, poem, memoir, or script you are writing or hope to write. In The Creativity Workshop you will be doing free writing, writing from guided visualizations, collaborative writing, journaling and memoir work and even some rudimentary drawing, collage and photography."

Get Published Conference. June 10, 2023: Bozeman, Montana. This conference is devoted to book writing, marketing and getting published. Faculty includes experienced writers who share their methods for planning, writing and finishing their books, along with practical marketing and promotional information

California Crime Writers Conference. June 10 - 11, 2023: Culver City, California. "Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles and SoCal Mystery Writers of America invite emerging and established mystery writers for a weekend of invaluable guidance, insight, and community at the California Crime Writers Conference. Whether your novel is brewing in your imagination, ready to publish, or you already have several published books under your belt, our workshops, presented by agents, editors, award-winning authors, and crime investigation professionals, are geared to elevate your mystery writing skills and foster relationships on your path to publication and beyond."

Tinker Mountain Writers’ Workshop. June 11 - 15, 2023: Roanoke, Virginia. The conference features workshops in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, as well as craft seminars, individual conferences with faculty members, and readings. 

Juniper Summer Writing Institute. June 11 - 17, 2023: Amherst, MA. Daily workshops in poetry, fiction, & nonfiction; interactive craft sessions that include discussions & writing exercises; evening readings by faculty & writers-in-residence. Workshops and craft sessions are led by MFA candidates from the renowned University of Massachusetts MFA Program for Poets and Writers who design curricula especially for the Institute setting. Application deadline February 15.

Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers. June 12 - 16, 2023: Sandy, Utah. A week-long conference filled with hands-on workshops where the faculty work WITH you on your manuscript. As a participant of a five-day workshop, you get free feedback from an agent or editor on your writing, opportunities to network with like-minded writers, and five days of afternoon breakout sessions filled with dozens of craft-specific topics designed especially for kidlit authors.

Naropa Summer Writing Program. June 12 - July 1, 2023: Boulder, CO. Summer Writing Program of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University. (See site for individual classes)

Responsible Representation in Children's Books. June 13, 2023. Online. Whether you’re drawing from your own experiences or outside of them, writing demands research, empathy, attention to detail, and an interrogation of one’s own place in this world. Join literary agents and writers D. Ann Williams and Linda Epstein to begin your own personal interrogation, and build understanding of crafting respectful and responsible representation in your writing. Webinar style program.

ASJA (American Society of Journalists and Authors) Writers Conference, June 13  - 15, 2023: Online. "As freelance journalists and authors, we collaborate with editors, agents, publishers, designers, and multimedia experts. At the 2022 conference, we will explore the ways collaboration helps us succeed. We have three tracks of interactive, dynamic programming focused on journalism, content marketing, and books. Sessions will benefit freelancers at all phases in their careers. Also available are members-only mastermind programs for small groups led by freelance experts.​​​​​​​"

Pacific University Master of Fine Arts in Writing Residency Writers Conference. June 15 - 25, 2023: Forest Grove, Oregon. Writers seeking to deepen their craft and expand their professional community are invited to attend the Residency Writers Conference together with MFA students, faculty and guest speakers. Join us for 10 full days of craft talks, workshops, panels, classes, readings and more featuring some of the best minds of the literary world. This residency is a rare opportunity to engage in sustained and meaningful conversation with others who share your passion for the art of writing.

Whole Novel Historical: A Virtual Course for Historical Novelists. June 15 - August 11, 2023. The Highlights Foundation Whole Novel Workshop offers writers the rare opportunity to have the entire draft (up to 80,000 words) of a novel read by faculty, with detailed written feedback and two private consultations provided. This online program in particular is for writers of Historical Fiction novels. Multi-Month Online Course, $2199. This program is full, but will be offered again next year. If you would like to be notified when it is available, please add your name to the waitlist.

Orion Environmental Writers’ Workshop. June 18 - June 23, 2023: The Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York. This program is for writers who want to learn how to write an Orion essay, short story, or poem; for writers who seek to become better advocates for the environment through their writing; for poets who are drawn to writing about nature and culture; for teachers and scholars who wish to write for a more general readership; and for environmental professionals who want to bring better writing skills to bear on their work. The program will feature small writing workshops dedicated to poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as faculty readings and lectures, student readings, and presentations on publishing.

The Santa Barbara Writers Conference. June 18 – 23, 2023: Santa Barbara, Calif. "Every summer, writers in many genres from around the world gather to participate in a magical week of intensive work focused on story, voice, craft, marketing, and networking with fellow writers and publishing professionals." 

Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshops. June 18 – 23, 2023: Gambier, Ohio. At Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshops, talented high school students from around the world join a dynamic and supportive literary community to stretch their talents, discover new strengths, and challenge themselves in the company of peers who are also passionate about writing. Online.

Aspen Summer Words. June 18 - June 23, 2023: Aspen, Colorado. Workshops, panels, and readings in fiction and creative nonfiction, as well as opportunities to meet with agents and editors. "Aspen Summer Words is the Rocky Mountain gateway to the literary world. Recognized as one of the country’s pre-eminent literary conferences, Summer Words welcomes visitors and locals alike to celebrate writing and writers in Aspen for a week each June. The exceptional faculty and awe-inspiring mountain scenery combine to make this a writing retreat like no other."

Kenyon Review Writers Workshops. June 18 - 24, 2023: Gambier, Ohio. Workshops in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction led by an accomplished faculty. Genre workshops (Fiction, Literary Nonfiction, and Poetry) are held for three hours each morning. Online. Applications are open March 15 – April 16, 2023.

Speculative Fiction NIP Bookcamp & Writing Retreat Work Week. June 18 - 24, 2023: West Bend, Wisconsin. Six days of personal writing time with opportunities to discuss writing issues with the Retreat Mentor (an award-winning novelist and editor), opportunities to attend certain Bookcamp presentations, all social activities, critiques, and chat with fellow writers and publishing professionals in a relaxed environment.

The All-Genre Novel-In-Progress Bookcamp & Writing Retreat. June 18 - 24, 2023: West Bend, Wisconsin. The Bookcamp offers morning instruction, an afternoon editing clinic, group critique sessions, discussions on the current publishing industry, one-on-one consultations with our staff, pitch sessions with literary agents and acquisition editors, and presentations on writing or publishing topics.

Chesapeake Writers' Conference at St. Mary's College of Maryland. June 18 - 24, 2023: St. Mary's City, Maryland. "Join us on Maryland’s Western Shore-for the 8th Annual Chesapeake Writers’ Conference for a week of craft talks, lectures, panel discussions, and readings, as well as daily workshops in fiction, poetry, screenwriting, translation, songwriting, or creative nonfiction.
Christopher McKitterick Speculative Fiction Writing Workshop. June 18 - 30, 2023: Online. Learn how to write SF that sells. Using the short-story form, we help you master the elements that create great stories. Since 1985. This annual two-week residential writing workshop helps established writers grow their skills while helping those who have just begun to publish or who need the final bit of insight or skill to master the elements that create great stories readers love and editors want to buy. Become part of a writing community: Award-winning author, SF scholar, long-time director of James Gunn's original SF research center, and Ad Astra SF Institute Director Christopher McKitterick has led this workshop since 2010, and served as guest author in James Gunn's SF Writers Workshop starting in 1995. Apply by May 19.

Community of Writers at Squaw Valley: Poetry Workshop. June 19 - June 25, 2023: Olympic Valley, California. "We work together to create an atmosphere in which everyone might feel free to try anything. In the mornings we meet in workshops to read to each other the work of the previous twenty-four hours; each participant also has an opportunity to work with each staff poet. In the late afternoons we gather for a conversation about some aspect of craft. On several afternoons staff poets hold brief individual conferences." Registration deadline: March 28, 2023.

Stonecoast Writers’ Conference. June 20 - 25, 2023, Portland, ME. "Your conference experience centers around the workshop. In these classes, your work (and the work of your peers) serves as the primary text. Faculty focus on providing constructive criticism that can help you unlock your writing. Class discussions provide opportunities to discuss theories and practical application of writing craft. Each instructor adapts their class to reflect the interest and abilities of the students. Generative writing exercises ensure that you’ll have threads of new work to follow after the conference ends. This summer we are offering two distinct workshop classes: Fiction and CNF/Memoir. Each workshop is limited to ten students.

Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference. June 20 - 25, 2023: Bemidji, Minnesota. We offer six intensive four-day writing classes and affordable auditor options. We’re proud to announce our 2023 MNWC faculty:  Aimee Nezhukumatathil (Hybrid Poetry & Prose) Ross Gay (Poetry), Keetje Kuipers (Poetry), Lia Purpura (Creative Nonfiction), Will Weaver (Fiction) and Diane Wilson (Memoir to Fiction). And we’re thrilled to have Heid E. Erdrich and Sun Yung Shin be our two visiting writers. Waitlisted.

Chautauqua Writers’ Festival. June 21 - 24, 2023: Chautauqua, New York. In addition to the Festival’s tradition of intensive workshops and optional à la carte one-on-one conferences with award-winning contemporary authors, attendees can also experience panel conversations, and a keynote address. The 2023 theme is “Hope & its Entanglements” and these various conversations will draw fruitful and urgent connections between the personal, the political, and the craft of writing. All of these features are included in the cost of Standard Registration and available as an option to any workshop participant.

Western Writers of America Convention. June 21 - 24, 2023: Great Falls, Montana. Children's, Fiction, Marketing, Non-fiction, Publishing, Young Adult. History presentations at the convention include Cats in the Old West, Border Wars/Law and Order, Mark Twain Literary Contributions, and more. Other sessions will take place related to the craft of writing, book marketing, and research sources and techniques.
Writing For The Educational Market. June 21 - 25, 2023: Boyds Mills, PA. If the words “educational market” make you think only of workbooks and textbooks, it’s time to think again!  Today’s educational publishers are eager to see lively nonfiction, fast-paced fiction, poetry, video scripts, and more.

Fordham University Retreat. June 21 - 25, 2023: New York City. "In order to help mentor the next generation of Asian American writers, Kundiman sponsors an annual Retreat in partnership with Fordham University. During the Retreat, nationally renowned Asian American poets and writers conduct Master Classes and manuscript consultations with fellows. Readings, writing circles and informal social gatherings are also scheduled. Through this Retreat, Kundiman hopes to provide a safe and instructive environment that identifies and addresses the unique challenges faced by emerging Asian American writers." 

Jackson Hole Writers Conference, June 22 - 24, 2023: Jackson Hole, WY. You will have ample opportunity to share your work with a distinguished faculty as well as writers from Massachusetts to Florida, from Texas to Washington. Serious writers pour into Jackson Hole each June looking for a fresh, but critical eye on their work. This event usually has at least 4 agents to pitch. 

David R Collins Conference Faculty & Workshops. June 22 - 24, 2023: Rock Island, IL. Daily workshops, critiques, pitches, evening events, keynote. Will be held in person.

In Your Write Mind Workshop. June 22 - 25, 2023: Greensburg, Pennsylvania. No up-to-date details. The following is from last year: Special Guest: L. Marie Wood. Agents: Eva Scalzo (Speilburg Literary Agency) and Erin Clyburn (Howland Literary). Editors: Miranda Hill (Berkley-Penguin Publishing Group) and John Edward Lawson (Raw Dog Screaming Press). Artist: Greg Chapman. Business and Craft Tracks. Pitch Sessions. Book Signing. Networking. Author Readings. Writing Sprints. Critique Groups. And more! Will be held online and in person.

Bookstock Literary Festival. June 23 - 25, 2023: Woodstock, Vermont. From Poets & Writers: "The festival features workshops, readings, discussions, and a book fair for poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. Participating writers have included poets Benjamin Aleshire, Laura Foley, Pamela Harrison, April Ossmann, and Elizabeth Powell; fiction writers Jean Hanff Korenlitz and Roland Merullo; and nonfiction writers Jabari Asim, Bruce Coffin, and Sarah Prager. All events and workshops are free and open to the public."
 
The 2023 Writing Workshop of Chicago. June 24, 2023: Chicago, IL. This is a special one-day “How to Get Published” writing workshop on Saturday, June 24, 2023, at the Congress Plaza Hotel. In other words, it’s one day full of classes and advice designed to give you the best instruction concerning how to get your writing & books published. We’ll discuss your publishing opportunities today, how to write queries & pitches, how to market yourself and your books, what makes an agent/editor stop reading your manuscript, and more. No matter what you’re writing — fiction or nonfiction — the day’s classes will help point you in the right direction. Writers of all genres are welcome.

Frost Place Conference on Poetry and Teaching. June 24 - 28, 2023 | Writing Intensive June 28 - June 29, 2023: Franconia, NH. Held each year in June, the Conference on Poetry and Teaching (CPT) is a unique opportunity for teachers to work closely with both their peers and a team of illustrious poets who have particular expertise in working with teachers at all levels: K–12, graduate and undergraduate, and nontraditional and community-based instructors.

Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshops. June 25 - July 8, 2023: Gambier, Ohio. At Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshops, talented high school students from around the world join a dynamic and supportive literary community to stretch their talents, discover new strengths, and challenge themselves in the company of peers who are also passionate about writing. In person.

New York State Summer Writers Institute at Skidmore College. June 25 - July 22, 2023: Saratoga Springs, NY. Since 1987, the Institute has been offering students the opportunity to learn from an extraordinary faculty of distinguished writers led by director Robert Boyers. The program is an offshoot of the New York State Writers Institute created by Albany native and Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Kennedy. The curriculum is designed for college-aged students and adults, and the new virtual format will retain many of the Institute’s hallmark features:
Creative writing workshops in poetry, fiction and non-fictionSmall classes that offer individualized attention and workshop student writingsPublic readings and afternoon Q & A sessions with world-renowned guest writersPrivate tutorial sessions for student fiction manuscripts, book-length poetry, or non-fiction (available for an additional fee)Option to enroll for one-week, two-week, or four-week sessionsOptional undergraduate credit for eligible students enrolled in one genre for four weeksMerit Scholarships for tuition
Clarion West Summer Writers Workshop. June 25 - August 5, 2023: Seattle, Washington. "The six-week workshop can give you time away from everyday distractions and encourage you to experiment and take artistic risks. The critique sessions are the heart of the workshop: you learn not only by receiving critiques, but by reading others’ work and constructing your own critiques. Instructors work directly with attendees to present group critiques of newly written stories, participate in discussions about writing techniques or professional concerns, and hold individual or small-group conferences. Throughout the entire experience, the Clarion West Workshop staff is present to help guide participants and facilitate an inclusive environment." Closed.

Hurston/Wright Summer Writers Week. June 26  - July 21, 2023: Rutgers. For more than 20 years, the Hurston/Wright Summer Writers Workshop has offered a safe space for Black writers in intensive workshop sessions and master classes. Workshops are led by award-winning writers who are influencing today’s literature. The program features critiques, craft talks, writing time and public readings. Hurston/Wright workshops serve emerging and experienced writers who are starting projects, developing projects or seeking to polish projects. More than a thousand writers have participated in workshops since the first session in 1996. See website for individual workshops.

Haiku North America Conference. June 28 - July 2, 2023. Cincinnati, Ohio. "Haiku North America is designed for, and open to, everyone—beginners and seasoned specialists alike. Haiku North America (HNA) is a biennial conference in celebration of haiku poetry. Every two years we offer five stimulating days of papers, panels, workshops, readings, performances, book sales, cultural outings, and much socialization with fellow poets, translators, scholars, editors, and publishers. Our first conference was in 1991 and subsequent conferences have taken place in the United States and Canada, focusing on North American poets, their haiku, and related arts. Everyone is welcome to attend HNA, the largest and oldest gathering of haiku poets outside Japan."

12 New Agents Seeking EVERYTHING - Kidlit, Cooking, Commercial Fiction, SFF, Memoirs, LGBTQ+, Poetry and more

Elise Howard Here are twelve new literary agents actively seeking clients. New agents are a boon to writers. They are actively building their lists, and will go the extra mile for their clients.All of these agents work for established agencies with good track records. They are looking for everything from cats to cooking. 
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Always check the agency website and agent bio before submitting. Agents can switch agencies or close their lists, and submission requirements can change. 

NOTE: Don't submit to several agents at the same agency simultaneously. If one rejects you, you may then submit to another. (Some small agencies share. Be alert to a notice that "a no from one is a no from all.")

You can find a full list of agents actively seeking new clients here: Agents Seeking Clients. 


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Ms. HB Steadham of The Tobias Literary Agency

HB is a world-traveling, lifetime-learning lover of shenanigans. She graduated with her MFA in Creative Writing from the Arkansas Writers Workshop, where she served as Editorial Intern for the Oxford American, a National Magazine Award-winning literary quarterly. She joined The Tobias Literary Agency in April of 2022 and is proud to now be cultivating a list of her own.

What she is seeking: HB is open to queries for adult literary fiction. Craft is always paramount; exceptional voice, beautiful and unique style, and sentences imbued with complex meaning are the ideal. Also, fully developed characters with rich inner worlds, whose thoughts and actions are what drives the plot, are a necessity. 

What catches her attention:Setting in the American SouthNarratives by and about queer folksNeurodivergence in all its manifestationsStories informed or inspired by folklore, mythology, fairy tales, superstitionsLight elements of speculative fiction (no high fantasy) How to submit: Use her query manager HERE.

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Ms. Jen Newens of Martin Literary Management

In her role as Senior Literary Manager, Jen applies her 360-view of the publishing business to MLM, seeking out fresh, original voices and developing exciting new talent. At different phases of her publishing career, Jen has been an author, editor, and publisher, giving her experience in all sides of the business. She comes to us after a seven-year stint as publishing director at West Margin Press, an Ingram Content Group company. There, she acquired a wide range of different genres, but holds a special place in her heart for young people’s literature. She began to acquire graphic novels in 2019 and sees it as an exciting and burgeoning way to tell children’s stories. 

A subject matter expert in food and drink titles, Jen spent two decades as a cookbook editor and writer (she even went to culinary school!). She’s experienced in working with celebrity chefs, business owners, cooking brands, and food bloggers, as well as accomplished home cooks.

What she is seeking: The following are on Jen’s current wishlist, but she’s always open to hearing new ideas. 

Childrens/MG/YA/Graphic Novels 
•    Books that portray historically excluded voices, disability, neurodivergent characters, LGBTQ topics
•    Regional books with national crossover potential
•    Author/illustrators with strong storytelling skills and a clear vision
•    Children’s activity books
•    Quirky and humorous stories
•    Cat content (she’s crazy for cats)

Food and Drink
•    New ways to spin current trends (vegan air-fryer anyone?)
•    Chefs with personal stories, especially from under-represented groups
•    Food writers and bloggers with a distinctive story to tell
•    Unique regional topics with wide appeal
•    Weeknight cooking
•    Diet-specific and health and wellness titles
•    Mocktails and the NA lifestyle
•    Fresh takes on wine and cocktails

How to submit: Please submit queries here: http://QueryManager.com/JenNewens

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Katie Greenstreet of Paper Literary (UK)

Katie Greenstreet joined Paper Literary in 2022. A corporate lawyer by training, she worked for several large law firms before making the leap into publishing. She started her career in books as an assistant at ICM Partners in New York, where she supported a list of Booker, Pulitzer, and Nobel Prize-winning authors. She then moved to London and joined C&W, where she began building her own list while also working alongside Sue Armstrong and Sophie Lambert. At C&W, Katie discovered her passion for amplifying undiscovered voices and for getting stuck into projects editorially. At every step of the publication process, Katie prioritises the reach and longevity of her authors’ careers, and she is especially looking for clients with whom she can build enduring, long-term relationships.

What she is seeking: She is building a list of quality commercial and upmarket/book club fiction, with a select number of memoirs and non-fiction projects also in the mix.

How to submit: Send a query letter, synopsis and the first 10,000 words to submissions@paperliterary.com. See website for complete submission requirements. 

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Rose Ferrao of PS Literary Agency

Rose Ferrao is an associate agent at PSLA. She began her publishing career in London, working in non-fiction at Bloomsbury and science fiction, fantasy and horror at Orbit Books. She has a BA in English Literature and Film from Queen’s University and an MA in Publishing from University College London. Rose has a wide range of reading tastes, but she is particularly drawn to compelling, character-driven stories that embrace the weird and wondrous. Outside of work, she spends her time cooking and watching too many movies.

What she is seeking: Rose is currently acquiring both fiction and non-fiction. In fiction, she is looking for commercial romance, adult and crossover fantasy, science fiction, horror, upmarket thrillers, contemporary fiction and select young adult fiction. She is drawn to stories that embrace genre conventions from a fun, fresh angle. In non-fiction, she is looking for cookbooks and food writing, sports, pop culture, music, psychology, lifestyle, and wellness, especially when approached from a specific, unique perspective. She welcomes and encourages submissions from neurodivergent writers. 

How to submit: Follow the agency's guidelines HERE.
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Cole Hildebrand of Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Inc.

Cole Hildebrand began his career as an assistant editor at YesYes Books, going on to become managing editor for the press, involved in manuscript acquisitions, event planning, website design and publicity for YesYes Books' list, which includes works by authors such as Elizabeth Acevedo, Justin Phillip Reed, Danez Smith, and many others. He joined JVNLA in 2021, where he is actively building his list while aiding with international rights, film rights, and contracts, as well as handling the Australia/New Zealand market. Cole earned his BA in English from Lewis & Clark College and his MA in English and American Literature from New York University.

What he is seeking: He is acquiring literary and upmarket fiction, narrative non-fiction, essays, and poetry, particularly works by LGBTQ+ authors. He is drawn to character and voice driven stories with unique perspectives on the contemporary moment, especially those engaging with radical ideas and issues of social justice. He loves fostering the careers of debut authors, working closely with them to help develop and edit their projects, and guiding them through the full process from submission to publication and beyond.

How to submit: Use the agency's query form HERE.
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Ms. Natalie Obando of Ladderbird Literary Agency

Natalie Obando is a graduate from California State University, Long Beach with a BA in journalism emphasizing public relations and a minor in creative writing. Since then, she’s worked in the world of books as a book publicist. Natalie is the founder of Do Good Public Relations Group and the grassroots organization, Women of Color Writers Podcast and Programming. She is the current national president of the 105 years old non-profit, the Women’s National Book Association (WNBA), overseeing all eleven chapters across the nation. As the first Latina president of the WNBA, her goal has been promoting diversity in publishing via grassroots efforts.

What she is seeking: Natalie is primarily looking for BIPOC stories, and stories inclusive of intersectional identities told from an authentic lense and NOT tokenized. In fiction, she is looking for character driven stories with a voice that is relatable yet quirky and worlds that feel real. For non-fiction she’s in desperate search of topics and issues that open up discussions often considered taboo.

FICTION: YA/NEW ADULT: Natalie enjoys a YA or New Adult story that deals with generational relationships and ancestral threads. Throw in some contemporary fantasy, or magical realism, and/or cultural folklore and she’s all over it. Some of her favorite authors who do this well are Zoraida Cordova, Rin Chupeco, Sylvia Moreno Garcia, and Elizabeth Acevedo,  Natalie is especially interested in diverse non-European folklore.

ROMANCE: This can be YA or new adult. Contemporary RomComs with a cultural twist are her favorite as well as friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, secret identities, forbidden love, finding love in a foreign land, feel free to pitch if there is anything fairly similar to that. Her favorite romance authors are Priscilla Oliveras, Alexis Daria, and Lily Chu.

NONFICTION: Natalie is looking for topics that dig deep into who we are as humans and what we have yet to tap into.
She enjoys reading about new forms of wellness therapies, sexual empowerment, ethical non-monogamy, BDSM—in an educational and enlightening nuanced format, astrology, tarot, and modern day magic (brujería and curanderismo) tied to ancestral roots.  If you have a book that ties all of these together it’s her dream. If you have a platform that supports and adds context to what you write or your expertise please don’t forget to add that in your query. 

How to submit: Use her query manager HERE.
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Ms. Kesia Lupo of The Bindery

Kesia grew up in the UK and Germany, studied History at Oxford University and Creative Writing at Bath Spa, then launched her publishing career at Pan Macmillan, London, as an editorial assistant in 2013. She transitioned from adult books to children’s when she joined boutique publisher Chicken House—then from a senior editorial role to agenting when she joined The Bindery in 2023. 

What she is seeking: While her expertise lies in middle-grade and YA fiction, Kesia reads widely across genres, including adult SFF and horror, historical fiction, romance, and non-fiction.

How to submit: To query The Bindery about literary representation, email your query to info@thebinderyagency.com. Please include the following in the body of your email: a clear summary of your book concept, an author biography, at least two sample chapters, relevant contact information, and any publishing history. Include the word “QUERY” in the email subject line. You may address your query to one agent or to The Bindery as a whole. 
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Elise Howard of DeFiore & Company

Prior to joining DeFiore & Company, Elise Howard was the founding publisher of Algonquin Young Readers, an imprint of Workman Publishing, which she led from 2011 to 2022. Elise was previously SVP and associate publisher at HarperCollins Children's Books, where she oversaw the publication of many award-winning and bestselling books. Some of the authors she has worked with include Masuma Ahuja, Avi, Tracey Baptiste, Kelly Barnhill, Sara Farizan, Neil Gaiman, Kelly Jensen, and Nova Ren Suma. Books she has edited have won the Newbery Medal twice, the Edgar Allen Poe Award for best juvenile novel twice, and many other awards and honors. She began her career as a book packager, conceiving, selling to publishers, and developing juvenile and adult fiction and non-fiction projects. 

What she is seeking: As a literary agent, Elise is looking for new favorites— hers, an editor’s, and ultimately the reader’s: fiction and non-fiction to be savored and remembered for its immersive storytelling, rich world-building, and illumination of landscapes known and unknown.

Elise is generally not looking for genre fiction, but she may take on a book with a great love story at its heart or one with elements of fantasy. She is looking for a twisty, well-done mystery, especially if it features a great new sleuth with many stories to tell.

She’s also eager to represent eye-opening narrative non-fiction, particularly stories of the natural world, visible or invisible, including the human mind and body, or of people and events previously unknown or overlooked.

Submission guidelines: Please email queryelise@defliterary.com with the title of your work and its category (e.g., adult n.f., middle-grade fiction) in the subject line. Please include in the body of your email:
• A brief, compelling description introducing your book
• A paragraph (not more!) about you, relevant to your submission.
• For non-fiction, a concise synopsis that compels me to read on and the opening chapter.
• For fiction, the opening chapter.
• For graphic novels, the first chapter or the first twenty-five pages.
• For picture books, the full manuscript.
• No attachments, please. Submissions that include them won’t be opened.
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Mr. Arley Sorg of KT Literary

Arley Sorg, Associate Agent: (Pronouns: He/Him, Salutation: Mr.) Arley is a kt literary associate agent. Arley is a two-time World Fantasy Award Finalist and a two-time Locus Award Finalist for his work as co-Editor-in-Chief at Fantasy Magazine. He is also a SFWA Solstice Award Recipient, a Space Cowboy Award Recipient, and a finalist for two Ignyte Awards: for his work as a critic as well as for his creative nonfiction. Arley is senior editor at Locus Magazine, associate editor at both Lightspeed & Nightmare, a columnist for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and conducts interviews for Clarkesworld. Arley grew up in England, Hawaii, and Colorado, and lives in the SF Bay Area. He is a 2014 Odyssey Writing Workshop graduate.
What he is seeking: He is primarily interested in adult speculative titles, including science fiction, fantasy, and horror with speculative/fantastic elements, literary speculative fiction, and climate fiction.
How to submit: Use his query manager HERE.
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Mr. Aram Fox of Massie & McQuilkin Literary Agents


At age 26, Aram founded a book scouting agency where for 23 years he represented international publishers and American film/TV companies, guiding his publisher and film/TV clients to acquire a Who’s Who of bestsellers and prize-winners, including: Brit Bennett, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Lauren Oyler, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Bill Gates, George Saunders, Angela Duckworth, Patrick Radden Keefe, Dave Grohl, Lena Dunham, Emma Cline, Harlan Coben, Jeff VanderMeer, Alex Honnold and Andy Weir.

What he is seeking: He’s crazy about commercial and literary fiction that put immersive storytelling front and center, and a wide range of nonfiction including memoir, narrative nonfiction, natural history and perspective-changing explainers and advice-givers.


How to submit: Please send your query letter and 30 pages to aram@mmqlit.com. The letter should include a synopsis, a brief bio, and your contact information. Aram asks that you put “Query” in the subject line and paste the letter and sample pages into the body of the email. Please note — and it kills him to say this — that Aram is not able to respond to everyone who sends him material. If he would like to hear more about your writing, he will be in touch within 2-3 weeks.

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Ms. Morgan Strehlow of The Bindery 

An experienced freelance editor and writer, Morgan has worked in various capacities with a range of content providers and education platforms, including Christianity Today, Baylor University, Sacred Ordinary Days, Called Creatives, and Go and Tell Gals. Morgan spent the first decade of her career in the sports industry as a go-to communications strategist and creative collaborator for major brands, coaches, and athletes. She holds a B.S. in Communications from Hardin-Simmons University and an M.S. in Sport Management from Texas A&M University. Morgan lives in Waco, Texas, with her husband, Sean, and their son. 

What she is seeking: Morgan is seeking compelling nonfiction by athletes, journalists, experts, academics looking to publish for the general market, and emerging voices with a growing platform who can speak to pop culture, sports, feminism, social justice, sex/sexuality, or religion/spirituality.

She's especially interested in the dynamic and interesting voices writing and speaking at the intersection of sport and society. On the fiction side, Morgan is eager for upmarket fiction, complex women's fiction, and sports fiction. 

How to submit: To query The Bindery about literary representation, email your query to info@thebinderyagency.com. Please include the following in the body of your email: a clear summary of your book concept, an author biography, the table of contents (for nonfiction), at least two sample chapters, relevant contact information, and any publishing history. Include the word “QUERY” in the email subject line and if you’ve completed a book proposal, please attach that document to your email. You may address your query to one agent or to The Bindery as a whole.

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Ms. Camille Burns of Diamond Kahn and Woods Literary Agency Ltd. (UK)

Camille has an MSc in Publishing from Edinburgh Napier University and an MA in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh. She currently serves as the Secretary of the Association of Authors’ Agents, as well as Co-Chair for the AAA’s Bridge Committee for early career agents and assistants. She also previously volunteered at the Story Museum in Oxford. Through organisations such as the SYP she has mentored students from a variety of backgrounds to help them gain access to the publishing industry.

What she is seeking: Children's and young adult fiction, as well as adult non-fiction and commercial adult fiction.

How to submit: Read guidelines here. UK writers only. 
  

Writing Fiction Like Nonfiction

Inside/Outside: Illusion Meets Reality: Uwe Schroder, Flickr ,I abhor writing rules. If you follow them, you will produce cookie-cutter prose that sounds as if it has been written by a machine. (Although, I am told this may be what publishers are actually looking for.) 

One of the most egregious of these rules is: "Write nonfiction like fiction." I have read the work of writers who took this advice entirely too literally. They invariably produce personal essays and memoirs laden with self-conscious turns of phrase, excessively lyrical prose, and literary devices that transform what should have been an honest account into a parody. 

Verisimilitude is the bedrock of fiction. The appearance of reality in fiction is absolutely necessary, because without it readers won't be able to identify with the characters in the story. Even for genres in which readers are required to suspend disbelief, such as fantasy and science fiction, the thoughts and emotions of the characters need to conform to what readers already know about how people operate in the real world. 
 
"But ... but ... but..." (I can hear the objections now) "Write nonfiction like fiction" simply means that there should be an engrossing story line, well-developed characters, and that it should fully engage the reader! That is, in fact, a description of fiction. No, let me amend that. It's a description of good fiction. There is plenty of bad fiction out there that does none of those things. Conversely, there is plenty of nonfiction that does all of those things. The main difference is that unlike fiction, readers don't have to suspend disbelief. From the moment they open the book, they are ready and willing to believe that they are reading something that is actually true not merely like ("simil") the truth.
Good narrative nonfiction, because it is firmly grounded in real life, sticks with you. It expands your knowledge and brings people you have heard of (or perhaps not) to life, with all their quirks. (I will never forget that Winston Churchill wore pale pink silk underwear - a tantalizing detail I learned from Erik Larson's book, The Splendid and the Vile.) A well-written piece of narrative fiction not only expands your knowledge, it is immersive. You will feel as if you have personally experienced the London Blitz, or that you have visited the Black Sea. That quality of immersiveness is what makes good nonfiction unforgettable.

Of course, it also helps if the writer is skilled at storytelling, which is perhaps why so many narrative nonfiction writers have had early training as journalists. In journalism, writers must answer the basic questions: Who? What? When? Where? How? and (sometimes) Why? If those questions are answered in the right order, they combine to make a story. It's no accident that so many of our great novelists - Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Hemingway, and Mark Twain, to name a few - started as journalists. 

But at the root of good storytelling is mystery. Wanting to know what happens next is what makes you turn the page. Whether it's fiction or nonfiction, any book you can't put down contains that vital element of mystery.

By reading good narrative nonfiction, fiction writers can learn a great deal about their craft. So, which nonfiction books contain all of the features essential to fiction: immersiveness, great story-telling, mystery, "characters" who come to life, believability, and, of course, beautiful writing? 

Here are four books that fulfill those criteria. 

1) The Poet and the Murderer: A True Story of Literary Crime and the Art of Forgery by Simon Worrall. If you don't think the forgery of an Emily Dickinson poem makes for a thrilling read, think again. (I have devoured this book twice, and the second time was just as luscious as the first.) Worrall (a British journalist) takes a deep dive into a forgery that turned the literary world upside down. Step by step, he follows the path of a forged poem until it ends with psychosis and murder. (Two things you would never think of associating with Emily Dickinson.) I learned a great deal about forgery from this book. But most important, I learned how to bring a dry topic to life. 

This is how Worrall starts his book: "He thought he had gone under deep enough, but as he followed the curve of the letter m, he felt a momentary tremor like the distant rumbling of an earthquake." Now that is how to begin a book about a forger. (By the way, always read prologues. Don't skip them.)

Interestingly, in the fourth chapter of the book (aptly titled, Auction Artifice), Worrall quotes the forger as saying that deceiving people gave him "a sense of power." But the power of deception can only be achieved when people are willing to suspend disbelief. The reason forgeries find willing buyers is because the forgeries themselves are imbued with the stories people want to hear - an old woman who finds a letter written by Lincoln tucked in a picture frame in her attic, a man who comes across a signed first edition of Pride and Prejudice in a rummage sale. The possession of the object therefore comes fully endowed with a desirable story, which the owner now possesses as well. Perhaps, deceiving people through giving them a story they want to hear, and allowing them to "own" it, is the ultimate power wielded by fiction writers.

2) Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia by Peter Pomerantsev. I've read everything written by Pomerantsev and all I can say is that I wish he would write more. Pomerantsev is a consummate storyteller. This book explores the world of Russian reality TV in a way you will never forget. Pomerantsev, whose parents emigrated to England to avoid being sent to the gulag (ironically, for distributing Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago), returned to Moscow to spend ten years working in Russian television, specifically reality TV. And what a ride it was! Professional hit men, Kremlin propagandists, the suspicious death of a supermodel, remote Siberian towns run by the Russian mafia...damn! This book took my breath away.

His second book, This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality, is also breathtaking. He begins each chapter with a gripping biographical section on his parents, told in third person. This is a literary device which was all the more effective because it was a true story.

What I learned from these books is not just how Russian TV propaganda works, but their applicability to our own television, which suffers no less from the war against reality.

3) The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson. Any book by Erik Larson (who is, predictably, a journalist) is well worth reading. Each of Larson's books contains the magical alchemy of great storytelling, people you come to know intimately, and immersiveness. And I can guarantee you won't forget what you have learned from reading any o fhis books.

​But among Larson's works, The Devil in the White City stands out as exemplary. The story is captivating. In addition, the writing is superb. Larson is no stranger to lyrical prose, which he uses only where it is essential. (I will never forget his description of the first skyscrapers: "the inaudible cry of overstressed steel.") And most important of all, this book has mystery. Weaving in and out of building the monumental Chicago world's fair in the face of natural disasters and catastrophe, there is the nail-biting story of hunting down a gruesome serial killer. And all of it is true. 

4) I can also recommend The Black Sea by Neal Ascherson, another British journalist. This book is more than a history. Ascherson also includes his own experiences, including the time he just happened to be in Crimea during the coup against Gorbachev, who had been placed under house arrest in Crimea. (That was exciting!) I found the entire book to be captivating, not least because Ascherson is a superb writer. The history of this region is fascinating, and in the hands of a wonderful writer, it is unforgettable. 
 
But let's not stop with nonfiction writers who are worthy of emulation. Here are two works of fiction that embody what is best about narrative nonfiction.

The Giant, O'brien by Hilary Mantel. Mantel, who sadly passed away recently, wrote several noteworthy works of historical fiction. But this book is unique. It is a marvelous combination of science (I learned a lot about surgery), fairy tales, Irish history, and the harsh realities of 18th century squalor. While fiction, this book incorporates the true story of John Hunter, England's most famous surgeon, anatomist, and advocate of the scientific method in medicine. Mantel did a careful job of researching this novel, and it shows. It's not only engrossing, it's perfectly credible.
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Anthony Doerr is another writer whose prose is so transparent, so (seemingly) effortess, you are hardly aware that you are reading. Like good narrative nonfiction, his prose is natural, yet precise, and it never draws attention to itself. I've read, and loved, all of Doerr's work. But The Shell Collector is the story that embodies what is best about good narrative nonfiction. It is instantly believeable and as lovingly detailed as the shells which provide the story's anchor. Like Ascherson, Doerr has the ability to take you to another place so convincingly, you will think you've been there.

97 Calls for Submissions in May 2023 - Paying markets

Pixabay This May there are more than eight dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As always, every genre, style, and form is wanted, from short stories to poetry to essays.

I post upcoming calls for submissions shortly before the first day of every month. But as I am collecting them, I post them on my page, Calls for Submissions. You can get a jump on next month's calls for submissions by checking that page periodically throughout the month. (I only post paying markets.)

Also see Paying Markets for hundreds of paying markets arranged by form and genre.

Happy submitting!

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Cemetery Gates. Genre: Horror novels and novellas. Payment: Novel: $500-2,000 advance, 60% royalties to author. Novella: $500-1,000 advance, 60% royalties to author. Deadline: Opens May 1, 2023. 

december magazine. Genre: Poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction (essays, memoirs, biography, literary journalism, social or cultural commentary or analysis) and visual art that can be reproduced in our print format. Payment: $10.00 per page with a minimum of $40.00 and a maximum of $200.00. Deadline: May 1, 2023.


Cincinnati Review. Genre: Prose, poetry, art. Payment: $25/page for prose in journal. $30/page for poetry in journal. Deadline: Opens on May 1, closes when cap is reached.


Crybaby. Genre: Pitch reviews, cultural criticism, fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, reported features, profiles, interviews. Theme: Warmth. Payment: Up to $50 per piece. Deadline: May 1, 2023.

This Magazine. Restrictions: Open to BIPOC writers only at this time, with a special interest in queer and/or trans perspectives. Genre: Short stories, poems, Payment: Up to $125 CAD per piece. Deadline: May 1, 2023.

Road Kill: Texas Horror by Texas Writers, Vol. 8. Genre: Horror by Texas writers. Payment: 10,000 words - $200; 7,500 words - $150; 5,000 words - $100; 2,500 words - $50; 1,500 words - $30.00. Deadline: May 1, 2023.

Rock and a Hard Place: The One Percent – Tales of the Super Wealthy and Depraved. Genre: Short stories, may have speculative elements. "We are looking for fictional short stories ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 words examining the ways in which the most affluent among us commit wrongs. These transgressions can range from broken laws to the perfectly legal, though otherwise reprehensible." Payment: $25 or $35. Deadline: May 1, 2023.

Horror Story Magazine. Genre: Horror poetry and short stories that feature monsters. "Good old-fashioned monster stories: vampires, werewolves, ghosts, ghouls, Frankenstein-style creatures, or newer creatures, including those of your creation. Give us a monster, and tell us a great story." Length: 2,000-10,000 words.  A little more or a tad less is OK. Payment: 2 cents/word. Deadline: May 1, 2023 or until filled.

Eggplant Emoji is an annual comedy publication. Genre: Eggplant Emoji Volume 3 will be a print and eBook collection of hilarious short stories that are character-driven and culturally striking. Stories selected for this anthology will define pop culture with unforgettable characters, outrageous situations, and riotous humor. Length: 1,000 – 7,000 words. Payment: $25. Deadline: May 1, 2023.

Struggle Magazine. Genre: Poetry, short stories (1000-7500 words), personal essays (1000-4500 words), art criticism (1000-4500), short plays, and play excerpts. "We are not genre specific, just looking for good and honest writing. We highlight writers who have some kind of a connection to the DC, Maryland, Virginia area." Payment: $75 per contributor. Deadline: May 1, 2023.

The First Line. Genres: Fiction, poetry, nonfiction using the first line provided. (See site.) Payment: $25.00 - $50.00 for fiction, $5.00 - $10.00 for poetry, and $25.00 for nonfiction. Deadline: May 1, 2023.

Nonbinary Review: Epic Fail. Genre: Poetry, fiction, essays, and art around the theme of Epic Fail. Payment: 1 cent per word for prose, and a flat fee of $10 for poetry. Deadline: May 1, 2023. Closes when cap is reached, so submit early.

Last Girls Club. Genre: Feminist horror: short stories and poems - see themes. Payment: Short Story-2,500 words or less. $0.01 USD per word/$25 USD and copy of magazine; Flash Fiction-less than a 1,000 words $0.01 USD per word/$10 USD; Poems-less than 200 words $10 upon acceptance and a PDF of the magazine. Deadline: May 1, 2023. May close early if they reach their cap.

Foglifter. Genre: Foglifter is a biannual compendium of  queer and trans writing. It’s a space where LGBTQ+ writers celebrate, mourn, rage, and embrace. "Foglifter welcomes daring and thoughtful work by queer and trans writers in all forms, and we are especially interested in cross-genre, intersectional, marginal, and transgressive work. We want the pieces that challenged you as a writer, what you poured yourself into and risked the most to make. But we also want your tenderest, gentlest work, what you hold closest to your heart. Whatever you're working on now that's keeping you alive and writing, Foglifter wants to read it." Payment: $25. Deadline: May 1, 2023.

Tales of the Apocalypse. Genre: Post-Apocalyptic. Length: 5,000 to 10,000 words. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 1, 2023.

Rich People Being Shitty: Tales of the Super Wealthy and Depraved. Genre: Fictional short stories ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 words examining the ways in which the most affluent among us commit wrongs. Payment: Either $25 or $35, Deadline: May 1, 2023.

Grumpy Old Gods Anthology. Genre: Speculative fiction stories about retired gods. Theme: "Grumpy Gods, particularly those who might be using their abilities in a post-internet environment.  Maybe Mercury is heavily invested in Google.  Janus might be the reason for crypto.  Heck, I bet that Aphrodite owns 90% of every single florist in the country.  Do your gods still have the juice, or have their powers gotten a little wonky as they have gotten older?  Make it Grumpy.  Make it funny." Length: 3,000-4,000 words. Payment: A percentage of the profits. Deadline: May 1, 2023.

Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores. Genre: Speculative stories. Payment: 8 cents/word for original work. 2 cents/word for reprints. Deadline: May 2, 2023. Opens May 1.

The Suburban Review. Genre: Prose, art, poetry on theme: Spice. Payment: AUD150-275 for prose; AUD125-275 for poetry. Deadline: May 3, 2023.

Carrion Bloom Books. Genre: Chapbooks: Fiction, poetry, hybrid works, and writing with visual elements, and  translated writing of any genre. "We admire work of all genres which might be described as: feminist, grotesque, ecologically resonant, too much, formally experimental, visually acoustic, radically embodied, transnational, or surreal." Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 4, 2023.


Tin House. Restrictions: Eligible writers must not currently have an agent, and must not have previously published a book (chapbooks okay). Genre: Poetry collections + Short Story collections that focus on Food and/or Place. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 7, 2023. Opens May 6, 2023.

Lightspeed. Genre: Fantasy short fiction. Payment: 8 cents per word. Deadline: May 7, 2023.

Havok. Genre: Flash fiction on theme of Legendary Creatures. Payment: $50 via PayPal for each story selected for an Anthology. No payment for online publication. Deadline: May 7, 2023.

Riddlebird. Genre: Literary fiction, personal essays, genre fiction. "For our summer issue, we will specifically be looking for humorous work, lighthearted pieces, or works that explore the humor woven through struggles." Payment: $100. Deadline: May 7, 2023.

Stone’s Throw. Genre: Noir stories about the Summer Solstice. "To honor the solstice, we want stories about somebody’s longest, unending day. Send us tales of what someone is going through that is making every minute, every second, tick by in the most agonizing way." Length: Between 1,000 and 2,000 words. Payment: $25. Deadline: May 7, 2023. This is a monthly call.

Northern Gravy. Restrictions: Northern Gravy welcomes submissions from UK & Ireland writers of any background, including first-time writers. Genre: Fiction, Poetry and Kid Lit (writing for Middle Grade and Young Adult audiences) Payment: £100 per contributor. Deadline: May 7, 2023.

Orion's Beau. Genre: LGBTQ fantasy: fiction, poetry, art. Payment: $3. Deadline: May 10, 2023. See theme.

Tiger Lily. Restrictions: Open to writers 18-21 living in the UK. Genre: Fantasy. Length: Roughly 5000 words. Payment: £50 per piece. Deadline: May 10, 2023.

Space Cat Press. Genre: Poetry, flash fiction, short stories and creative non-fiction inspired by the theme ‘Into the Forest’. "We welcome submissions from a variety of genres. Whatever the theme inspires YOU to write – be it traditional science fiction, memoirs, poetry, (mild) otherworldly horror, fairy tales, or something else entirely – we want to read it." Payment: flat rate fee for each piece - £5 for poetry/flash fiction and £10 for short stories. Deadline: May 12, 2023.

Solarpunk Magazine. Genre: Solarpunk. Payment: $0.08/word for fiction, $40/poem, and $75/essay.  Deadline: May 14, 2023.

Spellbinder. Genre: Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, art. Payment: £3. Deadline: May 14, 2023.

Georgia Review. Genre: Fiction, poetry, non-fiction. Payment: $50 per printed page for prose and $4 per line for poetry. Essay-reviews and standard reviews earn honoraria of $50/printed page. Deadline: May 14, 2023. Fee to submit online; no fee for postal submissions.

Arc Poetry Magazine. Genre: Poetry. "Crip Lives: Restoring Subjectivity." "Arc Poetry Magazine invites artists who live with disability/chronic illness/mental illness and other forms of existence that are impacted by ableism to send us poems, prose, essays, and reviews exploring what it means to be in the world, or your topic of choice." Payment: $50 per page. Deadline: May 15, 2023.

Diet Milk Minis. Genre: Prose, poetry. Payment: $10 for poetry, $20 for prose. Deadline: May 15, 2023. See theme.

berlin lit. Genre: Poetry. Payment: 20 euros per poem. Deadline: May 15, 2023.

Propertius Press. Restrictions: Open to Black, Minority, Indigenous, and other Persons of Color. Genre: Full-length literary fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 15, 2023.

Propertius Press.  Genre: Literary fiction, children's fiction, YA. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 15, 2023. May close early if cap is reached.

just femme & dandy. Genre: Fashion for the LGBTQIA+ community. Theme: Resurrect. "For this issue, in honor of the twentieth anniversary of the death of one of our most beloved icons, Nina Simone, we ask you to submit creative expressions in any genre, including but not limited to writing, visual art, fashion design, video, audio, and anything you can think of that could be housed on a website that engages with the idea of resurrection and LGBTQIA+ fashion." Payment: 50 USD per text-based submission and 150 USD per multimedia submission (video, photography, image + text, fashion spread + interview, etc.). Deadline: May 15, 2023.

Untethered. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, hybrid writing, visual art and those strange things in between. Payment: $20. Deadline: May 15, 2023.

The Lorelei Signal. Genre: Fantasy short stories, flash fiction, and poetry with strong female characters. Payment: $15 for short stories, $5 for poems and flash (<1000 wds) fiction pieces, $5 for reprints. Deadline: May 15, 2023. Accepts reprints.

A Velvet Giant. Genre: "We are open to work that takes the shape of basically any format: words, recordings, visual art, hybrid forms, etc. We are open to translated original work." Payment: $20. Deadline: May 15, 2023. 

Delicate Friend. Genre: Poetry, prose, visual art, music, videos, game descriptions, fake movie reviews, real movie reviews, and more. "We want the unruly things you type at 1 A.M. The quiet daydreams you’ve scrawled down about your crush. Breathless reflections on your favorite fanfiction or how your body comes alive in nature. In short, we want your art and writing about things that are… delicate." Payment: $10. Deadline: May 15, 2023.

Farmer-ish. Genre: Nonfiction, CNF, poetry related to farming (including recipes). Payment: $25. Deadline: May 15, 2023. See themes.

The Horror Zine: Book of Monster Stories. Genre: Monster stories. "We are looking for monsters, creatures, beasts, mutants, monstrosities, frightening oddities, malformations, altered insects or animals, mythical creatures, monsters from space or from bodies of water, or something we can't even imagine but you can." Payment: $20. Deadline: May 15, 2023.


Newfound. Genre: Reviews, Poetry, and Visual Arts. Payment: $25. Deadline: May 15, 2023.

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review. Genre: Poetry and art. Payment: $7 per poem, $12 for cover art and $7 for inside art. Deadline: May 15, 2023. See themes.


Luna Station Quarterly. Restrictions: Open to women writers only. Genre: Speculative fiction. Payment: $5. Deadline: May 15, 2023. Some reprints accepted.

Intrepidus Ink. Genre: Genre fiction, including flash (no horror, erotica, or children’s fiction). Themes: Intrepid and Overcoming. Payment: 2 cents/word for stories of 300-1,000 words, and $30 for stories of 1,500-2,500 words. Deadline: May 15, 2023.

Old Pal. Genre: Poetry, fiction, criticism, excerpts, audio, mixed media, and various mediums of art. Payment: $50. Deadline: May 20, 2023.


Solarpunk Micro Mini. Genre: Solarpunk micro fiction, 250 words max. Payment: $25. Deadline: May 21, 2023.

Flash Fiction Online. Genre: Speculative (science fiction, fantasy, slipstream, and horror) and literary flash fiction. Length: 500- to 1000-words. Payment: $80. Deadline: May 21, 2023.

Full House Literary. Genre: Prose, poetry, hybrid, photography and artwork. Payment: Royalties (?) Deadline: May 22, 2023.

Off Topic Publishing: Poetry Box. Genre: Poetry. Payment $40 CAD. May 25, 2023.

The Other Stories (Audio). Genre: Horror on themes. Payment: 15 GBT. Deadline: May 27, 2023. See themes.

Cry Baby Bridge: A Collection of Utter Speculation. Genre: Speculative fiction. "Across the United States there are Bridges that belong to another time. Some aren’t even attached to roads anymore, but they are well known. People who cross them, especially at night, have stories to share of phantom cries, sometimes like a baby, sometimes like a woman. There are legends attached to explain these cries, tragedies of women seeking to flee from horrible situations. Or maybe it’s something else entirely. Something dark and more mysterious that we cannot completely understand." Payment: $20 and a contributor’s copy. Deadline: May 29, 2023.


B Cubed Press: Scott's Planet. Genre: Speculative fiction. "Be part of the first B Cubed Press shared-world anthology. The story begins just after the Scott’s Planet colony is abandoned by the founding corporation. Nearly half of the colonists chose to immigrate to other viable colonies. But the rest of the settlers decided to stay. These remaining colonists continue the struggle to carve out a niche within the planet’s native ecology. While the Earth flora and fauna they’ve brought with them are more sophisticated and complex than those of Scott’s Planet, this hasn’t always served as an advantage. Simple algae and fungus exploit the more complex invaders and prove to be incredibly resistant to removal. What happens to the colonists now?" Payment: Royalties and 3 cents/word. Deadline: May 30, 2023.

Heartlines. Restrictions: 50% of content is from writers identifying as being from Canada/Turtle Island. Genre: Speculative fiction and about relationships. "We're looking for short fiction and poetry focused on long-term relationships: platonic, romantic, or familial. We don't want the blaze of new love or the obsession of a new friend. We want pieces that show that comfort that develops when people know each other for years." Stories - 1,000 - 3,500 words. Payment: $0.08 CAD per word for short fiction (1,000-3,500 words) and $60 CAD flat per poem. Deadline: May 30, 2023. 

The Wire’s Dream Magazine. Genre: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Poetry, Art, Photography, Combined Work from underprivileged individuals. Payment: $5. Deadline: May 30, 2023.

Kweli Journal. "Kweli is the first online journal of its kind to celebrate community and cultural kinships. In this shared space, you will hear the lived experience of people of color. Our many stories. Our shared histories. Our creative play with language. Here our memories are wrapped inside the music of the Muscogee, the blues songs of the South, the clipped patois of the Caribbean." Genre: Self-contained novel excerpt, short story, or creative non-fiction piece, poetry. Length: No more than 7,000 words. Payment: "Upon publication." Deadline: May 30, 2023.

Touchpoint Press: Christmas Anthology. Genre: Wholesome stories that inspire, instill kindness and hope, and contain a sense of togetherness and community. Deep conflict (and multiple conflicts) is good, but your story must be HEA or HFN. Payment: $100 on publication ($50 for reprints). Deadline: May 31, 2023. Reprints accepted. 

AKI—Mother Earth. Restrictions: Open to Indigenous creators. Genre: Original unpublished fiction up to 5,000 words and art. Payment: 5 cents CDN per word. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Contemporary Verse 2. Genre: Poetry and critical writing about poetry, including interviews, articles, essays, and reviews. Payment: $30 - $150. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Typehouse. Restrictions: No-fee submissions are open for all API creators and all Mental Health identified creators, not limited to those in the US. Genre: Prose, poetry, art. Payment: $25. Deadline: May 31, 2023.
​
Long Con Magazine. Genre: Art (poetry, prose poetry, fiction, translations, visual, video, audio, and other – digital, hybrid, etc.), in response to artwork. (No nonfiction) Payment: CAD25 - 50. Deadline: May 31, 2023.


Poet Lore. Genre: Poetry. Payment: $50. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

The Gettysburg Review. Genre: Poetry, fiction, essays. Payment: $2.50 per line for poetry, with a maximum of $300.00 for an individual poem, and $25.00 per printed page for prose. Deadline: May 31, 2022. Fee to submit online; no fee for postal submissions.


AGNI. Genre: Poetry and prose. Payment: $10 per printed (or printed-out) page for accepted prose, and $20 per page for accepted poetry, up to a maximum of $150. Deadline: May 31, 2023. Fee to submit online. No fee to submit by USPS.


Cast of Wonders. Genre: YA Speculative fiction. Podcast. Theme: Banned Books Week. Payment: $.08/word for original fiction up to 6,000 words. For reprints, a $100 flat rate for Short Fiction, and a $20 flat rate for Flash Fiction. Deadline: May 31, 2023.


Touchpoint Press: Nightmares of Strangers Anthology Genre: Horror. "We’re looking for stories that send a chill down your spine and send your imagination into overdrive, that keep you up at night and leave you shaking." Payment: $100 on publication ($50 for reprints). Deadline: May 31, 2023. Reprints accepted. 

Baltimore Review. Genre: Poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, videos (including poetry), and cross-genre work. Payment: $40. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

New Orleans Review. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Payment: $300 for prose, $100 for poetry. Deadline: May 31, 2023. In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month, there are no submission fees for all API writers for the month of May, not limited to those living in/born in the US.

Quarter Press: Quarter(ly). Genre: Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art. See themes. Payment: $5. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Red Cape Publishing: A - Z of Horror: S is for Slasher. Genre: Horror on theme. Payment: £10. Deadline: May 31, 2023.


Variant Lit. Genre: Poetry, art. Payment: $10. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Haven Speculative. Restrictions: Open to authors of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups. Genre: Speculative fiction and poetry. Payment: 1 cent/word for fiction and $5 - $10 for poetry. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Mythic. Genre: Science fiction, fantasy short stories. Length: 2,000-5,000 words. Payment: 1 cent/word for original fiction, $25 for reprints. Deadline: May 31, 2023. Reprints accepted.


Escape Pod. Genre: Science fiction (Audio and written format). Payment: USD $0.08 per word for original fiction. USD $100 per story for reprint fiction. Deadline: May 31, 2023. Reprints accepted.

Split Lip Magazine. Genre: Fiction (flash and short stories), memoirs, and poetry. with a pop-culture twist. Payment: $50 - $75 per author (via PayPal) for our web issues. Payment for print is $5 per page, minimum of $20, plus 2 contributor copies and a 1-year subscription. Deadline: May 31, 2023. Note: Submit early to avoid submission fees.

JMS Books. Genre: LGBTQ romance stories, 12,000 words minimum. See theme. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Fanatical. Genre: Sci-fi, fantasy and horror stories between 2,000 and 6,000 words. Payment: £20. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Dragon Soul Press: A Death in the Night. Genre: "All stories featuring assassins are welcome." Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Apparition Lit. Genre: Speculative fiction and poetry on theme of Creature. Payment: $30. Deadline: May 31, 2023. Opens May 15. Submission periods are extended by a week for BIPOC creators only.

Crannóg. Genres: Poetry, short stories. Payment: €120 per poem and €200 per story, €200 per author interview and €200 per cover image. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

One Story. Genre: Short story. Length: 3,000 - 8,000 words. Payment: $500. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Bury Your Gays. Restrictions: This anthology is only open to queer writers. Genre: Horror. "We’re looking for tales that explore queer tragic horror, and any other interpretation of the title theme. Show us what tragic queer love means to you. Horror is a genre with serrated edges—so make your characters bleed." Payment: 7 cents/word. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

the other side of hope. Genre: Fiction and poetry by refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants only. They accept non-fiction, reviews, and interview submissions by anyone as long as the subject matter sheds light on the refugee and immigrant life. Payment: £100 per published author in the print issue, and £50 per published author in the online issue. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Black Lawrence Immigrant Writing Series. Restrictions: Open to any individual living in the U.S. who identifies as an immigrant and who either (i) was born in another country, (ii) has at least one parent who was born in another country (iii) is a refugee, or (iv) lives in the United States under Asylum or a Protection Program, such as TPS or DACA. Genre: Books of poetry, prose (fiction or nonfiction), and hybrid texts of poetry and prose. Payment: In addition to publication, marketing, and a standard royalties contract from Black Lawrence Press, authors chosen for the Black Lawrence Immigrant Writing Series will receive a travel stipend of $500, which can be used for book tours or in any manner chosen by the authors. Deadline: May 31, 2023.


Exile Editions: Through the Portal – Stories from a Hopeful Dystopia. Genre: Eco-fiction stories or prose poems––literary, magical, speculative, solarpunk, supernatural, slipstream, reimagined folk/fairy tales. "We want eco-fiction that envisions imaginaries and relationships in a new or changing world. How do we walk through the portal to the other side? How will we address or overcome the legacy of the past: the negative actors and social constructs, environmental devastation, racism, exploitation, pathologies? … We want submissions from everyone, emerging through established, and from all communities––including but not limited to LGBTQ2S+, Black, Indigenous, marginalized, culturally diverse, the deaf and disabled. Stories can be literary or speculative, with the environment playing an essential role in the narrative. We welcome visual content in the form of illustrations accompanying a story or prose poem, or as graphic stories.” Length: Up to 3,500 words. Payment: CAD0.05/word. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Exile Editions: Onwaachigewin. Genre: Fictional stories by Indigenous writers in many different genres, including art-based works, about what it means to glimpse the future, how foreknowledge and foretelling can serve as warning, protection, or be a matter of survival. From omens, spirit guides, premonitions, migration stories, and the Seven Fires Prophecy, to predictions encoded in wampum, cowrie shells, beads, birch-bark scrolls, petroforms and petroglyphs. Payment: CAD0.05/word. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Exile Editions: Aki. Genre: Short fiction and image-based works by Indigenous creators. Payment: CAD0.05/word. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Playlist of the Damned. Genre: Horror. "When a hiker finds a cassette tape in an abandoned mine reading DO NOT PLAY, a playlist of unfathomable evil, decadence, and horror is unleashed featuring the 25 songs no human was ever supposed to hear." 500 – 5000 words. Payment: Prose - .5 per word. Poetry - $1 per line, Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Lightspeed. Restrictions: Open to BIPOC writers only. Genre: Science fiction flash fiction Payment: 8 cents per word. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Brigid's Gate: Scissor Sisters: Sapphic Villains Anthology. Genre: Horror short stories and flash fiction featuring lesbian villains. "We’d especially love to see stories of feminine rage, erotic horror, genderbent retellings and reclamations of power by queer femmes." Length: 1,500 to 4,000 words. Payment: $0.08 a word for flash fiction and short stories. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Broken Sleep Books. (UK) Genre: Poetry pamphlets (up to 40 pages). Payment: Royalties. Deadline:  May 31, 2023.

University Press of Kentucky. Genre: Books of poetry or fiction (novels, short story collections, etc.). Payment: Royalties. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

Nashville Review. Genre: Fiction, poetry, art, and nonfiction. Payment: $25 per poem & song selection; $100 per selection for all other categories, including featured artwork. Translators receive $25 per poem & $100 for prose selections. Deadline: May 31, 2023.

And a few more...

Eternal Haunted Summer. Genre: Poetry, short fiction. Theme: Genesis. Payment: $5. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

Parabola. Genre: Original essays and translations, poetry, reviews. See themes. Payment: Not specified. Deadline: June 1, 2023. 

Third Flatiron. Genre: SF, fantasy, space opera, hopepunk. Theme: Rhapsody of the Spheres. Payment: 8 cents per word. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

Dead Letters. Genre: Short horror stories in the epistolary format—meaning, stories written as letters, journal entries, transcripts of radio broadcasts, newspaper clippings, text messages, etc. Furthermore, each story should include some mention of how its manuscript was “discovered.” A letter found in a historian’s archive, for example. Or emails saved as part of a missing persons investigation. Or an audio file recovered from a dead podcaster’s PC. Length: 2,500 – 7,000 words. Payment: $0.01 per word. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

Gemma Files. Genre: Horror short stories based on the themes set out in Gemma Files’ classic work, Experimental Film. Payment: $50 per piece. Deadline: June 1, 2023.

The New Lesbian Pulp. Genre: Short stories, scripts. Length: 3,000 - 10,000 words. "The landscape of relationships, queer embodiment, and womanhood has shifted past our cultural focus. We the editors want stories that pull the lens back to where we are now: what is the reality of the contemporary dyke?" Payment: $300 to $1,000 per contributor. Deadline: June 1, 2023.