The following list comprises of a wide range of opportunities for writers, some are open to all and others are limited. The opportunities are listed in order of their deadlines. The fastest approaching deadlines are listed first.
Here and Now 2023 – A Collaborative Residency
The Lagos International Poetry Festival and Moniack Mhor, Scotland’s Creative Writing Centre are inviting applications to Here and Now 2023 – A Collaborative Residency and Production Programme. The writers will spend one month at Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre, and one month at LOATAD, the Library of Africa and the African Diaspora. During the residencies, participants will connect with local communities and build new audiences.
The residency includes a stipend of £2,000 plus travel, food costs, and accommodation, among other benefits.
The 2023 Here and Now Residency Programme is open to Scottish and West African established/mid-career writers. Applicants must have published at least one major work in poetry, non-fiction, playwriting, or songwriting: this could be a novel, a short story collection, a poetry pamphlet, an album, or a professionally staged production work.
Deadline is August 12, 2022. For details, go here.
Climate Tracker Global COP27 Journalism Fellowship (In-Person or Virtual)
Climate Tracker has announced their Global COP27 Journalism Fellowship. There are two ways you can join the fellowship to get training and cover the critical issues for your country and region throughout the UN Climate Negotiations (COP27) Conference taking place this year in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from 7-18 November 2022. You could be with the team in Egypt for the in-person fellowship or you could opt to be part of their virtual team as online fellows. Either way, you’ll be receiving training from climate reporters with years of experience telling the COP stories. Ten (10) in-person fellows and twelve (12) online fellows will be selected for the COP27 Journalism Fellowship. You may apply for both in-person and virtual fellowship if you’re available for both opportunities. Different benefits exist for both fellowships which include stipend, travel and accommodation coverage, one month training, and mentoring, among others. Applicants should be aged 18-35 years and from or living in a developing country.
Deadline is August 19, 2022. For details, go here.
The Gotham’s Publish A Book Scholarship (For Writers of Color)
Applications are now open for Gotham’s Publish a Book Scholarship. This scholarship is open to writers of color who have completed a book manuscript (or nonfiction book proposal) and are ready to go to market with their book. Three scholarships will be offered every year, with at least one spot rewarded to a Black writer.
Each scholarship includes: Admittance to the Gotham Writers Conference—the panels and presentations as well as a seat at a pitching roundtable with two agents in your genre; the Gotham course How to Get Published or Nonfiction Book Proposal; a one-on-one Agent Evaluation session; and a Query Letter Coaching session, both with a literary agent. Acceptance is open to all people of color (age 18 and up) and based solely on the merit of your book project.
Deadline is August 15, 2022. For details, go here.
The Yale Drama Series 2023 Playwright Competition
The Yale Drama Series is seeking submissions for its 2023 playwriting competition. The winning play will be selected by the series’ current judge, Jeremy O. Harris. The winner of this annual competition will be awarded the David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000, publication of their manuscript by Yale University Press, and a celebratory event. The prize and publication are contingent on the playwright’s agreeing to the terms of the publishing agreement. The Yale Drama Series is intended to support emerging playwrights. Playwrights may win the competition only once. Plays that have been professionally produced or published are not eligible. Submissions must be original, unpublished full-length plays, with a minimum of 65 pages. Worldwide submissions are accepted.
Deadline is August 15, 2022. For details, go here.
Bocas Lit Fest Children’s Book Prize 2022
The annual BLF Children’s Book Prize is a prize that is given to one outstanding English-language children’s book for young independent readers, written by a Caribbean author. This Prize seeks to recognise and celebrate excellent writing and intriguing storytelling that can capture young imaginations and help establish a lifelong love and habit of reading in our young Caribbean demographic. The Prize consists of a cash award of US$1,000, and Caribbean-born authors, resident anywhere in the world, of English-language books which have been published between 1 August, 2021 and 31 August, 2022, are eligible. The winner will be announced in November 2022.
Deadline is August 31, 2022. For details, go here.
The 2022 Kikwetu Flash Fiction Contest
In its continued quest to showcase new and established writers from East Africa and beyond, the Kikwetu Journal is thrilled to launch its first writing contest as a special 8th issue to recognize exemplary work from a writer of African origin. For their 8th issue, Kikwetu seeks 1,200-word maximum flash fiction pieces from African writers on or off the continent. You may submit as many as two stories. The call-out is open-themed. The winner of the Kikwetu Flash Fiction Contest will receive a $150 cash prize in addition to their story being published in issue 8 of Kikwetu. Payment will be made via M-Pesa or PayPal.
Deadline is August 31, 2022. For details, go here.
American-Scandinavian Foundation Translation Awards 2022
The American-Scandinavian Foundation annually awards the following three translation prizes for outstanding translations of poetry, fiction, drama, or literary prose written by a twentieth or twenty-first-century Nordic author:
- The Nadia Christensen Prize includes a $2,500 award, publication of an excerpt in Scandinavian Review, and a commemorative bronze medallion.
- The Leif and Inger Sjöberg Award, given to an individual whose literature translations from a Nordic language have not previously been published, includes a $2,000 award, publication of an excerpt in Scandinavian Review, and a commemorative bronze medallion.
- The Wigeland Prize, given to the best translation from Norwegian by a resident of Norway, includes a $2,000 award, publication of an excerpt in Scandinavian Review,and a commemorative bronze medallion.
Deadline is September 1, 2022. For details, go here.
Hodder Fellowship
The Hodder Fellowship will be given to artists and writers of exceptional promise to pursue independent projects at Princeton University during the academic year. Potential Hodder Fellows are composers, choreographers, performance artists, visual artists, writers, translators, or other kinds of artists or humanists who have “much more than ordinary intellectual and literary gifts”; they are selected more “for promise than for performance.” Given the strength of the applicant pool, most successful Fellows have published a first book or have similar achievements in their own fields; the Hodder is designed to provide Fellows with the “studious leisure” to undertake significant new work. An $88,000 stipend is provided for this 10-month appointment as a Hodder Fellow. Fellowships are not intended to fund work leading to an advanced degree. One need not be a U.S. citizen to apply. To apply, please submit a curriculum vitae, a 500-word project proposal, and samples of your work (i.e., writing sample, images of your work, video links to performances, etc.).
Deadline is September 13, 2022. For details, go here.
Princeton Arts Fellowships
Princeton Arts Fellowships are awarded to artists whose achievements have been recognized as demonstrating extraordinary promise in any area of artistic practice and teaching. Applicants should be early career poets, novelists, choreographers, playwrights, designers, performers, directors, filmmakers, composers, and performance artists. Princeton Arts Fellows spend two consecutive academic years (September 1-July 1) at Princeton University and formal teaching is expected. An $80,000 a year stipend is provided.
Deadline is September 13, 2022. For details, go here.
Bridport Prize Bursaries for Underrepresented Writers
Bridport Prize bursary gives underrepresented writers a free entry to the Bridport Prize competition in any category. In order to support as many writers as possible, applications are limited to one per year per writer. Bursary applications for the memoir award opened on 1st July 2022. The bursary runs on a rolling basis so you can apply for a memoir bursary anytime until 10th September 2022. Applications are reviewed in batches on a first-come-first-served basis and may take up to six weeks to process. The memoir competition closes on 30th September, so please make sure you leave enough time to submit your application.
For details, go here.
Bio: NmaHassan Muhammad is the pen name of a Nigerian children’s author, short story writer and poet. He’s working on a children’s poetry book in honor of his son Abdullateef Hamood. A recent Ebedi Fellow, he writes from Minna, Nigeria. He can be reached at Twitter handle, @NmaHassanM.
