Written by NmaHassan Muhammad October 13th, 2022

21 Opportunities Writers for October 2022

This is a list of opportunities for writers, including a free writers conference in Japan, a job opening for an editorial assistant, many fellowships, and other great opportunities.

Please note that some deadlines are fast approaching.

The 2023 Open City Fellowship

The Open City Fellowship is a unique opportunity for six emerging Asian American, Muslim, and Arab writers to publish narrative nonfiction on the vibrant East Asian, South and Southeast Asian, Arab and West Asian, and North and East African communities of the tristate area of New York City. The Fellowship is a nine-month stint for emerging writers of color to write about how Asian American and Muslim American lives are being lived in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. It is open to writers who are based in the New York tristate area. The Fellowship includes a $2,500 grant, skill-building workshops, and publishing opportunities. A total of six Fellows will be selected for next year’s Open City Fellowship; three for the Neighborhoods/ Communities Fellowship and three for the Muslim Communities Fellowship.

Deadline is October 14, 2022. For details, go here.

Spring 2023 Scoville Fellowship

The Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship Program invites recent college and graduate school alumni to apply for full-time, six-to-nine month fellowships in Washington, DC. Outstanding individuals will be selected to work with nonprofit, public-interest organizations addressing peace and security issues. Applications are especially encouraged from candidates with a strong interest in these issues who have prior experience with public-interest activism or advocacy. This is a highly competitive fellowship designed for people who have already demonstrated a strong interest in the field, and not intended for those who want to try a semester in Washington. Successful candidates must be good writers who are adept at working in a fast paced office environment.

Deadline is October 14, 2022. For details, go here and here.

Art Omi: Writers Residency 2023

Art Omi: Writers hosts authors and translators from around the world for residencies throughout the spring and fall. The program’s strong international emphasis provides exposure for global literary voices and reflects the spirit of cultural exchange that is essential to Art Omi’s mission. Art Omi: Writers welcomes published writers and translators of every type of literature. All text-based projects — fiction, nonfiction, theater, film, poetry, etc.—are eligible. International, cultural and creative exchange is a foundation of their mission, and a wide distribution of national background is an important part of their selection process. All residencies are fully funded with accommodations, food, local transport and public programming provided. However, please note that Art Omi: Writers does not provide travel funds. Selected residents are responsible for funding their own travel or securing travel funds from a third party.

Deadline is October 15, 2022. For details, go here.

Polyphony Lit Coro de Voces Editorial Scholarship

The selected scholarship students will be offered full access to Polyphony Lit’s “How to Be a Literary Editor” editorial training course, and upon completion of the course, will be invited to join the staff of Polyphony Lit as Junior Editors. Within the editorial staff, there is opportunity for promotion, so students may be eligible to take on leadership positions at the magazine and get an inside look at the publication process. If they show skill in crafting commentary, then editors may be offered higher positions such as Senior Editor, Contest Reader/Judge, Executive Editor, Teaching Assistant, or Genre Managing Editor. Joining the editorial staff also offers students a chance to interact with a global network of like-minded writers.

Deadline is October 15, 2022. For details, go here.

Westminster College’s Free Spring 2023 Poetry Workshop

Westminster College continues to offer a small poetry class in spring semester open to both students and others, taught in 2023 by Paula Mendoza. The course meets in person on campus with the option of zooming in for out-of-state applicants from 4:30-7:20 p.m. (MT) on Mondays, 1/9/23-4/28/23. To be considered for this free course, please submit three poems in one document with contact information on the poems (name, phone, email, address). Participants will be notified by December 1.

Deadline is October 15. For details, go here.

Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship

The American poet Amy Lowell died in 1925. Her will established an annual scholarship to support travel abroad for gifted American-born poets. The scholarship is administered by the Trustees under her will, at the law firm of Choate, Hall & Stewart in Boston, Massachusetts. The Trustees welcome applicants from all ethnic backgrounds to apply, as they strive to support and encourage a diverse group of poets. The 2023-2024 Scholarship award will be approximately $66,500, adjusted for inflation. If there are two winners, each will receive the full amount.

Deadline is October 15, 2022. For details, go here, here, and here.

World Nomad Content Creator Scholarship

This is your chance to kick-start your career as a travel content creator. World Nomad is looking for 4 aspiring creators to send on a travel assignment, plus level up their content with coaching from travel creators Nomadasaurus and prizes from Sony, RØDE and Bright Trip. Sound good? Send your best piece of travel content for a chance to win. They want to see your best travel content and understand why you think you should win. Your content can be old or new, but must: be an image, video, blog or vlog post that is in English and publicly accessible; showcase a travel story, experience or location; show originality, creativity and be visually engaging; and take 2 minutes maximum to review in full (view, watch or read). Your 150 word or less written submission needs to convince the judges that you have a passion for travel and creating content as a career. They will be weighting your entry based on submitted content (80%) and your written submission (20%). The four lucky winners will receive $2500, professional mentorship, Sony camera, RØDE audio gear, Bright Trip courses and a travel insurance.

Deadline is October 16, 2022. For details, go here.

The Creative Entrepreneur Fellowship

The Creative Entrepreneur Fellowship (CEF) is designed to accelerate the careers and practice of a diverse group of artists and creative solopreneurs. CEF is a customized professional development experience for 8-10 individuals selected through a competitive application process. The program kicks off in November and runs through June. The Fellowship includes personalized goal setting, one-on-one coaching, skills-training seminars, and a stipend for business-related purchases. This is the eighth year of the program, which now has a dynamic alumni network of artists working across a range of media.

Deadline is October 17, 2022. For details, go here.

The Japan Writers Conference 2022

The Japan Writers Conference (JWC) is a free, annual conference open to all. Since 2007, JWC has attracted English-language writers in a variety of fields for a weekend of sharing ideas and experiences on the art, craft and business of writing. Although it will take place in Japan, about one-third of the 27 scheduled presentations will also be live on Zoom. Novelists Charles Kowalski, Sara Fujimura, Suzanne Kamata, Eli K.P. William, Meg Eden Kuyatt, Michael Pronko, Iain Maloney and Clarissa Goenawan will be among the writers giving lectures or leading workshops. JWC is run entirely by volunteers and is held at a different Japanese university each year, with past venues in Tokyo, Hokkaido, Kobe, Kyoto, Tokushima, Iwate and Okinawa. The 2022 edition will be held on Oct. 15 and 16 at the Tokai University’s Shonan campus.

For details, go here.

UBA National Essay Competition

The National Essay Competition, targeted at senior secondary students in Nigeria, is organised annually, as part of UBA Foundation’s education initiative which aims to promote the reading culture and encourage healthy and intellectual competition amongst secondary school students in Nigeria and across Africa. The topic is: “ASUU Strikes have often cost Nigerian students time. Advise the Nigerian government on how they can reach an agreement with ASUU to improve tertiary education in the country.” The prizes are ₦5m, ₦3m, and ₦2.5m for the Winner, 1st Runner-up, and 2nd Runner-up respectively.

Deadline is October 14, 2022. For details, go here.

The John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize 2023

The John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize is for an outstanding debut poetry book collection by a poet, in the English language. The Prize is valued at €10,000 and will be adjudicated by a panel of judges nominated by the John Pollard Foundation, and the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre in the School of English, Trinity College Dublin. Submission by the publisher should consist of a PDF copy of the book and a brief author biography (200 words maximum). The 2023 prize will be awarded to a first book of poetry published originally in the English language between October 1, 2021 and October 18, 2022. The winner must be available to accept the prize in person in Trinity College Dublin.

Deadline is October 18, 2022. For details, go here.

2023 Kweli Fellowship Program

As part of Kweli’s successful history of mentoring emerging writers since 2009, Kweli’s Fellowship Program seeks to provide several early-stage writers of adult fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, an 11-month writing fellowship. From January to November each year, fellows will receive mentorship opportunities, $2,000 stipend, as well as exclusive access to Kweli programming (e.g. Kweli International Literary Festival). Eligible candidates are early career vocational writers living in New York City, who are not enrolled in degree-granting programs and self-identify as Black, Native/First Nations, POC, and/or Arab American. Writers who have not yet contracted to publish a book are invited to apply.

Deadline is October 24, 2022. For details, go here.

The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans

Founded by immigrants, the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans supports outstanding New Americans—immigrants and children of immigrants—pursuing graduate school in the United States. With the goal of highlighting the many ways that New Americans contribute to society and culture, the Fellowship supports 30 individuals every year with up to $90,000 in funding per Fellow. Funding for all types of full-time graduate and professional degrees in law, humanities, medicine, the social sciences, arts, writing, policy, and more.

Eligibility requirements include New Americans who are green card holders, naturalized citizens, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients, individuals born abroad who graduated from both high school and college in the United States, and the US-born children of two immigrants. Also, applicants must be 30 or younger as of the application deadline, have a bachelor’s degree as of the fall of 2023, and be applying to or enrolled in a graduate program.

Deadline: October 27, 2022. For details, go here and here.

CLMP Capacity-Building Grants Program

Building on its longstanding Regrant Program for New York State publishers, CLMP is pleased to offer a new opportunity for literary magazines and presses located in the United States to apply for two-year grants of between $5,000 and $25,000 per year, or $10,000–$50,000 total, to support projects that build organizational capacity and ensure greater sustainability. A grant from the Hawthornden Foundation, originally founded in 1983 by the late Drue Heinz, makes this program possible.

“Capacity building” as defined by the National Council of Nonprofits, is “whatever is needed to bring a nonprofit to the next level of operational, programmatic, financial, or organizational maturity, so it may more effectively and efficiently advance its mission into the future. Capacity building is not a one-time effort to improve short-term effectiveness, but a continuous improvement strategy toward the creation of a sustainable and effective organization.”

Deadline is October 28, 2022. For details, go here.

Iceland Writers Retreat Alumni Award 2023: Scholarship

The Iceland Writers Retreat Alumni Award offers talented writers in need of financial support an opportunity to attend the Iceland Writers Retreat in Reykjavík, Iceland in April, 2023. Anyone who is aged 18 or over on April 26, 2023 is eligible to apply for an Iceland Writers Retreat Alumni Award (anyone is welcome to independently register and attend the event without a scholarship). The winning candidate(s) must demonstrate that they do not have the financial means to attend the conference without this award. Note that candidates do not need to be professional writers, but should be serious about the craft and interested in developing their skills and contacts. Their writing interests must fit well with the faculty for the 2023 retreat (i.e. literary fiction, nonfiction, memoir). Entrants can apply for either full or partial funding. Full funding covers one participant fee, four nights accommodation at the Retreat hotel (Foss Hotel Reykjavik), and round-trip flights to Iceland. Partial funding covers the participant fee only, and neither accommodation nor round trip flights. The award does not include airport transfers, travel insurance, travel visas (if applicable), other incidentals or meals not listed in the itinerary, or the Relax & Write extension.

Deadline is October 31, 2022. For details, go here.

The Solstice Prize 2022

The Solstice Prize is an annual showcase for young writers. It’s seeking imaginative short stories and provocative poems, with prizes on offer for winners in three age groups: 7-11, 12-14, and 15-17. The competition has been running for six years and receives hundreds of entries every year. This year, it will be supported by online resources to inspire young people aged 7-17 years to take a closer look at the natural world wherever they live and explore their reactions to it in their own words. A series of free, online, and in-person creative writing workshops, designed in conjunction with professional nature writers, will also encourage young people to write poems, stories, or blogs. The winners will win cash prizes and be published in a digital anthology.

The 2022 theme of the Solstice Prize for Young Writers, Fight for Flight, can be interpreted in any number of ways. Write about a particular bird that means something to you. Do you have a favourite? Have you ever experienced an encounter with one? Do you know a person who reminds you of a bird? If you were a bird of prey, would you be a Peregrine nesting among the hustle and noise of a busy city centre, just like the Peregrines who live on Derby Cathedral? Or would you be a Golden Eagle soaring high above the moors and glens of Scotland.

Deadline is October 31, 2022. For details, go here.

Jack Straw Writers Program 2023

The Jack Straw Writers Program was created in 1997 to introduce local writers to the medium of recorded audio; to develop their presentation skills for both live and recorded readings; to encourage the creation of new literary work; to present the writers and their work in live readings, in an anthology, on the web, and on the radio; and to build community among writers.

Each year twelve writers/writing teams are selected by a curator out of dozens of applicants, based on artistic excellence, diversity of literary genres, and a cohesive grouping of writers. The program features voice and presentation training, in-studio interviews, public readings, a published anthology, and podcasts. Live readings are recorded, and selected portions are produced for podcasts and radio broadcast.

Deadline is October 31, 2022. For details, go here.

AWP HBCU Fellowship Program

The Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) has recently launched the all-new AWP HBCU Fellowship Program, which aims to uplift the work HBCU faculty are doing within their creative writing programs and encourage the participation of HBCUs within AWP. This program will kick off at the 2023 Conference and Bookfair, in Seattle, Washington. Thanks to a generous grant from the NEA, the program will award two HBCU faculty and four HBCU students with fellowships. Fellowships for faculty include a $4,000 honorarium, paid travel expenses and lodging for the duration of the conference, and publication in The Writer’s Chronicle regarding their experience. AWP is also excited to announce that the selected fellows will have the opportunity to collaborate closely with A.J. Verdelle, an HBCU professor and award-winning author of The Good Negress and Miss Chloe: A Memoir of Literary Friendship with Toni Morrison. As Verdelle and the faculty fellows discuss ways to support creative writing endeavors at HBCUs, they will also serve as mentors to the student fellows to establish new connections. Active HBCU faculty, both part-time and full-time, are encouraged to apply.

Deadline is October 31, 2022. For details, go here.

The Bergman Prize

Established in 2020 in memory of Judson & Susan Bergman, the Bergman Prize awards $10,000 and publication by Changes to the author of a first or second collection of poems. The winning poet receives a generous publishing contract, national distribution, extensive publicity, and a book launch event in New York City. The Prize is open to residents of the United States who have not published (or committed to publishing) more than one book-length collection of poetry with a registered ISBN.

Deadline is October 31, 2022. For details, go here.

Black Mountain Institute (BMI) Shearing Fellowships (2023-2024 Cycle)

BMI invites writers to apply for competitive residential fellowships, which offer generous support. For emerging and distinguished writers who have published at least one book with a trade or literary press, this fellowship includes compensation of $20,000 paid over a four-month period. While there are no formal teaching requirements, this is a “working fellowship” located in Las Vegas. BMI’s visiting fellows will maintain an in-office presence of 10 hours a week, along with 10 hours of service to the community. In addition to the primary goal of furthering one’s own writing during their term in Las Vegas, visiting fellows are expected to engage in a substantial way with BMI’s community, in ways that connect to their interests and skills. Upon acceptance into the program, each fellow will craft a plan in partnership with BMI.